Bend writer Ellen Waterston received the 2024 Stewart H. Holbrook Literary Legacy Award during the Oregon Book Awards Ceremony, held April 8 in Portland.

The annual award is given to a person or organization in recognition of significant contributions that have enriched Oregon’s literary community, according to the award announcement. Among those nominating her was poet Kim Stafford, a Holbrook Award winner himself, who said, “Her writing has consistently shown a skill in telling tied to a devotion to the culture of Oregon, particularly the less-chronicled cultures of Oregon east of the mountains.”

Waterston has published four poetry and three literary nonfiction titles — including, most recently, “Walking the High Desert: Encountering Rural America along the Oregon Desert Trail” — and has an essay collection coming out this fall. Also a writing educator, Waterston is in her 24th year of running The Writing Ranch, which hosts workshops and retreats and serves on the faculty of Oregon State University-Cascades’ Low Residency MFA program.

Dana Whitelaw, executive director of the High Desert Museum, wrote, “Ellen Waterston has been, and continues to be, a catalyzer for the literary arts in the high desert region and across the state, and is a valued asset to the High Desert Museum in the area of the literary arts.”

For more on Waterston and her writing and teaching, visit the writingranch.com.