Central Oregon’s Ellen Waterston has received the 2024 Stewart H. Holbrook Literary Legacy Award from Literary Arts. Presented annually to a person or organization in recognition of significant contributions that have enriched Oregon’s literary community, Waterston was honored at the Oregon Book Awards Ceremony on April 8 held at Portland Center Stage at the Armory.

Praise for Ellen Waterston’s literary contributions

A high desert writer, Waterston was nominated by a diverse group of Oregonians including former Oregon Poet Laureate and Holbrook Award recipient Kim Stafford, who said, “Her writing has consistently shown a skill in telling tied to a devotion to the culture of Oregon, particularly the less-chronicled cultures of Oregon east of the mountains.”

Dana Whitelaw, Executive Director of the High Desert Museum, wrote, “Ellen Waterston has been, and continues to be, a catalyzer for the literary arts in the high desert region and across the state, and is a valued asset to the High Desert Museum in the area of the literary arts.”

Carol Morse, past president of the PGE Foundation, past chair of the Oregon Community Foundation, and current president of the board of directors of Portland Opera, offered this recommendation: “Ellen doesn’t just sit in her literary den, writing and contemplating; she travels the state, engaging others, especially those in remote areas, to tell their own stories.”

About Ellen Waterston

Ellen Waterston has published four poetry and three literary nonfiction titles including, most recently, “Walking the High Desert.” She has a new collection of essays due out this fall. The Writing Ranch, which she launched in 2000, is celebrating its twenty-fourth year. She writes a monthly column on ageing and ageism for The SOURCE, a Bend newsweekly, and is the author of “Sharing Common Ground,” an ongoing Oregon Desert Land Trust interview project conducted in in southeastern Oregon. In 2015 she founded the Waterston Desert Writing Prize, now a program of the High Desert Museum. The recipient of numerous residencies and fellowships, her poetry and prose has appeared in many anthologies and journals. Waterston serves on the faculty of OSU Cascades MFA Low Residency Program. A former Crook County rancher, she makes her home in Bend, Oregon.

About Stewart H. Holbrook

Stewart Hall Holbrook (1893–1964) was a logger before he moved to Portland, Oregon, in 1923, when he was 30 years old and became a very accomplished writer. He wrote for The Oregonian for over thirty years, was featured in The New Yorker, and authored more than three dozen books. His writings focused on what he called the “Far Corner”: Washington, Oregon and Idaho.

About Literary Arts

Literary Arts is a community-based nonprofit headquartered in Portland, Oregon with a mission to engage readers, support writers, and inspire the next generation with great literature. For the past 37 years, Literary Arts has built community around literature, books, and storytelling, and the essential ideas and issues they raise.