Free Fall Poetry Reading at Fort Worden

Featuring: Melissa Kwasny, Rick Barot & Kathryn Hunt
Date: Saturday, October 24, 2026
Time: 7:00 PM | Doors open at 6:30 PM
Location: Wheeler Theater, Fort Worden State Park, Port Townsend, WA
Admission: Free and open to the public

Join Centrum for a fall evening of poetry featuring acclaimed poets Melissa Kwasny, Rick Barot, and Kathryn Hunt.

Set against the forests, beaches, and bluffs of Fort Worden as the season turns, this reading brings together three distinctive poets whose work explores place, memory, identity, perception, and our relationship to the landscapes we inhabit.

Melissa Kwasny

Melissa Kwasny is the author of seven poetry collections, including The Cloud Path, Where Outside the Body Is the Soul Today, Pictograph, and The Nine Senses. Her work has appeared in Ploughshares, Boston Review, and numerous other publications.

Rick Barot

Rick Barot is the author of four poetry collections, including The Galleons, which was longlisted for the National Book Award, as well as The Darker Fall, Want, and Chord. His work has appeared in Poetry, The New Republic, and The New Yorker.

Kathryn Hunt

Kathryn Hunt is the author of the poetry collections Long Way Through Ruin and Seed Wheel, as well as the chapbooks The Country I Come From and She Who Walks the Earth. Her poems have appeared in Orion, Radar, Missouri Review, Poetry Northwest, and other publications.

Reception

Centrum will host a free reception following the reading at Taps, across the street from Wheeler Theater. Food will be provided, with alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages available for purchase.

Presented by Centrum. Free and open to the public.

Please note, a Discovery Pass is required to park in Fort Worden State Park.  For more information please visit: https://parks.wa.gov/passes-permits/get-park-pass