Edward Harkness has deep Seattle roots. His great-grandmother, Sophia Graff, was born in 1870 near Alki Point, site of the Denny Party landing only 20 years earlier. It's not likely the Dennys and other Seattle founding mothers and fathers could have imagined their beach tents and log cabins as the future home of Amazon, Google and Starbucks. Harkness grew up in Seattle's north end, went to local schools, including the University of Washington, where he wrote his first unpromising poems in classes taught by Richard Hugo, Madeline Defrees, Mark Strand and David Wagoner. Harkness followed Hugo and Defrees back to Missoula and the University of Montana where he earned an MFA degree in Creative Writing. After a two-year stint in the Artist-in-the-Schools program in Montana, Idaho, Oregon and back in his home state of Washington, Shoreline College gave him a crack at teaching writing and literature. That gig lasted 33 years. Harkness is the author of three previous books of poetry, Saying the Necessary, Beautiful Passing Lives, and most recently, The Law of the Unforeseen (2018, Pleasure Boat Studio press). He is the happy, unabashedly proud father of Devin and Ned, both teachers in Portland OR. He counts himself blessed beyond measure to be in love with Linda, his soulmate of 49 years. He and Linda are avid cyclists, gardeners and kayakers in their tandem kayak, fondly known as Big Blue. They live in Shoreline, Washington.
