Peter Jensen

Peter Jensen was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1942. He studied at Polytechnical Preparatory HS, Julliard, the University of Michigan, New York University, Northwestern University, and the University of Oregon. He has been a captain on a sailing yacht, a deckhand on oil tankers, an underground press journalist and editor, a fundraiser for a social change foundation, an old growth, Spotted Owl conservation professional activist, and a technical writer for progressive foresters engaged in the struggle for ancient forest health in the Northwest. He has worked since 1986 as a writing and literature Instructor at two Oregon community colleges from his home in Eugene, Oregon. His son Daniel Applegate works as a digital imaging director in Hollywood. Peter is married to poet, digital story-teller, and Instructor of English, Sandy Jensen. He is a prize-winning poet, a writer of fiction, and an independent Shakespeare scholar. His published books include: this book is not a mask for tear gas (1970), When Waves Sprout Birds: Poetry 1965-1985, Confluence (with two other poets), finalist for the Oregon Book Award (1993), The Secrets of Shakespeare's Sonnets: Shakespeare's Code (2007), Shakespeare's Name Code (2012), and Shakespeare's Lovers: A Novel (2012). He is currently completing his second novel: Maps of Love.