Poetry is Alive and Well, Right Here

Meet these writers carrying on the proud tradition of poetry in the state of Kansas on December 6th, 2014 from 1-5 pm at our second annual literary fair!

Denise Low

Low, 2nd Kansas Poet Laureate, has over 25 books, including Mélange Block (Red Mountain Press) and Ghost Stories (Ks. Notable Book; The Circle -Best Native American Books of 2010). Low’s Natural Theologies: Essays (Backwaters Press) critiques mid-plains literature. Low is past board president of Associated Writers and Writing Programs. She free lances and teaches professional workshops for writers. Low and Tom Weso co-publish the independent press Mammoth Publications. Mammoth authors include Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, Xanath Caraza, Diane Glancy, Robert Day, Greg Field, William Sheldon, Stephen Meats, Lana Myers, Jonathan Holden, Pamela Tambornino, Theresa Milk, Elizabeth Schultz.

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, Ph.D., Kansas Poet Laureate Emeritus, is the author of 16 books, including a novel, a non-fiction book on the Holocaust, a bioregional memoir on cancer and community, and four poetry collections, most recently Chasing Weather, in collaboration with photographer Stephen Locke. Founder of Transformative Language Arts at Goddard College where she teaches, Mirriam-Goldberg also leads writing workshops widely, particularly for people living with serious illness and their caregivers. With singer Kelley Hunt, she co-leads writing and singing retreats.

Kevin Rabas

Rabas co-directs the creative writing program at Emporia State University and co-edits Flint Hills Review. He has five books: Bird's Horn; Lisa's Flying Electric Piano, a Kansas Notable Book and Nelson Poetry Book Award winner; Spider Face; Sonny Kenner's Red Guitar, also a Nelson Poetry Book Award winner; and Green Bike: a group novel. A native Kansan, Rabas grew up in Shawnee and attended KU, K-State, Goddard, and UMKC.

Check out our recent interview with Kevin for more about his work.

C. Malcom Ellsworth

Catherine Malcolm Ellsworth was raised on a farm in Iowa. She earned a BA in English and MFA in art from the University of Iowa before moving to Kansas 25 years ago. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Christian Science Monitor, The Flint Hills Review, Scissors and Spackle, Stone Highway Review, and online editions of Everyday Other Things and Montucky Review. In 2013, a collection of her poetry, Artesian Well, was published and the poem Wild Girl, Winter was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

We also profiled Catherine earlier this year, upon the release of her collection.

Israel Wasserstein

Israel Wasserstein, a Lecturer in English at Washburn University, was born and raised on the Great Plains. His first poetry collection, This Ecstasy They Call Damnation, was a 2013 Kansas Notable Book. His poetry and prose have appeared in Crab Orchard Review, Blue Mesa Review, Flint Hills Review, and elsewhere.

Israel was kind enough to talk to us about his work just this past fall.

Leah Sewell

Leah Sewell is assistant editor at Coconut Poetry, an MFA graduate of the University of Nebraska, and a book designer, poet, and mother. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in , Midwestern Gothic, Weave Magazine and burntdistrict. Her chapbook, Birth in Storm, was the winner of the 2012 Emerge Publications Chapbook Competition. She lives in Topeka, Kansas where she owns the quarterly lifestyle magazine, XYZ, and works as an editor at the Topeka Library.

Leah granted us an interview last year, before she worked for the library, so she didn't even have to!