Stafford, Kim Robert

Kim Robert Stafford was born on October 15, 1949 in Portland, Oregon to Dorothy and William Stafford, also a poet. He has spent most of his life in the Pacific Northwest, particularly in Oregon. He obtained a B.A., M.A., and a Ph. D. in Middle English Literature in 1979 at the University of Oregon. Stafford received creative writing fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1976 and 1984. During the 1970s he studied printing in Port Townsend, Washington. Much of Stafford's writing is based on research of folk custom and oral history. Stafford has taught and served as artist-in-residence throughout the Northwest and California. He began teaching at Lewis and Clark College in 1978 where he is now director of the Northwest Writing Institute. His collection of essays, Having everything right, won a special award in 1986 from the Western States Arts Foundation. Stafford has contributed to many Northwest and national poetry and literary journals. His work frequently appears in the Oregonian supplement of Northwest magazine and he regularly offers poetry readings and writing workshops and is active as a printer.