Mary Jo Ryan
Communications Coordinator, Nebraska Library Commission, 402-471-3434; 800-307-2665; or e-mail mjryan@nlc.state.ne.us
Join NET Television and the Nebraska Center for the Book in Kearney on Wednesday, April 6, 7-8:30 p.m. for “Plain Poetry: Kooser, Kloefkorn and Conversation.” in the University of Nebraska at Kearney Fine Arts Recital Hall (2506 12th Ave.).
The event features Nebraskan Ted Kooser, recently named U.S. Poet Laureate; Nebraska State Poet Bill Kloefkorn of Lincoln; and local poets Mikah Tacha of Bertrand; Mary Strong Jackson of Scottsbluff; Lyn DeNaeyer-Messersmith of Cherry County; and Dominique Garay of Lincoln.
NET Television (formerly the Nebraska ETV Network) is videotaping the event for a television special to be broadcast statewide at a later date. The reading and discussion is free and open to the public. A reception sponsored by The University of Nebraska Press will follow.
“Plain Poetry: Kooser, Kloefkorn and Conversation” is a collaborative project between the Nebraska Center for the Book and NET (Nebraska Educational Telecommunications) and is supported in part by the Nebraska Arts Council and the Nebraska Library Commission. The goal of the event is to increase recognition and appreciation of Nebraska poets and their work, raise awareness of different types of poetry, and provide an opportunity to celebrate Ted Kooser’s appointment as U.S. Poet Laureate.
NET Television producer Annie Mumgaard said, “We’d love to get a big crowd to attend. We wanted to come to Kearney to reflect the fact that there are fine Nebraska poets all over the state, so we’re really hoping people will come and support the event. All the poets we’ve selected offer unique perspectives. Ted Kooser has said that he writes verse that ‘celebrates the ordinary world’ of small-town and rural life, and I think people will really enjoy hearing what all the poets have to say as well as the beautiful, thought-provoking and sometimes very funny ways they say it.”
April 2005 is the 10th annual National Poetry Month, a program that the Academy of American Poets established in 1996 to rally Americans to a greater appreciation of contemporary poetry. NET Television is a service of NET. A complete program schedule and additional information is available online at netNebraska.org.
Contact: Mary Jo Ryan, Communications Coordinator, Nebraska Library Commission, 402-471-3434; 800-307-2665; or e-mail mjryan@nlc.state.ne.us
Release written by: Deb Miller, 402-472-9333, ext. 353, or e-mail dmiller11@unl.edu
NET Television: NET1 is Nebraska’s first public television broadcast
service and includes PBS and award-winning, locally produced public
television programming; NET2 offers live coverage of the Nebraska
Unicameral, Spanish language programming and other acquired or locally
produced programs; NET3 airs instructional programming for the classroom
and life-long learning; and NET-HD presents high-definition digital
broadcast programming displayed in a wide-screen format.
Deb Miller
NET Radio & TV Promotion
P.O. Box 83111
Lincoln, NE 68501-3111
402-472-9333, x. 353
