In the weeks before Americans go into the voting booth for their reckoning with history, a group of Port Townsend arts organizations is hosting “The Angel of History,” two days of literary readings that explore the works of Pablo Neruda and Anna Akhmatova, poets who reckoned with the calamitous histories of their respective countries.

The readings on Oct. 21-22 are a culmination of a monthlong series of events that included programs offered through Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship and a Port Townsend High School class with poet-in-the-schools Gary Lilley.

The Russian poet Akhmatova (1889-1966) and Chilean Nobel laureate Neruda (1904-1973) are near contemporaries who had a tremendous impact on 20th-century poetry. “Both poets remain a vital source of inspiration for writers and readers around the world,” said Kathryn Hunt, artistic director of Ars Poetica Productions, an event sponsor. “Neruda and Akhmatova lived under brutal dictatorships in their own countries and have much to teach us about the suffering, courage and the imaginative resilience of human beings in ruinous circumstances.”

These two poets did not have to seek out history: The regard with which they were held in their own countries marked them, and their poetry brought them inevitably into conflict with the repressive political regimes under which they lived, said Hunt.

POETRY READINGS

On Friday, Oct. 21, three poets – Laura Da’, Natalie Diaz and William O’Daly, translator of eight books of Neruda’s poems – are to read their work and reflect on the role of history and place in their own poetry. The reading begins at 7 p.m. at Northwind Arts Center, 701 Water St.

Da’ is a poet and public school teacher. A lifetime resident of the Pacific Northwest, she is an enrolled member of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma. Her book “Tributaries” was published in 2015 by the University of Arizona.

Diaz is the author of “When My Brother Was an Aztec” from Copper Canyon Press. A member of the Mojave and Pima tribes, she grew up on the banks of the Colorado River and played professional basketball in Europe and Asia for several years.

William O’Daly was raised in the San Fernando Valley and has published eight books of translations of the poems of Pablo Neruda through Copper Canyon Press, as well as two volumes of his own poems.

On Saturday, Oct. 22, 10 writers from Port Townsend, Seattle and beyond read the poems Neruda and Akhmatova at an event set for 7 p.m. at Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 2333 San Juan Ave.

In addition to the three writers and a number of Port Townsend High School students reading at Friday's event, other writers/readers include Jim Cantú, Adrianne Harun, Kathryn Hunt, Gary Lemons, Claudia Castro Luna, Erin Malone and Bill Mawhinney.

Entrance for both events is by a $10 suggested donation, with no one turned away for lack of funds. Ages 18 and younger are admitted free.

THIRD IN A SERIES

The “Angel of History” is the third in a series of poetry events that began in 2013, when 10 poets gathered at Northwind to read the poems of Raymond Carver and Theodore Roethke. Last year, nearly 100 people gathered to hear the poetry of Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman read aloud.

The title of this year's event is derived from a term used by the German Jewish philosopher and literary critic Walter Benjamin.

“The Angel of History” is sponsored by Ars Poetica Productions, Copper Canyon Press, Northwind Arts Center, Port Townsend Arts Commission, Port Townsend High School, Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship and Ravenscroft Inn.