'Poetry from the Plains' Website Launches with April 30 Reading

Cropped image of the Poetry from the Plains promotional poster by Erin Chambers

April 27, 2016 by Robert Brooke

Poetry From the Plains: A Nebraska Perspective

Poetry Reading for the website launch of poetryfromtheplains.org

Date: April 30, 2016
Time: 2:30-4:00 PM
Place: UNL Jackie Gaughan Multicultural Center, 14th & S Street, Lincoln
Featuring Twyla Hansen, Lenora Castillo, Allison Hedge Coke, and Matt Mason

The new website, “Poetry From the Plains: A Nebraska Perspective” (poetryfromtheplain.org: launch date April 30, 2016) is a web resource for Nebraska poetry. It features selected poems, scholarly essays, and historical resources about Nebraska poets whose work addresses the cultural and geographical richness of the Great Plains. The website is hosted by UNL’s Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, and supported by grants from Humanities Nebraska and the Nebraska Arts Council. The development directors are Twyla Hansen, Nebraska State Poet, and UNL English faculty Robert Brooke and Stephen Behrendt.

Eight Nebraska poets are currently featured on the website.

The three officially recognized state poets:

  • Twyla Hansen, Current Nebraska State Poet
  • William Kloefkorn, First Nebraska State Poet
  • John Neihardt, Nebraska Poet Laureate in Perpetuity

Five additional contemporary poets whose work is explicitly centered in the cultural and natural landscapes of the Great Plains, and represents vibrant cultural and poetic traditions in the region:

  • Lenora Castillo, Latina poet from Lincoln
  • Allison Hedge Coke, American Book Award indigenous poet
  • Yvonne Hollenbeck, award-winning cowgirl poet-rancher
  • Matt Mason, Omaha slam poet, Executive Director of Nebraska Writers Collective
  • Don Welch, Neruda Award winner poet from Kearney

On the website, each poet is represented by several of their poems and essays about their writing by scholars at UNL. Additional resources include a list of other notable Nebraska poets, historical essays on the earliest poets active in Nebraska, and an annotated bibliography. The site will be an ongoing project of the Nebraska State Poet, the UNL Department of English, and the Center for Digital Research in the Humanities.

Four of the poets featured on “Poetry From the Plains: A Nebraska Perspective” will read from their work at the Poetry Reading.

Poetry from the Plains promotional poster