Oregon Legacy Series: Allison Cobb

The 2022 Oregon Legacy Series continues this afternoon with Allison Cobb, author of four books: “Plastic: An Autobiography,” “Green-Wood,” “After We All Died,” and “Born2.” Cobb’s work has appeared in Best American Poetry, Denver Quarterly, Colorado Review, and many other journals. She was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award and National Poetry Series, has been a resident artist at Djerassi and Playa, and received fellowships from the Oregon Arts Commission, the Regional Arts and Culture Council, and the New York Foundation for the Arts. Allison works for Environmental Defense Fund and lives in Portland. Cobb’s obsession with a large plastic car part led her to explore the violence of our consume-and-dispose culture, including her own life as a child of Los Alamos, where the first atomic bombs were made. The journey exposed the interconnections among plastic waste, climate change, nuclear technologies, and racism. Using a series of interwoven narratives – from ancient Phoenicia to Alabama – “Plastic: An Autobiography” bears witness to our deepest entanglements and asks how humans continue on this planet. 

The Friends of Driftwood Public Library presents this literary series for the Lincoln County community. The library is partnering with The Lincoln City Cultural Center for the series this year, and each author talk will take place at the Cultural Center at 4 pm. All entrants must present proof of COVID vaccination (two doses) or a negative test result from a clinic for attendance at its events. Masks are required as well. 

All Oregon Legacy presentations are free due to the generous support of The Friends and the D Sands Condominium Motel, who provide free lodging for each of the visiting writers. In addition, this year’s program is made possible in part by a grant from Oregon Humanities (OH), a statewide nonprofit organization and an independent affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, which funds OH’s grant program.