KEARNEY – UNK Professor Emeritus Don Welch will present from his new collection of poems “Homing” as part of National Poetry Month.
Welch will read selected poems at 3 p.m. Wednesday at the University of Nebraska at Kearney’s Calvin T. Ryan Library.
The event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will follow.
The author of several published poetry collections and regular contributor to literary magazines, Welch was an English professor at UNK from 1959 to 1997.
Welch was the Martin Distinguished Professor of English and the Reynolds Chair of Poetry at UNK. His many national honors include the prestigious Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry, judged by the poet William Stafford.
Although he officially retired from the English department in 1997, he continued to teach in the UNK department of philosophy until 2008.
In 1988, Welch received the Pratt-Heins Award for teaching, and in 1990 he received the Board of Trustees of the Nebraska State Colleges Outstanding Teaching Award.
Welch has published 18 books of poetry. More than 300 of his poems have appeared in magazines and journals throughout the United States, and examples of his work have been included in many anthologies.
In addition, for 13 years he served as a Nebraska Arts Council Poet-In-Residence in the Nebraska Public Schools program, “Poets-in-the-Schools.”
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I wish I could attend! Best wishes for a great event.