Perennial Strachan and Vivian Donnelley Family Keynote Address “Un Mango Grows in Kansas” at Prairie Festival 2022
Visit eight unique Love Seats wrapped in poetry at Chicago Botanic Garden in 2023
The Chicago Botanic Garden celebrates Love in Bloom in 2023 – the ways in which humans connect with nature, and the ways in which plants “love”/connect with their ecosystem. Love in Bloom includes various ‘love seats’ throughout the Garden where one can sit and see the landscape, and connect with yourself, a companion, or someone you don’t know. Each bench will be connected to a poem relative to its location. The eight poets featured are Ashley M. Jones, Christina Rossetti, Huascar Medina, Margaret Noodin, Mary Oliver, Omar Khayyám, Perry Honce McGee, and William Cullen Bryant.
Efroymson Creative Writing Series Welcomes First Artist of 2023
“Un Mango Grows in Kansas is a lived experience, and the knowledge I share is not rare or unique,” Medina says. “It is the experience of a new American, one of the most American stories we can tell.”
Medina notes that immigrants and the immigrant experience are often politicized and misrepresented to create division and advance political agendas. When members of these communities share their own stories, he says these narratives can be changed and redefined.
Kansas Poet Laureate selected as an Academy of American Poets 2022 Poet Laureate Fellow
The Academy of American Poets announced that they are awarding over $1 million to the 2022 Poet Laureate Fellows. Twenty-two poets laureate of states, cities, and counties, making positive contributions in their communities, will receive financial support for their respective public poetry programs in the year ahead.
A Poem of Gratitude From Kansas
The New York Times asked poets laureate from across the country what the people in their states had to be thankful for in this difficult year
Four Local Poets Laureate Carving Literary Legacies
“When you think of poet laureates, you probably think of those on the national stage, like Tracy K. Smith and Joy Harjo. However, 43 states appoint their own poet laureates, selecting established and passionate voices from within their own communities. These poets advance their art form in the state in a variety of ways, from leading school workshops to participating in reading series.”
“A state poet laureate’s work can also reveal the power of place within writing, representing their locale’s unique beauty, challenges, and people. From Kansas to Texas, here are four poet laureates enriching the literary community right where they live and write.”
NEA Works Podcast with Huascar Medina
