Distinguished Visiting Writers Series welcomes Kansas Poet Laureate

The first Distinguished Visiting Writers Series event of the Pittsburg State University academic year will feature the award-winning Kansas Poet Laureate Denise Low.

The poetry reading will be held at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 20, in the Balkans Room of the Overman Student Center. The free event is sponsored by the Kansas Arts Commission, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the PSU Student Fee Council. A reception in the Heritage Room will follow the reading.

Since beginning her term as Kansas Poet Laureate, Low has inaugurated the online Ad Astra Poetry Project, which features historic and contemporary Kansas poets. In addition to her duties as Poet Laureate, she serves as interim dean of Humanities & Arts at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kan. Her blog, which highlights literary events in Kansas and Kansas City, can be read at www.deniselow.blogspot.com.

Low’s book about writing life in the Midwest grasslands, “Words of a Prairie Alchemist,” was named a Kansas Notable Book by the Kansas State Library. In addition, she has written 10 books of poetry including “Thailand Journal: Poems,” which was named a Kansas City Star Notable Book. Her writings appear regularly in publications such as North American Review, Midwest Quarterly, Kansas City Star, and Bloomsbury Review.

For more information about the reading and other Distinguished Visiting Writers Series events, contact the PSU Department of English at 620-235-4689 or visit http://www.pittstate.edu/engl/dept.html.

---Pitt State---