William Stafford Mezzanine

This space supported by Priscilla Bernard Wieden in loving memory of Dan Wieden

William Stafford (1914–1993) published more than sixty-five books of poetry and prose in his lifetime. Born in Hutchinson, Kansas, Stafford earned degrees from the University of Kansas and the University of Iowa. A conscientious objector during World War II, he later moved to Oregon to teach at Lewis & Clark College, where he remained until his retirement.

Among Stafford’s many honors and awards were a Shelley Memorial Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, and a Western States Lifetime Achievement Award in Poetry. His poetry collection Traveling through the Dark (1962) won the National Book Award. In 1970, Stafford was appointed as the Poet Laureate to the Library of Congress, and in 1975, the Poet Laureate of Oregon.