Linda Clifton papers, 1967-2023

Dr. Linda Jane Clifton is a writer, educator, advocate, and former Washington State political candidate. Dr. Clifton was born in Brooklyn, New York and raised in Balboa, Canal Zone District, Panama. She has been a Washington State resident since 1959. Dr. Clifton became an employee of Ephrata Public Schools in Grant County, Washington in approximately 1967; she was an English teacher at Ephrata High School and, later, Woodinville High School before retiring from teaching in 1998.

Dr. Clifton received elected honors such as the Chairpersonship of the Central Washington University Board of Trustees (1977), State Woman of Achievement from Business and Professional Women (1970s), and Precinct Committee Officer of the King County Democrats (1990, 1992, 1994). She was involved in various state and national organizations as an educator and community leader, and she led workshops on writing pedagogy and English education issues. In 1976 and 1978, Clifton was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate in the elections for Washington State Representative in the 13th Legislative District.

Dr. Clifton was the K-12 Director of the Puget Sound Writing Project from 1983-2002. In 1983, Dr. Clifton founded Crab Creek Review, a print literary journal. Dr. Clifton works under Clifton Consulting as an education consultant (since 1998) and independent editor (since 1983). She is a poet and fiction writer, and her work has appeared in journals and anthologies published by Blue Begonia Press, Calyx, A Journal of Art and Literature by Women, Drash, Gold Dust, NWP Voice, Tinderbox, and Crab Creek Review.

Dr. Clifton earned a PhD in Medieval Literature from the University of Washington in 1989. Dr. Clifton is Jewish and has been involved in Jewish community organizations throughout her life and career. She resides in Seattle, Washington.

Sources: "Linda Clifton," LinkedIn. Accessed 17 July 2025. "Linda J. Clifton," Poets & Writers. Accessed 17 July 2025.

The Puget Sound Writing Project (PSWP), founded in 1978, was a partner program of the University of Washington offering writing institutes to K-12 English teachers to improve their teaching of writing as well as workshops to individual schools and districts. In 1989, the House of Representatives Committee on Higher Education established the Washington State Writing Project including both the PSWP and "a new smaller program at Washington State University", likely referring to the Central Washington Writing Project (CWWP). The CWWP is presently a local site of the National Writing Project, while the PSWP is not.

Source: "House Bill Report: ESSB 5227," Washington State Legislature. Accessed 17 July 2025.