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Oct. 4, 2005
 Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Ted Kooser, United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, will read from his work and discuss the writing life at an event slated for Thursday, Oct. 20, at 7:30 p.m. in Klinger-Neal Theatre, 3700 Peters Avenue, on the Morningside College campus. The public is invited to attend this free event, which is sponsored by Morningside’s Academic and Cultural Arts Series (ACAS) and the Sioux City Readings Series.
Kooser is serving a second term as the United States Poet Laureate. He is the author of eleven full-length collections of poetry and two works of non-fiction. He was awarded the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his book “Delights & Shadows,” published in 2004 by Copper Canyon Press, as well as several other awards including two National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) fellowships in poetry, two Pushcart Prizes, the Stanley Kunitz Prize, The James Boatwright Prize, and the Nebraska Book Award for poetry, among others. In addition to poetry, Kooser has written plays, fiction, personal essays, and literary criticism. His first book of prose, “Local Wonders: Seasons in the Bohemian Alps,” published by University of Nebraska Press in 2002, won the Nebraska Book Award for Nonfiction in 2003 and was chosen as the Best Book Written by a Midwestern Writer for 2002 by Friends of American Writers.
Kooser’s work has appeared in such magazines as “The Atlantic Monthly,” “The New Yorker,” “Poetry,” “The Hudson Review,” “The Nation,” and “The American Poetry Review,” to name a few. His poems are included in textbooks and anthologies used in both secondary schools and college classrooms across the country. He has read his poetry for a variety of public and academic audiences across the country and has conducted writing workshops in connection with many of these readings. As part of his role as Poet Laureate, Kooser initiated the American Life in Poetry project, a free weekly column for newspapers and online publications featuring a poem by a contemporary American poet. The American Life in Poetry project is a partnership between The Poetry Foundation and the Library of Congress.
Kooser is a native of Ames, Iowa. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Iowa State University and a master’s degree from the University of Nebraska. He is visiting professor of English at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, and a former vice-president of Lincoln Benefit Life, where he worked as an insurance representative for many years.
For more information, contact the office of Public Relations at (712) 274-5320.
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