Poet Q&A: Brittney Corrigan talks eco-anxiety, daughterhood, and finding importance in art * Oregon ArtsWatch

"I've been writing both poetry and short stories since I was a child, but I first began to think of myself as a writer when my 11th-grade English teacher encouraged me to lean in. I started to take my craft seriously in college, majoring in English with a focus on creative writing. By the time I graduated in the mid-1990s, I considered myself a poet."

"As an event planner at Reed College (her alma mater), and a parent, she has learned to work in small increments of time, writing during lunch hours or on evenings and weekends. She belongs to two critique groups, one for poetry and one for prose, and attends residencies when possible. The structure, she says, keeps her motivated and sharpens her editorial eye."

"I have long had an interest in science, and I was on my way to becoming a marine biologist before switching my major to English in college. I still have a deep love of and fascination with nature."

Brittney Corrigan is an established Portland poet and writer with over three decades of involvement in Oregon's literary community. She received an Oregon Literary Fellowship in fiction in 2025 and has published poetry collections including Daughters (2021) and Solastalgia (2023), plus a short story collection, The Ghost Town Collectives (2024), which won the 2023 Osprey Award for Fiction. Her work examines inheritance, identity, ecological change, and human relationships with the natural world. Corrigan began writing in childhood and committed to her craft in college, majoring in English with a creative writing focus. She balances writing with full-time work as an event planner at Reed College and parenting by writing during lunch hours and weekends. She participates in critique groups for both poetry and prose, attends residencies when possible, and draws creative inspiration from her enduring interest in science and nature.

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