2015 Poetry of Place Celebrates at the State Capitol
and Twyla Hansen (right)
On May 1, 2015, the Nebraska Writing Project hosted its annual Poetry of Place Celebration in the Warner Chambers of the Nebraska State Capitol. The twelve selected student poems were read to a full audience, mostly by the poets themselves. Nebraska State Poet Twyla Hansen and Matt Mason of the Nebraska Writers Collective also read poems. The poems were selected this year from well over 100 poems, submitted from over 40 distinct schools. Sharon Bishop, from the Nebraska Writing Project Advisory Board, prepared the poems for Twyla Hansen and Matt Mason to consider; the two poets made the final selections. Robert Brooke, Director of the Nebraska Writing Project, served as Master of Ceremonies for the event.
This year marks the tenth anniversary of the Poetry of Place Celebration. Since its start in 2006 as a program for rural secondary poets only, the Celebration has grown to include poetry by elementary, middle, and secondary students, from rural, urban and suburban schools. All the poems selected celebrate the writers’ understanding of local place.