Author tapped as 2016 artistic director for Port Townsend Writers’ Conference
Published 12:01 am Sunday, July 12, 2015
PORT TOWNSEND — Author Samuel Ligon is the artistic director designate for the Port Townsend Writers’ Conference.
He will succeed Erin Belieu, who is completing her fifth year as artistic director of the writers’ conference.
“The last five years have been one of the most rewarding and unforgettable times of my life,” said Belieu, who is expected to return as a faculty member in the future.
“It’s been an honor to serve as the artistic director for the conference, which in my opinion is the best, most constructive writers’ conference in the country,” she added.
Ligon’s association with the Port Townsend Writers’ Conference began in 2008, when he came to Centrum as an artist-in-residence and was invited to teach a few impromptu evening classes.
“Centrum’s Writers’ Conference is invigorating, stimulating and supportive. It gives participants an edge to push themselves and their work,” said Ligon, author of Drift and Swerve, a collection of stories, and two novels, Safe in Heaven Dead and Among the Dead and Dreaming.
Said Belieu, “Centrum could not have selected a better individual than Sam for their next artistic director.
“He has consistently gone above and beyond his duties as a faculty member. He is incredibly organized, enthusiastic and brilliant — not to mention one of my favorite fiction writers.”
Centrum Executive Director Robert Birman praised Belieu for “expert leadership,” saying that “under her watchful eye, the conference has grown in stature as well as in breadth.”
