PORT ANGELES — An inaugural festival celebrating the life and work of short story writer Raymond Carver opens Thursday in Port Angeles, where he died in 1988.
The Peninsula Daily News reports that Carver’s widow, the poet Tess Gallagher, approached Peninsula College more than a year ago with the idea for the festival. It includes readings and lectures as well as movies based on his work, including the 2006 film “Jindabyne,” starring Laura Linney and Gabriel Byrne.
Carver was born in Clatskanie, Ore., and grew up in Yakima. He lived and worked in Port Angeles, Gallagher’s hometown, for a decade before he died.
In a poem etched on his grave in a Port Angeles cemetery, Carver recounted his decision to give up alcohol after doctors told him he’d drink himself to death within six months. He lived another 10 years, and wrote that “it was all gravy, every minute.”
