Dr. Charles Fort
professor of English, 308.865.8164
U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser will read his poetry and sign books at 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 28, on the University of Nebraska at Kearney campus.
The reading and book signing, hosted by The Reynolds Writers & Readers Series, will take place in the Nebraskan Student Union Great Room. The event is free and open to the public.
Kooser succeeded Louise Gluck as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress last October. Previous poets laureate include Robert Frost, Gwendolyn Brooks and Rita Dove. During his visit to UNK, Kooser will be accompanied by a film crew from Voice of America in Washington, D.C.
Author of 10 collections of poetry and prose includingLocal Wonders, Seasons in the Bohemian Alps, (2002) published by the University of Nebraska Press, this former University of Nebraska – Lincoln English professor was born in Ames, Iowa. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Iowa State University, and a master’s degree from UNL.
Kooser’s most recent work is The Poetry Home Repair Manual following Delights & Shadows (2004). Other collections of poetry include Sure Signs (1980), which received the Society of Midland Authors Prize for the best book of poetry by a Midwestern writer published in that year; One World at a Time (1985); Weather Central (1994); and Winter Morning Walks: One Hundred Postcards to Jim Harrison (2000), winner of the 2001 Nebraska Book Award for Poetry.
Local Wonders also won the Nebraska Book Award for Nonfiction in 2003. In addition, the book was named Best Book Written by a Midwestern Writer for 2002 by Friends of American Writers, and won the Gold Award for Autobiography in ForeWord Magazine’s Book of the Year Awards.
Kooser is also the author, with his long-time friend Jim Harrison, of Braided Creek: A Conversation in Poetry (2003), for which the two poets received the 2003 Award for Poetry from the Society of Midland Authors. Among Kooser’s other awards and honors are two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, the Pushcart Prize, the Stanley Kunitz Prize, the James Boatwright Prize and a Merit Award from the Nebraska Arts Council.
