Olympic Peninsula residents and literary fans elsewhere have the opportunity to celebrate the life and work of internationally renowned author Raymond Carver at The Raymond Carver Festival, May 9-25, at Peninsula College and select sites within Port Angeles.

Carver lived and wrote his stories and poems in Port Angeles for many years. His gravesite is in Ocean View Cemetery, where many admirers of his work visit every year.

The 17-day festival is being staged in celebration of the 75th Anniversary of Carver’s birth on May 25 and is being organized by Tess Gallagher and Peninsula College, with support from the Peninsula College Foundation, the Peninsula College Associated Student Council and the Peninsula College Office of Instruction.

The festival features films, dance, a reader’s theater, readings and artwork as well as guest writers, scholars, artists and filmmakers. Special guests include:

• Writers-in-residence Jane Mead and Lucia Perillo

• Poet Henry Carlile, a close friend of Carver’s who taught his work for many years at Portland State University

• Artists Alfredo Arreguin and Susan Lytle

• Guest filmmakers Mike Kaplan and Jean Walkinshaw

• Tess Gallagher, Alice Derry and other local writers

• Jim Guthrie and the Port Angeles Readers Theater

• The Vicki Lloid Dancers of Walla Walla

For more details, visit www.pencol.edu or contact Bruce Hattendorf at bhattendorf@pencol.edu.