Uncategorized | October 2, 2008
The Nebraska Arts Council is partnering with The Backwaters Press, a Nebraska publishing company, to honor Nebraska writers awarded with the NAC’s Individual Artist Fellowships. Greg Kosmicki, editor and publisher of The Backwaters Press, and J.D. Hutton, NAC’s Individual Artist Fellowship Program manager, have collaborated on a new writers reading series which features past IAF Literature winners.
“This will be a smorgasbord for Omahans to get a taste of the richness and variety of writing that is part of our current literary scene in Nebraska,” Kosmicki says. “These writers have all been recognized by the Nebraska Arts Council as outstanding poets and writers in a State filled with outstanding poets and writers.”
The series, entitled “Wednesday Words,” will be held the second Wednesday of each month, during the noon hour, from 11:45 a.m to 1:00 p.m.. The series will be held at the Nebraska Arts Council offices at the historic Burlington Place building, 1004 Farnam Street, in Omaha’s Old Market District. The readings are free and open to the public.
“The lunch hour reading series is a great opportunity to see and hear some of Nebraska’s great writers,” said Hutton. “It also offers people who are in the Old Market a refreshing alternative to the typical lunch break. Greg and I hope to attract not only those who are familiar with our writers and enjoy their work, but also provide folks in the Old Market who may not be acquainted with Nebraska arts and culture a chance to experience the talents of the Nebraska writing community.”
The series begins on October 8th with featured Omaha-based writer, Susan Aizenberg. Ms. Aizenberg will be reading from her most recent published collection, Muse, which won the Nebraska Book Award for Poetry, and the Larry Levis Prize for 2003. She will also read from other recent work.
The series will also feature writers Rich Wyatt, Karen Gettert Shoemaker, Kelly Madigan Erlandson, Mary K. Stillwell, Jonis Agee, Michael Catherwood, Grace Bauer, Anna Monardo, Steve Langan, and others. Greg Kosmicki notes, “This group of poets, fiction writers, and creative non-fiction writers is testament to the quality of writers we are blessed to have in Nebraska-not only have these writers all won Individual Artist Fellowships from the Nebraska Arts Council, each one of them has published widely in literary magazines, and many have won prestigious prizes for their writing.”
The ongoing series will continue to be held monthly and feature a new writer each month. A schedule below details the upcoming featured writers. Further dates can be checked on the NAC website and at The Backwaters Press website. Link for both websites is listed below.
For more information on the “Wednesday Words” reading series, please contact J.D. Hutton at jayne.hutton@nebraska.gov or (402) 595-2142.
FEATURED WRITERS:
Oct. 8: Susan Aizenberg
Nov. 12: Richard David Wyatt
Dec. 10: Karen Gettert Shoemaker
Jan. 14: Kelly Madigan Erlandson
Susan Aizenberg is the winner of the 2003 Distinguished Artist Award from the Nebraska Arts Council. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in many journals, including Prairie Schooner, AGNI, Blackbird, The Journal, Laurel Review, Passages North, Third Coast, Chelsea, ONTHEBUS, and the Prague Review. Her first collection, Peru, appeared in Graywolf’s Take Three: AGNI New Poets Series, which was chosen as a “Recommended Book” by both the Poetry and Small Press editors of Amazon.com, and as a “Noted Book” by American Poet. She is the author more recently of Muse (Southern Illinois UP), a book-length collection that won the Nebraska Book Award for Poetry and the VCU Larry Levis Prize for 2003. In addition to these accomplishments, Ms. Aizenberg previously was awarded Individual Artist Fellowships in Literature from the Nebraska Arts Council in 1997 and 2000. Ms. Aizenberg holds the MFA in creative writing from Vermont College and has taught at the University of Nebraska – Omaha. She served as Poetry Editor of The Nebraska Review for ten years and later as Contributing Editor. She is an associate professor of English and Creative Writing at Creighton University, where she directs the Creative Writing Program. With Erin Belieu, she is the editor of The Extraordinary Tide: New Poetry by American Women (Columbia University Press, 2001).
The Nebraska Arts Council, a state agency, provides numerous grants, services and special initiatives that help sustain and promote the arts throughout Nebraska. The NAC is supported by the Nebraska Legislature, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Nebraska Cultural Endowment. FMI: http://nebraskaartscouncil.org/
The Backwaters Press is a non-profit literary press that seeks to publish the best poetry that can be found today, with an emphasis on Nebraska and Great Plains poets. FMI: http://www.thebackwaterspress.com/
Nebraska Arts Council
1004 Farnam Street – Plaza Level,
Omaha, NE 68102
(402)595-2122 or 800-341-4067
The Wyoming Arts Council believes that experiencing the arts should be accessible for all, including people with mental and/or physical disabilities, older adults, military/veterans, people living in institutions and those who lack access to the arts due to geographic isolation, cultural difference and economic hardship.
