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The Nebraska Federal Writers’ Project: Remembering Writers of the 1930s: Exhibit Contents

Friday, 19 June 2015 08:39

PART I

Rudolph Umland
A Family of German Immigrants
A Nebraska Farm Boy
Broader Horizons
From Student to Hobo
Meeting Lowry Wimberly
Lowry C. Wimberly, Between Laughter and Ghosts

PART II

The Federal Writers’ Project
Nebraska Beginnings
Circumventing a Crisis
Writers at Work
Nebraska Lore
Weldon Kees and the Writers’ Project
Loren Eiseley and the Writers’ Project
Publications and Impact
Looking Back at the Federal Writers’ Project in Nebraska

PART III

Documents
Notes and Bibliography
Study Questions
Additional Content Information

A Web Exhibit from The Jane Pope Geske Heritage Room of Nebraska Authors at Lincoln City Libraries. This project was supported in part by the United States Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered through the Nebraska Library Commission. Exhibit & Text by Stephen Cloyd. © Lincoln City Libraries, 2007

John H. Ames Reading Series: Readings by Nebraska Authors

Friday, 24 October 2014 15:56

Unless otherwise noted, readings are held in the Jane Pope Geske Heritage Room of Nebraska Authors. Programs begin at 2:00 p.m. Call (402) 441-8516 for information.

Sunday, April 14, 2024, 2:00 – 3:30 p.m.
Auditorium, Bennett Martin Public Library 4th Floor

Poets Kelly Weber and Julie Paschold will join us to read from their recent books, You Bury the Birds in My Pelvis and Horizons.

All Ames Reading Series programs are taped for later broadcast on LNKTV City. The broadcast schedule is available here. Many of these programs are also available to watch on YouTube.

30 Years and 200+ Readings!
Lists of the 200+ Ames Readings from the past 30 years organized by presenter and by date are available here.

Videos of these readings have been provided by LNKTV. Video and sound quality may vary. (Click on the names to view the videos.)

Videos from previous years:

2023 Joy Castro; Prairie Trout Writers Group (Pam Barger, Twyla Hansen, Mary Pipher, Marge Saiser, Karen Shoemaker)
2021-2022 Tosca Lee; Chris Harding Thornton; Hilda Raz and Grace Bauer
2020 Gretchen Garrison; Theodore Wheeler; Dirk Chatelain
2019 Terese Svoboda; Matt Mason and Stacey Waite; Jeff Korbelik; Sarah Dale and Ellie Piersol
2018 Joel Green; The Launch of NebraskaAuthors.org: Charlene Neely and Gerry Cox
2017 Pamela Barger, Alan Boye, John Janovy, Jr., Paul Johnsgard, Mary Pipher, and Barbara Schmitz; J.V. Brummels, Jim Cihlar, Cat Dixon, Twyla Hansen, Greg Kosmicki, Greg Kuzma, Glenna Luschei, Sarah McKinstry Brown, Marjorie Saiser, Daniel Simon, and Mary K. Stillwell
2016 Jonis Agee, Anna Monardo, Ladette Randolph, Timothy Schaffert, and Karen Shoemaker; Steve Langan, Bradford Tice, and Laura Madeline Wiseman
2015 Tonya Kuper and Lydia Kang; Leta Powell Drake and Ron Hull
2014 Linda Battisti and John Stevens Berry, Sr.; Stephanie Whitson, Karen Shoemaker, Helen Waring Johnson, Andrew Jewell, and Twyla Hansen
2013 Lucy Adkins, Becky Breed, Lisa Knopp, Marjorie Saiser, and Mary K. Stillwell; Kwame Dawes
2012 Lou Leviticus; Mary Helen Stefaniak; Paul Dickey; Susan Grace Dittman; Sarah McKinstry-Brown
2011 Ted Kooser; Marge Saiser; Roger Aden; James Cihlar; Brent Spencer; John Janovy; Sarah Fairchild and Others
2010 Joseph Wydeven; Glenna Luschei; Rick Cypert; Hilda Raz; Dominique Garay and Oscar Rios; N. L. Sharp; Michael Forsberg
2009 Jeff Barnes; Amil Quayle; Amelia Maria de la Cruz Montes; Harley Jane Kozak; Joe Starita; Stephanie Grace Whitson; Robert McEwen
2008 Mary Elizabeth Anderson; Susan and John Wunder; William Kloefkorn; Sean Doolittle; Ted Kooser; Rajean Luebs Shepherd; Matt Mason
2007 Greg Kosmicki; Charlotte Hogg; Twyla Hansen and Paul Johnsgard; Ladette Randolph, Joe Starita, John Price, and Lisa Knopp; Betty Levitov; Rajean Luebs Shepherd; Kelly Madigan Erlandson
2006 Carlos Frey and Bill Kloefkorn; Alex Kava; Joy Carol; Ladette Randolph; Susanne George Bloomfield; Robert Reed; Shirley Maly
2005 James Solheim; Pam Barger; Charles Fort; Julie Kaewert; David Gardiner; Karen Shoemaker
2004 Don Welch; Lucy Adkins; Robert McEwen; Kathleene West; Paul Johnsgard; Brent Spencer; Lisa Knopp
2003 William Kloefkorn; Marilyn Dorf; Marjorie Saiser; Timothy Schaffert; Hilda Raz; Steve Buhler; the April 17, 2003 presentation by Twyla Hansen is not available at this time.
2002 Nancy McCleery; Christine Pappas; Steve Langan; Richard Dooling; David Bristow; Roy Scheele; Ruth Thone
2001 Richard Kimbrough; Grace Bauer; Mary K. Stillwell; Sarah Fairchild, Lucy Adkins and Robert King; Greg Kosmicki; Constance Merritt; Jonis Agee
2000 Susan Rosowski; Judith Slater; Barbara Jones; Karen Shoemaker; David Wishart; Paul Eggers; the February 17, 2000 presentation by Jim Reese is not available at this time.
1999 Robert Reed; Marge Saiser; Hobe Hays; PlainSense of Things 2 (Twyla Hansen, Ted Kooser, Marge Saiser, Roy Scheele); Neil Harrison; Ron Block
1998 Barbara Schmitz; Roy Scheele; Terri Brown Davidson; J. V. Brummels; Art Homer; Victoria Alexander; Ruth Thone
1997 Charlyne Berens; John Janovy; Hilda Raz;Lela Knox Shanks; Stephanie Grace Whitson; Carol Miles Petersen; no video was produced for the January 16, 1997 presentation by John Sorenson.
1996 Paul Johnsgard; Robert McEwen; Joe Starita; Marion Marsh Brown; Irene Rose Gray; Marly Swick
1995 Mignon Eberhart (presented by Barbara Rix and Lila McVay); Betty Stevens; Lenora Castillo; Fred Murray; Clarence Davis; Cheryl St. John; James Reed
1994 Marilyn Dorf; Jim Cihlar; Otto Rosfeld; Susan Strayer Deal; Nancy McCleery; Helen Winter Stauffer; Tom Adamson
1993 Ronald Piggee; M.K. Lorens; Amil Quayle; Twyla Hansen; Joan Rossiter Burney; Robert Reed; Susanne George, Claire Johnson Mattern (presented by Carren Miller)
1992 Marge Saiser; Tamora Whitney; James Fargher; Ruth Raymond Thone; Fredrick Zydek; Sally Herrin; Frederick Luebke; Charlene Neely; Marcia Southwick
1991 Roy Scheele; Helen Crosswait; Robert Schenck; Don Welch; Kate Cavanaugh; Evelyn Haller; Tom Adamson; Nancy McCleery
1990 Herb Hyde; Fran Reinehr; Stephen Behrendt; Les Whipp; Timothy Houghton; William Kloefkorn; Terry Oberst; David McCleery and Clay Walker; no video was produced for the December 13, 1990 presentation by Greg Kuzma.
1989 John Phillips Palmer; Miriam Ben-Yaacov; Kent Haruf; Erin Belieu; Nancy Peters Hastings; Ella Robinson; Tamora Whitney; no video was produced for the November 16, 1989 presentation by Greg Kosmicki.
1988 Joyletta Alice; David McCleery; Glenna Luschei; Charles Flowerday; Karen Mockler; John Stevens Berry; Twyla Hansen; Georgia Robertson; Kim Wheeler; Calvin Miller
1987 Judith Nelson; Mark Sanders; Ann Bardens; Sally Herrin; Stephen Behrendt; John McNamara; Lorraine Duggin; Trish Murphy; Barbara Schmitz; Richard Duggin
1986 Peg Sheldrick; Ted Kooser; Marcia Southwick; Susan Strayer Deal; Fredrick Zydek; Michael Zangari; Dwight Marsh; Art Homer; Carol Ann Russell; Virginia Gilbert
1985 William Kloefkorn; Kathleene West; Chuck Jagoda; Mordecai Marcus; Catherine Kidwell

Heritage Room Annotated Video List

Thursday, 16 October 2014 20:26

Series:

John H. Ames Reading Series
Poetry and Fiction Series
Celebrating Nebraska Women
The Frontier Heritage in Nebraska Literature and Arts
Nebraska: The Individual Voice
Scandinavian Lecture Series
Three Centuries of Germans in America
Women Writers of the Great Plains
Special Programs
Subject Index

John H. Ames Reading Series

This reading series, sponsored by the Nebraska Literary Heritage Association, showcases Nebraska poets and writers reading their own works. Originally called the Poetry and Fiction Reading Series in 1984, the series was named for John H. Ames, a benefactor and trustee of Lincoln City Libraries, in 1985. These programs were videotaped by Lincoln City Libraries until 1990, when the Citizen Information Center produced them for broadcast on Lincoln’s Government and Educational cable channel. Programs held after 1991 include interviews with authors describing their Nebraska connection, their writing style, influences and career and much more. See also the Poetry and Fiction section for earlier programs.

Tom Adamson reads his poetry and from his journal, 1991
Omaha/Fremont
February 21, 1991
Total Running Time – 47 Minutes
Ames Reading #53

Adamson is a Business instructor at Midland Lutheran College in Fremont. Author of two collections of lyrical poetry, All About the Girl Who Came to Stay and Blackbird Sunday. Along with several selections of his poems and lyrics, Adamson will also read excerpts from his personal journal detailing his experience in prison as a white collar criminal.

Tom Adamson reads his poetry and from his journal, 1994
Lincoln/Fremont
January 20, 1994
Total Running Time – 42 Minutes
Ames Reading #78

Tom Adamson creates lyric poetry and would someday like to collaborate with a composer to write songs. He has published two volumes of lyrics entitled: All About the Girl Who Came to Stay (1986) and Blackbird Sunday (1988). Along with several selections of his poems and lyrics, Adamson reads excerpts from his personal journal. Published as Idle Speed: One Year in Prison (1992), it details his experiences in prison for creating a Ponzi scheme dealing with stock options. The author describes this work as “intense and vulgar” as it reflects his actual time in prison.

Roger Aden reads from his book, Huskerville: A Story of Nebraska Football, Fans, and the Power of Place
Athens, OH
September 18, 2011
Total Running Time – 74 minutes
Ames Reading #198th

Roger was born in Scottsbluff, but has also lived in the Nebraska towns of Gering and Lincoln. He received three degrees, all at UNL, earning his PhD in 1989. Roger has worked at the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire and is currently at Ohio University in Athens. His writing includes non-fiction and academic writing. His most recent book is Huskerville: a Story of Nebraska Football, Fans, and the Power of Place, published by McFarland Publishing in 2008.

Lucy Adkins reads a variety of her poems
Lincoln
October 21, 2004
Total Running Time – 65 minutes
Ames Reading #151

Lucy Adkins, a Nance County native, is a poet; she also writes folksongs with help from her husband and has written a novel that she says is not quite polished enough. In this program, she reads nature poems, poetry from her early days, and poems from a manuscript.

Jonis Agee reads from her short stories and her novel, The Weight of Dreams
Denton
January 18, 2001
Total Running Time – 54 minutes
Ames Reading #125

Jonis Agee was born in Omaha. She now lives near Denton and is a professor of English and creative writing at the University of Nebraska. Agee is the author of several novels and collections of short stories, many of which are set in Nebraska’s Sandhills. Agee received her bachelor’s in English from the University of Iowa and her master’s and Ph.D. from the State University of New York-Binghamton. In this program, Agee reads selections from her collection of short stories, Taking the Wall (1999) and her novel, The Weight of Dreams (2000).

Victoria Alexander reads from Play it Again, Sam
Omaha
February 19, 1998
Total Running Time – 86 Minutes
Ames Reading #106

Formerly a news reporter, Omaha resident and UNL graduate in Journalism, Victoria Alexander has turned her writing talents to the genre of romance. The author of many novels, Yesterday and Forever (1995), The Princess and the Pea (1996), and The Perfect Wife (1996), have received critical attention. In this program, Alexander discusses the research required to write period romance and reads from her new work, Play It Again, Sam (1997), a two-part story with a time-traveling border collie as the main character.

Joyletta Alice reads her poetry
Lincoln
December 15, 1988
Total Running Time – 38 Minutes
Ames Reading #35

After growing up in Omaha, Alice went to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, moved to California for eight years and then returned to Lincoln. She was the 1988-89 recipient of the YWCA Tribute to Women Award and is active on the Lincoln-Lancaster Commission on the Status of Women. Activist Fannie Lou Hammer, serves as a role model and inspiration to Alice, and Harlem Renaissance poet, Mae Cowdery, is a favorite of hers. She is the author of three books of poetry: Winter (1988); Sudden Reunion and Secrets, Volume I. In this program, she will read excerpts from Winter and other selections.

Mary Elizabeth Anderson reads from her book, Gracie Gannon, Middle School Zero
Lincoln
November 16, 2008
Total Running Time – 59 minutes
Ames Reading #179

A former elementary teacher, Mary Anderson has published over one hundred stories for younger readers. She has also written books for children on such topics as cerebral palsy, manners and the Lincoln Highway. Her recent book, Gracie Gannon: Middle School Zero, focuses on bullying and self-esteem.

Anne Bardens reads from her fiction, 1987
Lincoln
October 15, 1987
Total Running Time – 51 Minutes
Ames Reading #23

Bardens received her doctorate in English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and subsequently taught in the English Department. She is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Central Michigan. In this program she reads selections from her poetic novel manuscript entitled, Namesake. The work is divided into three parts which examines the life of a woman and her relationships with others through poetry and prose. Barden calls her work, “… a journey into self-discovery” in which the main character “writes herself into being.”

Pam Barger shares her poetry
Lincoln
October 20, 2005
Total Running Time – 60 minutes
Ames Reading #157

Pam Barger, a Lincoln native, is a poet, a piano teacher and a musician. Her works have appeared in Platte Valley Review, Nebraska Territory, and West Branch as well as other publications. The poems she chose to read do reflect her interests – family, nature, music, parenting, gardening, music, cars, solitude, and music. It’s apparent that music is a recurring theme in her poetry.

Jeff Barnes reads from his book, Forts of the Northern Plains: Guide to the Historic Military Posts of the Plains Indian Wars.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Total Running Time – 58 minutes
Ames Reading #186

A freelance writer and fifth-generation Nebraskan who lives in Omaha, Jeff Barnes has been a newspaper reporter and editor, the past chairman of the Nebraska Hall of Fame Commission, and the former marketing director of the Durham Western Heritage Museum. He has researched, photographed, and written his first book, a guide entitled Forts of the Northern Plains, published by Stackpole Books.

Grace Bauer reads from her poetry Lincoln
October 18, 2001
Total Running Time – 61 Minutes
Ames Reading #130

Grace Bauer is a faculty member in the English Department and coordinator of the creative writing program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. A native of Pennsylvania, she has degrees from Temple University and the University of Massachusetts. She believes poetry can make people more aware of themselves, of others, and of the world in which we live. Bauer won an Academy of American Poets award for three consecutive years (1985-87), the Irene Leache Poetry Award (1994), and has also been honored with an excellence in teaching award at the university level. Her books include The Women at the Well, The House Where I’ve Never Lived, Where You’ve Seen Her, and Field Guide to the Ineffable: Poems on Marcel Duchamp. In this presentation, she reads selections from her various works.

Stephen Behrendt reads his poetry, 1987
Lincoln
July 16, 1987
Total Running Time – 42 Minutes
Ames Reading #21

Behrendt is a Professor of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a member of the advisory board for the Prairie Schooner. His poetry has been published in The Nebraska Review, Kansas Quarterly, Plainsong, and Prairie Schooner. In addition to his poetry, Behrendt has written scholarly essays specializing in British Romanticism, especially Blake, Wordsworth and Shelley. He has written The Moment of Explosion: Blake and the Illustration of Milton, (1983), which was published by the University of Nebraska Press. In this program he will read selections of his poetry.

Stephen Behrendt reads his poetry, 1990
Lincoln
September 20, 1990
Total Running Time – 40 Minutes
Ames Reading #49

Behrendt is an English professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with specialities in British Romanticism and Comparative Literature. He has been a member of the advisory board for the Prairie Schooner, and has received the Annis Chaikin Sorenson Award for Distinguished Teaching in the Humanities. His poetry has appeared in numerous publications most notably, Plainsongs, Nebraska Review, Prairie Schooner and Kansas Quarterly. This is his second poetry reading in the Ames Reading Series.

Erin Belieu reads her poetry
Omaha
April 20, 1989
Total Running Time – 49 Minutes
Ames Reading #39

Belieu, a native of Omaha, is a graduate of the writing programs at both the University of Nebraska-Omaha and Boston University. She is currently the poetry editor of AGNI Magazine. In this program she reads some of her newly written works, as well as pieces from her chapbook, Stealing Sounds from the Phoenicians (1986) published by UNO’s fine press.

Miriam Ben-Yaacov reads from her stories
Omaha
September 21, 1989
Total Running Time – 52 Minutes
Ames Reading #41

Ben-Yaacov was born on a farm in South Africa and moved to Omaha, Nebraska, in the late 1970’s. Her short stories predominately feature South African themes and settings, incorporating an immigrant perspective. These stories have appeared in Nexus, Short Story Inter-national, Nebraska Review and the Nebraska English Journal and are featured in this reading.

Charlyne Berens reads from Leaving Your Mark: The Political Career of Nebraska State Senator Jerome Warner
Seward
November 20, 1997
Total Running Time – 54 Minutes
Ames Reading #104

Charlyne Berens is a former newspaper publisher and assistant professor of journalism whose master’s degree in political science served as a springboard to a political biography of State Senator Jerome Warner. Warner, known as the “Dean” of the Nebraska legislature, served for over thirty years as an influential speaker and chairman until his death in 1997. In this program, Berens reads from Leaving Your Mark: The Political Career of Nebraska State Senator Jerome Warner (1997).

John Stevens Berry reads from his work
Lincoln
May 19, 1988
Total Running Time – 65 Minutes
Ames Reading #30

Berry is a Lincoln attorney and Fellow of the American Board of Criminal Lawyers. He studied under author Wallace Stegner at Stanford University, where he completed his undergraduate work. Berry is the author of, Darkness of Snow (1973), which has won several awards from the Academy of American Poets. He has also written Those Gallant Men: On Trial in Vietnam (1974), which details his experiences as Chief Defense Counsel for soldiers during the Vietnam War. Berry also writes “Sherlock Holmes stories” which have been published in the United States, England and Japan. In this program he will read from his poetry and prose.

Ron Block reads from his short stories
North Platte
February 18, 1999
Total Running Time – 51 Minutes
Ames Reading #112

Ron Block is a native of Gothenburg and currently teaches English at Mid-Plains Community College in North Platte and he is also the author of Dismal River: A Narrative Poem (1990). Block is a graduate of the University of Nebraska and his stories have been widely published. In this program, Block reads stories from his new collection The Dirty Shame Hotel (1998), including “The Gothenburg Marching Band” and “A Bedtime Story,” which both highlight Block’s odd sense of humor which he fuses with a dark sense of foreboding.

Susanne George Bloomfield reads from her book Impertinences
Kearney
March 16, 2006
Total Running Time – 80 minutes
Ames Reading #161

Susanne George Bloomfield is a life-long resident of Nebraska. As a member of the University of Nebraska-Kearney English Department, she holds the Martin Distinguished Professorship. She is also the recipient of the Pratt-Heins Excellence in Education Award. She is primarily a biographer, although she is also a published poet. She is the author of The Adventures of the Woman Homesteader: The Life and Letters of Elinor Pruitt Stewart, Letters on an Elk Hunt, and Kate M. Cleary. For this program, Bloomfield reads excerpts from her book Impertinences: Selected Writings of Elia Peattie, Journalist in the Gilded Age.

David L. Bristow reads from his first book
Omaha
March 21, 2002
Total Running Time – 75 Minutes
Ames Reading #134

David Bristow, former managing editor of Nebraska Life magazine, has lived in the state since 1992. He first came to Omaha to work as a counselor at Richard Young Psychiatric Hospital. He describes himself as a storyteller and believes good stories can provide a window into the human condition. He states that writers must earn the right to be heard and can do so by first telling stories well. Bristow started writing seriously at the age of 16. He has written for several Nebraska publications. In this presentation, he reads two chapters from his first book: A Dirty, Wicked Town – Tales of 19th Century Omaha.

Marion Marsh Brown reads from her books Homeward the Arrow’s Flight and Susette LaFlesche, Advocate for Native American Rights
Omaha
April 18, 1996
Total Running Time – 54 Minutes
Ames Reading #94

Prolific Omaha writer Marion Marsh Brown has been writing for over 45 years for readers “from age 8 to 80.” Her body of works include both fiction and nonfiction and her greatest satisfaction comes from readers recognizing the “basic values” in her writing. In this program Brown reads from her non fiction works Homeward the Arrow’s Flight (1980), which recounts the life of Dr. Susan La Flesche; and Susette La Flesche: Advocate for Native American Rights (1992).

Terri Brown-Davidson reads her poetry
Lincoln
September 17, 1998
Total Running Time – 59 Minutes
Ames Reading #109

Terri Brown-Davidson is a self-styled romantic poet whose poems defy the ordinary. She is a professor of English at the University of Nebraska and has received degrees from San Jose State, Vermont College and the University of Nerbraska. Her chapbooks include the award-winning Rag Men (1994) and The Doll Artist’s Daughter (1997) and her poems have been published in top poetry journals. In this program, Brown-Davidson reads her poetry.

J.V. Brummels reads his poetry, 1998
Winside
April 16, 1998
Total Running Time – 61 Minutes
Ames Reading #108

J.V. Brummels is a rancher and creative writing teacher at Wayne State College. His poetry has been published in book form in a collection entitled Sunday’s Child, as well as in the Prairie Schooner, Southwest Review, and anthologies. His short story Clay Hills was published by the fine arts press, Nosila Press in 1996. In this program, Brummels reads a selection of his poems, many of which explore Nebraskans’ relationship to their state.

Steve Buhler examines films based on Shakespeare’s works
January 16, 2003
Total Running Time – 53 Minutes
Ames Reading #139

Steve Buhler, a Shakespearean scholar, is a member of the faculty in the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is a recipient of UNL’s Outstanding Teaching and Instructional Creativity Award and the author of Shakespeare in the Cinema – Ocular Proof. In this reading, he examines some of the many films based on Shakespeare’s work, focusing on interpretations by Orson Welles, Laurence Olivier, and Kenneth Branagh.

Joan Rossiter Burney reads from her humorous columns
Hartington
April 15, 1993
Total Running Time – 49 Minutes
Ames Reading #72

Burney describes herself as “one of life’s cheerleaders.” A columnist, author, and motivational humorist, she is also a counselor and presenter of speeches, seminars and workshops. Burney was named Mother of the Year in 1991 and has received over 225 state and national writing awards. Her regular columns appear in Nebraska Farmer, The Catholic Voice, Nebraska Cattleman, and several regional newspapers. She has also authored The Keepers, Volume 1 (1987) and 2 (1989) and Sharing Your Faith With Your Child (1984 and 1992). This program features several selections of her humorous columns.

Joy Carol: Author, Speaker and Counselor
New York City
September 21, 2006
Total Running Time – 67 minutes
Ames Reading #163

Joy Carol, raised on a farm near Clatonia, NE and a graduate of Nebraska Wesleyan University, currently resides in New York City. She is an author, counselor, and spiritual director who conducts seminars on a variety of topics, including issues of particular interest to women. She has been an international consultant on women and development for the Ford Foundation, the United Nations, Save the Children and other organizations. Carol was co-author of the official report on the United Nation’s “Decade for Women.” In this Ames program, she reads from two of her books: Towers of Hope and The Fabric of Friendship.

Lenora Castillo reads her poetry
Lincoln
September 21, 1995
Total Running Time – 30 Minutes
Ames Reading #89

Born in Scotts Bluff County in Western Nebraska, Castillo currently pursues a degree in creative writing at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her latina-themed poetry has appeared in The Prairie Schooner and The Nebraska Humanities Magazine and in 1994 Castillo received the Vreeland Award in writing. In this program Castillo reads selections from her current poetry.

Kate Cavanaugh reads from her humorous columns
Omaha
April 18, 1991
Total Running Time – 32 Minutes
Ames Reading #56

A native of St. Charles, Illinois, Cavanaugh is a graduate of Creighton University in Omaha. She currently works as a columnist for the Omaha World Herald, where she writes humorous tales of her family, which includes her husband, John, former U.S. Congressman, and their eight children. Cavanaugh has written several works including, Mother’s Day (1989) and I Can’t Sleep With Those Elves Watching Me (1990). This program features several selections of her humorous columns.

Jim Cihlar reads his poetry
Omaha
October 20, 1994
Total Running Time – 36 Minutes
Ames Reading #83

An Omaha native, Cihlar received his Ph.D. in English from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and has taught writing and literature at UNL and Southeast Community College -Lincoln. In 1988, he won the Academy of American Poets first place award, and his works have appeared in Plainsongs, WholeNotes, Bitterroot, Leaves of Grass and Midwest Poetry Review. Cihlar has served as former editorial assistant for the Great Plains Quarterly and Prairie Schooner. He is currently the Publications Editor and Media Liaison at the Nebraska Humanities Council.

James Cihlar, Poet, Editor, reads from his poetry books, Undoing and Metaphysical Bailout
St. Paul, MN
April 17, 2011
Total Running Time – 53 minutes
Ames Reading #197

James Cihlar was born in Omaha but currently lives in St. Paul, MN. He has one degree from the University of Iowa and several from UNL. His writing includes poetry, essays, book reviews, interviews, and features. His recent publications include Undoing, published by Little Pear Press in 2008, and Metaphysical Bailout, Pudding House Press, 2010.

Helen Crosswait reads her poetry
Lincoln
October 17, 1991
Total Running Time – 40 Minutes
Ames Reading #59

Crosswait was born on the Rosebud Reservation in White River, South Dakota. A graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, her course work emphasized Women’s Studies and English. After graduation she found herself drawn to long-term work with the people on the Rosebud Reservation and to Native American issues and culture. Crosswait’s humorous writings are a mixture of “autobiographical prose, poetry and anecdotes about real people.” Her writings are collected in the book A Riot in a Parrot Shoppe and Other Erruptions (1991).

Rick Cypert reads from his biography of Mignon Eberhart and a book of her short stories
Lincoln, NE
September 19, 2010
Total Running Time: 47 minutes
Ames Reading #191

Rick Cypert, an English professor at Nebraska Wesleyan University since 1987, hails from Texas. He has degrees from McMurry College, Iowa State University and Texas Christian University. He has been intrigued with Nebraska mystery writer, Mignon Eberhart, writing a biography about her entitled, America’s Agatha Christie: Mignon Good Eberhart: Her Life and Works, published by Susquehanna University Press in 2005. He then co-edited Dead Yesterday and Other Stories by Mignon G. Eberhart, published in Crippen & Landru’s Lost Classics series in 2007.

Clarence Davis reads his poetry
Lincoln
March 16, 1995
Total Running Time – 60 Minutes
Ames Reading #87

Originally from Maryland, Davis has lived in Nebraska since 1973. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Education from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and is currently a graduate student in English under the direction of Nebraska poet, Greg Kuzma. Davis recently published a chapbook entitled, Red Rover, Red Rover (1994) and his poems have also appeared in the poetry collections Poems for the Dead and The New American Poetry Anthology. In this program, Davis reads several of his poems, many of which have been influenced by his time serving in Vietnam.

Kwame Dawes reads selections from his new book, Duppy Conqueror: New and Selected Poems
Lincoln
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Total Running Times – 60 minutes
Ames Reading #206

Kwame Dawes was born in Ghana, grew up in Jamaica, and was educated at Jamaica College, the University of the West Indies, and the University of New Brunswick where he earned his PhD. He taught for a number of years at the University of South Carolina. Currently he is the Glenna Luschei Editor of Prairie Schooner and a UNL Chancellor’s Professor of English. He recently received a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, which will support his work on the poem cycle, “August: A Quintet,” based on work of August Wilson, an American playwright, Pulitzer Prize winner whose work illustrated the African-American experience in the 20th century. Kwame is an award-winning author with some sixteen books of poetry and many books of non-fiction, criticism, drama, and fiction to his credit. Recently, Kwame and Prairie Schooner Managing Editor Marianne Kunkel took a Nebraska tour, “Prairie Schooner Winter 2012 Library Tour” featuring public libraries in Alliance, Battle Creek, Beatrice, Broken Bow, Central City, Fremont, Neligh, Norfolk, Omaha, Potter, Stromsburg, South Sioux City. We’re pleased to add the Heritage Room and Lincoln City Libraries to that list!

Susan Strayer Deal reads her poetry, 1986
Lincoln
September 25, 1986
Total Running Time – 30 Minutes
Ames Reading #12

Deal, a native Nebraskan, received her degrees from Kearney State College and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her works have appeared in the Prairie Schooner, Poetry Now, Cottonwood Review and Ohio Journal and in the collections All My Grandmothers Could Sing (1984) and Adjoining Rooms (1985). Deal was the recipient of the Writers’ Choice Award, from the Pushcart Foundation, 1984-85, and the Poetry in Motion Award, sponsored by the University of Nebraska-Omaha, 1984. Collections of her own poetry include No Moving Parts (1980) and The Dark is a Door (1984).

Susan Strayer Deal reads her poetry, 1994
Lincoln
April 21, 1994
Total Running Time – 50 Minutes
Ames Reading #81

Deal is a poet, essayist, and short fiction writer. She was a recipient of the Writer’s Choice Award, from the Pushcart Foundation, and the Poetry In Motion Award, from the University of Nebraska-Omaha. A contributor to many anthologies and journals, Deal’s works have appeared in All My Grandmothers Could Sing (1984); Adjoining Rooms (1985); the Prairie Schooner, and Whole Notes. Her most recent works include Trees and Flowers (1991) and The Shape of Herself (1993). This is her second appearance in the Ames Reading Series.

Paul Dickey reads from his book, They Say This Is How Death Came into the World
Omaha, NE
March 18, 2012
Total Running Time: 67 minutes
Ames reading #203

Paul was born in Kansas, but has lived in Omaha since 1985. He has degrees in Psychology and Mathematics and the History & Philosophy of Science; he is interested in writing as well. He has written poetry, fiction, short non-fiction and plays. He also has a poem published in Nebraska Presence: An Anthology of Poetry, “Constellation.” His latest book is titled They Say This Is How Death Came into the World, published in 2011.

Susan Grace Dittman reads from her book, Abraham Lincoln’s Shining Star: The Inspiring Story of Abraham Lincoln and Nebraska
Lincoln, NE
February 19, 2012
Total Running Time: 58 minutes
Ames Reading #202

Born in Philadelphia, Susan has lived in a number of places as well as Lincoln. She has degrees from Cornell University and Northwestern University. Her interest in historical writing led her to write Abraham Lincoln’s Shining Star: The Inspiring Story of Abraham Lincoln and Nebraska; in it, she connects Nebraska and Lincoln, the only U. S. state capital named after our 16th president with Abraham Lincoln’s influence on the state’s formation and development.

Richard Dooling reads from his forthcoming novel, Bet Your Life
Omaha
April 18, 2002
Total Running Time – 56 Minutes
Ames Reading #135

Richard Dooling, author and attorney, is a native Nebraskan. Born, reared, and currently residing in Omaha, Dooling has undergraduate and law degrees from St. Louis University. He has worked as a respiratory therapist in an ICU and as an employment-discrimination lawyer. As a high school student he wondered whether he could be a writer. After winning a short story competition in college, he began to seriously consider being an author. As of this date, he has published four books: Critical Care, White Man’s Grave, Brainstorm, and Blue Streak. White Man’s Grave was a finalist for the 1994 National Book Award. Here he reads from his forthcoming novel, Bet Your Life, an insurance investigation murder mystery.

Sean Doolittle reads his short story, “Mr. Big Deal,” and several chapters from his manuscript, Safer
Omaha
April 17, 2008
Total Running Time – 75 minutes
Ames #176

An Omaha resident, a Nebraska native, and the 2007-2008 Nebraska Literary Heritage Association honorary author member, Sean Doolittle is the author of several suspense/crime novels including Dirt, Burn, Rain Dogs, and the most recent, The Cleanup.

Marilyn Dorf reads her poetry
Lincoln
November 17, 1994
Total Running Time – 60 Minutes
Ames Reading #84

Dorf is a Lincoln poet and writer, and a member of both the Nebraska Writers’ Guild and the Chapparal Poets. She writes primarily free-verse poetry, short stories and articles, many of which she has contributed to publications such as Kansas Quarterly, Plainsongs, WholeNotes, Mankato Poetry Review and Midwest Poetry Review. Her poem, “Waiting Out the Wind” was a 1988 Plainsongs Award Winner. Her poems are collected in Windmills Walk the Night (1992).

Marilyn Dorf reads from a number of her works, including This Red Hill
Lincoln
October 16, 2003
Total Running Time – 61 Minutes
Ames Reading #144

Marilyn Dorf, a native of Albion who now resides in Lincoln, is a poet and author. She writes some short stories and articles but focuses mainly on free verse poetry. Her work has appeared in a wide variety of poetry journals and reviews. She is a member of the Lincoln Chapter of the Nebraska Chaparral Poets and much of her poetry reflects her abiding love of nature. In this program she reads selections from a number of her works, including her latest, This Red Hill.

Lorraine Duggin reads from her work
Omaha
April 16, 1987
Total Running Time – 47 Minutes
Ames Reading #19

Duggin received her master’s degree in English from the University of Nebraska-Omaha, and is a doctoral candidate in Creative Writing at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her poetry and fiction have won several awards including the First Prize from the Academy of American Poets, and a nomination for the Pushcart Prize in 1984 for her short fiction. She has taught writing at UNO’s Community Writers’ Workshop, Creighton University, and Metropolitan Community College. Her works have been published in All My Grandmothers Could Sing (1984), Plainsongs and the Prairie Schooner. In this program, she will read selections from both her poetry and short fiction.

Richard Duggin reads from his short story “The Great Teacher”
Omaha
January 15, 1987
Total Running Time – 72 Minutes
Ames Reading #16

Duggin is a Creative Writing Professor at the University of Nebraska-Omaha Writers’ Workshop. He edited the literary magazine, Annex 21: Coming Home, and was instrumental in organizing UNO’s reading series. Fiction editor for the Nebraska Review, he is also an award-winning novelist, with fiction awards from Playboy and Kansas Quarterly. Duggin’s works have been published in Laurel Review and Beliot Fiction Journal. He is the author of a novel entitled, The Music Box Treaty (1982). In this program, Duggin will read from his short story, “The Great Teacher.”

The life and career of Mignon Eberhart
Lincoln
November 16, 1995
Total Running Time – 44 Minutes
Ames Reading #91

Mignon G. Eberhart was born in Lincoln’s University Place in 1899. By the early 1940’s she was the third highest money-earning woman detective-story writer in the world, only outranked by Agatha Christie and Mary Roberts Reinhart. By the late 1980’s she had written almost 60 novels, not to mention numerous short stories and plays. Nebraskans especially enjoy her work as many scenes in her early books are derived from her experiences in Lincoln. In this program, Barbara Rix and Lila McVay, both Eberhart enthusiasts, describe Eberhart’s life and writing career, which is as interesting as her mysteries.

Paul Eggers reads from his novel, Saviors.
Lincoln
January 20, 2000
Total Running Time – 41 minutes
Ames Readng #118

Paul Eggers is an English instructor who received his Ph.D. in English from the University of Nebraska. His debut novel, Saviors (1998) is based in part on his experience as a Peace Corp and United Nations volunteer in Malaysia in the 1970’s. The novel, set in a Malaysian refugee camp for Vietnamese boat people in 1979 has been highly praised for its portrayal of the complexities of international humanitarian intervention. In this program, Eggers reads from his novel, Saviors.

Kelly Madigan Erlandson
Lincoln
January 18, 2007
Total Running Time – 70 minutes
Ames Reading #166

Lincolnite Kelly Madigan Erlandson is a state-licensed drug and alcohol counselor. She is also a poet and essayist. Her chapbook, Born in the House of Love, won the Main-Traveled Roads Chapbook Award in 2004. Her work has been published in Barrow Street, Prairie Schooner, The Massachusetts Review, Puerto del Sol and other publications. Erlandson’s work has also appeared in the anthologies, Times of Sorrow/Times of Grace and Crazy Woman Creek. She was honored with a Nebraska Arts Council Distinguished Artist Award in Non-fiction in 2006. During this program, she reads her poetry and talks a bit about her book Getting Sober: A Practical Guide to Making It through the First Thirty Days.

Sarah Fairchild, Lucy Adkins, and Robert King read from the Nebraska Poets Calendar
April 19, 2001
Total Running Time – 60 minutes
Ames Reading #128

Sarah Fairchild is the founding editor of the Nebraska Poets Calendar that is published by Black Star Press. In this program, Lincoln poet Sarah Fairchild discusses her process for editing the calendar and reads from her own work. Two contributors to the calendar, Lucy Adkins and Robert King, also read their poems. Adkins is originally from Palmer and now lives in Lincoln. Her poems have been published in many places, including Nebraska Territory and Plains Song Review. King, originally from Denver, Colorado, is a professor of English at the University of Nebraska and is the author of such chapbooks as A Circle of Land (1990) and Learning American (1998).

Sarah Fairchild, John Johnson, Mary K. Stillwell and Rex Walton share poems from the 2011 Nebraska Poet’s Calendar
Lincoln, NE
January 16, 2011
Running Time: 75 minutes
Ames Reading #194

Sarah Fairchild, a Nebraskan, grew up in Norfolk, graduating from Doane College in Crete and UNL, with degrees in English. Her poetry has appeared in a number of publications including “Plainsongs.” She runs a publishing company, Black Star Press, and has created Nebraska Poets Calendars in 1994 through 2001 and again for 2011. Several poets featured in the 2011 calendar, John Johnson, Mary K. Stillwell, and Rex Walton, join Sarah for this Ames program.

Jim Fargher reads from The Boy Who Had an Elephant For a Pet
Omaha
October 15, 1992
Total Running Time – 51 Minutes
Ames Reading #67

Jim Fargher is a trained psychotherapist who also has special training in interpersonal and group communication. An experienced counselor and teacher of psychology, Dr. Fargher conducts workshops, programs, and retreats on personal growth topics. He has published The Boy Who Had an Elephant as a Pet and Other Fables (1990), which he describes as a “spiritual autobiography,” which, “clarifies aspects of life’s journey through use of metaphysical tales.” In this program, Fargher reads material included in the international edition of The Boy Who Had and Elephant as a Pet and Other Fables.

Charles Flowerday reads from his work
Lincoln
September 15, 1988
Total Running Time – 67 Minutes
Ames Reading #32

Flowerday is the editor of the Conservation and Survey Division of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He has earned a bachelor’s degree in English and Creative Writing at Princeton University, a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from UNL, and a master’s degree in Education and Theology from Union Theological Seminary in New York City. His writing has appeared in the Prairie Schooner, and the Nassau Literary Review. In this program, Flowerday reads a selection of poems, and passages from his unpublished novel entitled, Impostors. He introduces the novel to the audience, by reading from and discussing three of its chapters: ‘The Confident,’ ‘The Lover,’ and ‘The Seminary.’

Michael Forsberg reads several of his “Nebraskaland” articles and from his Great Plains: America’s Lingering Wild
Lincoln, NE
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Total Running Time – 70 minutes
Ames Reading #187

A Nebraska native, Michael is a professional photographer; his work has appeared in National Wildlife, National Geographic, Audubon, Nebraskaland Magazine and Natural History as well as National Geographic and Smithsonian books. He is a charter member of the North American Nature Photographers Association and a Fellow with the International League of Conservation Photographers. Recently he authored On Ancient Wings: The Sandhill Cranes of North America and in 2009, Great Plains: America’s Lingering Wild with which he had the help of Dan O’Brien, David Wishart and Ted Kooser.

Charles Fort reads his poetry
Kearney
September 19, 2005
Total Running Time – 42 minutes
Ames Reading #156

The recipient of many awards, Charles Fort currently holds the Paul W. and Clarice Kingston Reynolds Chair in Poetry at the University of Nebraska – Kearney. His books include As the Lilac Burned the Laurel Grew, Immortelles, and others; his work has been published in a variety of journals. During this program, he reads poetry that reflects the personal, family, and nature. He also talks about and demonstrates how he writes his work in various poetic forms – echo verse, prose poems, villanelle and sonnets.

Carlos Frey, Artist and Bill Kloefkorn, Author, share their book, Still Life Moving
Wayne and Lincoln
November 16, 2006
Total Running Time – 60 minutes
Ames Reading #165

Carlos Frey is an artist and a former faculty member at Wayne State College. Bill Kloefkorn, a professor emeritus at Nebraska Wesleyan University, is the Nebraska State Poet. They have collaborated on a book, Still Life Moving, in which Frey produced paintings based on photographs he had taken and Kloefkorn produced poems based on the connections he felt with the paintings. The photographs are primarily of Native American ceremonies and celebrations; the poems are not intended to interpret the paintings but to explore the poet’s reaction to them.

Dominique Garay and Oscar Rios perform their poetry and music together.
Lincoln, NE
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Total Running Time – 60 minutes
Ames Reading # 189

Dominique, born and raised in Lincoln, is interested in writing and performing poetry, especially slam poetry and in writing plays. He was a featured poet on an NET television program, Ted Kooser’s Poetry: Capturing the Moment with U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser and Friends. Oscar, originally from Mexico, performs music with a number of traditional South American instruments. Together, they successfully combine poetry and music, bringing an exciting experience to their audiences. They have produced a CD, “Corazon,” and are working on a children’s book that includes a CD.

David Gardiner reads his works on St. Patrick’s Day, 2005
Omaha
March 17, 2005
Total Running Time – 75 minutes
Ames Reading #154

David Gardiner, Director of Irish Studies at Creighton University, is a poet and scholar. His work has appeared in Natural Bridge and other publications. Gardiner is the author of Befitting Emblems of Adversity: A Modern Irish View of Edmund Spenser from W. B. Yeats to the Present and The Maunsel Poets, 1905-1923: The Other Irish Renaissance. He reads selections from his work for this program.

Susanne George reads from The Adventures of the Woman Homesteader: The Life and Letters of Elinore Pruitt Stewart.
Kearney
February 18, 1993
Total Running Time – 49 Minutes
Ames Reading #71

George is a lifetime resident of Nebraska. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln specializing in American Literature and composition. Currently an Associate Professor at the University of Nebraska-Kearney, she received the Robinson Award for Scholarly Papers in 1986. Her works have appeared in Nebraska English and Language Arts Journal,Western American Literature, and Nebraska Humanist. She has recently published a book entitled The Adventures of the Woman Homesteader: The Life and Letters of Elinore Pruitt Stewart (1992). In this program, George reads passages from her book on Elinore Pruitt Stewart.

Virginia Gilbert reads her poetry
Lincoln
January 16, 1986
Total Running Time – 60 Minutes
Ames Reading #6

Gilbert is a graduate student, in the English department, at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She has a degree from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa, and was a Creative Writing fellow at the University of Utah. Gilbert is the author of a poetry chapbook entitled, To Keep at Bay the Hounds (1985), and has contributed poems to New Voices in American Poetry, Beloit Poetry Journal, Southern Poetry Review and Prairie Schooner.

Irene Rose Gray reads her poetry
Lincoln
March 3, 1996
Total Running Time – 45 Minutes
Ames Reading #93

Irene Rose Gray is a native of Brunswick, Nebraska and currently lives in Lincoln. She is a member of the Lincoln and Nebraska Chaparral Poets and the author of a collection of poems entitled Season Sampler (1972). A life-long student with a zest for learning, Gray has received academic honors and degrees from colleges in Nebraska, Ohio, and Colorado. In this program Gray reads selections from her current poems.

Evelyn Haller reads her poetry
Lincoln
March 21, 1991
Total Running Time – 51 Minutes
Ames Reading #55

Haller teaches English and Composition, as well as Women’s Studies and Plains Literature at Doane College in Crete, Nebraska. She is one of twelve contributing editors to The Feminist Companion to Literature in English: The Middle Ages to the Present (1990), and has two works in progress which discuss Virginia Wolf’s and Willa Cather’s use of iconography. In this program, Haller reads a variety of her poems, including “There is No Place in Nebraska,” which appeared in Nebraska Humanities.

Twyla Hansen reads her poetry, 1988
Lincoln
April 21, 1988
Total Running Time – 47 Minutes
Ames Reading #29

Hansen describes herself as having “strong avocations to poetry and plains.” She was born in Omaha and was raised on a farm in northeast Nebraska. Later she received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and has worked as the horticulturalist at Nebraska Wesleyan since 1982. She was the featured poet in the Elkhorn Review, Fall 1987, and winner of the Elkhorn Review Poetry Award, 1988. Hansen’s poems have appeared in Prairie Schooner, Nebraska: The Individual Voice and Nebraska Review.

Twyla Hansen reads her poetry, 1993
Lincoln
May 20, 1993
Total Running Time – 48 Minutes
Ames Reading #74

A native of northeast Nebraska, Hansen has been the horticulturalist at Nebraska Wesleyan since 1982 and describes herself as having “strong avocations to poetry and plains.” She was a finalist in the Woman Artist of the Year, 1990, sponsored by the Lincoln/Lancaster Commission on the Status of Women; and received the Poetry Prize from Elkhorn Review in 1988. Hansen’s poetry can be found in numerous publications including, Nebraska Territory, Elkhorn Review, and the Prairie Schooner. She has recently published a collection of her works entitled How to Live in the Heartland (1992). This is her second appearance in the Ames Reading Series.

Twyla Hansen reads her poetry from the PlainSense of Things 2, 4/15/99
Lincoln
April 15, 1999
Total Running Time – 56 minutes
Ames Program # 114

In this program, four of the poets collected in PlainSense of Things 2: Eight Poets from Lincoln, Nebraska (1997), edited by Mark Sanders, read from their works. Twyla Hansen, horticulturalist at Nebraska Wesleyan University, is the author of How the Live in the Heartland (1992) and In Our Very Bones (1997). Ted Kooser has authored many collections of poetry, including Weather Central (1994). Marge Saiser has published poems in various journals and is author of the forthcoming Bones of a Very Fine Hand (1999). Roy Scheele’s most recent publication is Keeping the Horses (1998), a narrative poem.

Twyla Hansen reads selections from several of her works
Lincoln
April 17, 2003
Total Running Time – 57 Minutes
Ames Reading #142

Twyla Hansen, poet and horticulturist, is a repeat performer in the Ames Reading Series, having previously read for the series in 1988 and 1993. Her poetry has appeared in a broad spectrum of respected anthologies and prestigious journals. Her work is regarded as exemplary by critics and fellow poets. She is also an award winning horticulturist and her poetry often reflects her keen perceptions of relationships in natural prairie communities. In this program she reads selections from several of her works.

Twyla Hansen and Paul Johnsgard share poetry and drawings from Prairie Suite: A Celebration.
Lincoln
September 20, 2007
Total Running Time – 65 minutes
Ames Reading #170

Among their many literary accomplishments, Twyla and Paul collaborated on a collection of 26 prairie poems and 28 associated drawings entitled Prairie Suite: A Celebration; the book was written to support Spring Creek Prairie and the Audubon Center, located twenty minutes southwest of Lincoln.

Neil Harrison reads from his poetry
Norfolk
March 18, 1999
Total Running Time – 42 minutes
Ames Program # 113

Neil Harrison, a poet born in Norfolk, teaches English at Wayne State College and Northeast Community College. His work has been published in many journals and he is included in The PlainSense of Things: Eight Poets from Outstate Nebraska (1997). His book Story was published by Logan House Press. In this program, he will read from his works of poetry and fiction.

Kent Haruf reads from his short story “Private debts, public holdings”
Lincoln
May 18, 1989
Total Running Time – 42 Minutes
Ames Reading #40

Haruf was born in Colorado, and was educated in Nebraska and Iowa, receiving his bachelor’s degree from Nebraska Wesleyan and his master’s degree from the University of Iowa. He returned to Wesleyan in 1986 as a visiting English instructor. He is the author of Ties That Bind (1984), which was awarded The Whitney Foundation Writer’s Award and a Hemingway Foundation citation. In this program, Haruf reads his short story “Private Debts, Public Holdings,” which is included in Best American Short Stories, (1987).

Nancy Peters Hastings reads her poetry
Lincoln
March 16, 1989
Total Running Time – 25 Minutes
Ames Reading #38

Hastings received her master’s degree in Classical Greek from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and a master’s degree in Creative Writing from New Mexico State University. She is currently a Latin Professor in the Department of Foreign Languages at NMSU-Los Cruces. She is the publisher and editor of Wholenotes, which has received the Leonard Randolph Small Press Award in 1986 and 1987; and is the editor of Daedalus Press, which publishes poetry chapbooks. Her own poetry has appeared in Prairie Schooner, Commonweal, The New Land Review, Plainsongs, Pebble and several anthologies. Hastings reads selections of her poetry in this program.

Hobe Hays reads from Take Two and Hit to Right
Lincoln
September 16, 1999
Total Running Time – 61 minutes
Ames Reading #115

Hobe Hays’s book Take Two and Hit to Right: Golden Days on the Semi-Pro Diamond (1999) is an account of his experiences playing baseball in Nebraska. Hays, a native of Bethany, Nebraska, played semi-pro baseball and for the University of Nebraska. Trading baseball spikes for artist’s pencils, Hays received his BFA from the University of Nebraska in 1950 and MFA from Wichita University in 1956. Hays, now a SUNY at Long Island Emeritus Professor in Production Design and Graphic Arts, has worked as an art director for KUON TV, production designer, graphic artist illustrator. Hays has illustrated several books and is the author of the 1966 children’s book The Adventure. In this program Hays reads from Take Two and Hit to Right, illustrating his presentation with original drawings.

Sally Herrin reads from her fiction, 1987
Lincoln
September 17, 1987
Total Running Time – 43 Minutes
Ames Reading #22

Herrin is the senior poetry reader for the Prairie Schooner and has taught creative writing at Moorhead State College and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In this program, she will read from her first published work of fiction, Little Saigon, which appeared originally in Cresent (1987) and later in Best Short Stories for New Writers (1989).

Sally Herrin reads from her work, 1992
Lincoln
April 16, 1992
Total Running Time – 75 Minutes
Ames Reading #64

Herrin’s writing ranges from poetry and fiction to editorials and curriculum. She is the recipient of the Vreeland Award for Poetry, and holds both an M.A. and Ph.D. from UNL. Herrin has taught in the UNL English department and worked for the Prairie Schooner. Her recent works can be found in Best Stories from New Writers (1989). In her second appearance in the Ames Reading Series, Herrin reads from her poetry and from her unpublished play “Dostoevski in Hell”, which is a philosophical debate between Dostoevski’s Grand Inquisitor and modern communist writers.

Charlotte Hogg reads from her book, From the Garden Club: Rural Women Writing Community.
Fort Worth, Texas
October 18, 2007
Total Running Time – 55 minutes
Ames Reading #171

While Charlotte now lives in Texas, she spent some of her growing up years in Paxton, Nebraska, where her grandmother lived as well. She recently published a book with the University of Nebraska Press, From the Garden Club: Rural Women Writing Community, featuring women, including her grandmother, and the writing they did in Paxton.

Art Homer reads his poetry, 1986
Omaha
March 27, 1986
Total Running Time – 43 Minutes
Ames Reading #8

Poet and short story author Art Homer is a native of the Missouri Ozarks. He received a bachelor’s degree from Portland State University in Oregon and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Montana in Missoula before arriving at the UNO Writer’s Workshop in 1982. His poetry has appeared in such publication as Poetry and Southern Poetry Review and one of his short stories was nominated for the prestigious Puschcart Prize. In this program, Homer reads selections from his chapbook What We Did After the Rain (1984), which features the poem “The Book on Tatoos.”

Art Homer reads his poetry, 1998
Omaha
March 19, 1998
Total Running Time – 60 Minutes
Ames Reading #107

Chair of the Writer’s Workshop at UNO and editor of the Nebraska Review, Art Homer is the author of poetry collections Tatoos (1986), Skies of Such Valuable Glass (1990) and What We Did After the Rain (1984). His memoir A Drownt Boy: An Ozark Tale (1994), probes his Missouri childhood. Homer’s work has been published in many national literary magazines and he has received many awards for his writing. In this program, Homer reads from his prose and poetry, including several short pieces written for radio.

Timothy D. Houghton reads his poetry
Lincoln
April 19, 1990
Total Running Time – 55 Minutes
Ames Reading #47

Editor of the American poetry magazine Panoply, Houghton teaches Creative Writing at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He received his Ph.D. from Denver University in 1984, and has published a collection of his poems known as High Bridges (1989). In this program, Houghton reads selections from his poetry.

Herb Hyde reads from his weekly columns
Lincoln
November 15, 1990
Total Running Time – 58 Minutes
Ames Reading #51

Hyde joined the staff of the Lincoln Journal in October 1966 as the Focus “Book Page” editor and has written a column for the Book Page since 1979. Born in Oklahoma, he has been a professional manuscript editor for 33 years, and is currently doing free-lance editing for four university presses. A former president of the Nebraska Writers’ Guild, Hyde currently serves as the Guild’s Program Coordinator. He will read from his weekly columns.

Ronald Raygun’s Rock-N-Roll Reformation by Chuck Jagoda
Lincoln
October 24, 1985
Total Running Time – 75 Minutes
Ames Reading #3

Ronald Raygun’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Reformation, by Lincolnite Chuck Jagoda is “a comedy in the tradition of Aristophanes in the key of Groucho.” This satricial play is a joint production of the Nebraska Playwrites’ Project and Jagoda World Ministries. In its entirety, the play is approximately 2 hours in length but has been shortened for this presentation in the Heritage Room.

John Janovy reads from his fiction
Lincoln
October 16, 1997
Total Running Time – 64 Minutes
Ames Reading #103

John Janovy, the Varner Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences at UNL is the author of many books, including Keith County Journal (1978), Dunwoody Pond (1994), and Ten Minute Ecologist (1997). Janovy has received national attention for both his scientific research and literary achievements, prompting comparisons with Lincoln’s Loren Eiseley. In this program, Janovy reads from his unpublished fiction.

John Janovy, Varner Professor of Biological Sciences, UNL, reads from Pieces of the Plains: Memories and Predictions from the Heart of America
Lincoln, NE
February 20, 2011
Total Running Time – 75 minutes
Ames Reading #195

John Janovy was born in Louisiana, raised in Oklahoma, and has been a professor at UNL since 1966. During his years at the university, he has received a number of honors – including the Nebraska Library Association’s Mari Sandoz Award and the Nebraska Literary Heritage Association’s Literary Heritage Award; he has been the director of the School of Biological Sciences’ Cedar Point Biological Station and he has written a lot – most recently, Pieces of the Plains: Memories and Predictions from the Heart of America.

Paul Johnsgard reads from This Fragile Land: A Natural History of the Nebraksa Sandhills
Lincoln
November 21, 1996
Total Running Time – 61 Minutes
Ames Reading #97

Johnsgard is the author of over thirty books about nature and birds, written for both popular and technical audiences. He is the most prolific of all ornithological writers and is also credited as the illustrator of many of his volumes. He has been a member of the Biology department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln since 1961 and has received numerous awards and recognitions for his contribution to ornithological research. In this program, Johnsgard discusses his writing career and in particular his most recent book, This Fragile Land: A Natural History of the Nebraska Sandhills (1995).

Paul Johnsgard reads excerpts from several of his books
Lincoln
March 18, 2004
Ames Reading #148

Paul Johnsgard, professor emeritus at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, is a prolific author, illustrator, and nature photographer. He is an internationally renowned ornithologist and is recognized as one of the world’s foremost authorities on sandhills cranes. In this program Johnsgard comments on his evolution as a writer, noting that his current writing is more philosophical and poetic than his early writing. He intersperses his comments about writing with reading excerpts from several of his books.

Barbara Jones reads from three of her novels
September 21, 2000
Total Running Time – 45 minutes
Ames Reading #122

Barbara Jones, who writes under the pen name Barbara Leigh, was born in Lincoln but now makes her home in California. Her popular romance novels have been translated into many languages and she enjoys a world-wide audience. In this program she reads from three of her novels: Web of Loving Lies (1993), For Love of Rory (1995), and The Surrogate Wife (1999).

Julie Kaewert reads from her fiction.
Niwot, CO
April 28, 2005
Total Running Time – 59 minutes
Ames Reading #155

Julie Kaewert, born and raised in Omaha, earned a baccalaureate degree from Dartmouth and a master’s degree from Harvard. She is a successful novelist who has written mysteries for booklovers. Some of her stories are set in England and are centered around book publishing, which is (in her words) “the most intriguing business she knows.” Her books have ranked high on mystery best seller lists. For this program, she reads material from various books in her mystery series, “Booklover’s Mystery,” featuring Alex Plumtree.

Alex Kava reads from One False Move and A Necessary Evil
Omaha
October 19, 2006
Total Running Time – 59 minutes
Ames Reading #164

Alex Kava, a native Nebraskan, is a former public relations professional and owner of a graphics design company. She gave that up to devote her time to writing and has become a successful novelist. She focuses on the suspense thriller genre; her debut novel, A Perfect Evil, became a national bestseller. A subsequent novel, One False Move, was the 2006 One Book One Nebraska selection. Kava is also the author of Split Second, The Soul Catcher, At the Stroke of Madness, and A Necessary Evil. In this program she reads from One False Move and A Necessary Evil.

Catherine Kidwell reads from a work in progress, Charm is Not Enough
Lincoln
June 20, 1985
Total Running Time – 64 Minutes
Ames Reading #1

Kidwell, a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, received a bachelor’s degree in Art and a master’s degree in English. Her first novel, Dear Stranger (1982), began as a writing assignment in a short story course, and developed into her master’s thesis. Kidwell has the distinction of being the first person at UNL to simultaneously publish her creative thesis in two countries: the U.S. and Great Britain. To date, this work has been published in nine different language versions. Kidwell labels herself a feminist writer, and has published another work entitled, The Woman I Am (1979). In this program she reads from a work in progress titled, Charm Is Not Enough.

Richard Kimbrough reads from Country Tales and Truths and The Outsiders
November 15, 2001
Total Running Time – 47 Minutes
Ames Reading #131

Richard Kimbrough, a native of Big Springs, Nebraska, has lived in many places throughout the world but returned to Nebraska in 1979. He has been a secondary teacher and coach and is currently an adjunct professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he teaches some senior level and graduate courses in management. He has been a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist, with his work appearing in more than 200 newspapers. He is also the author of several books, including Cross-Country Courage, which won the 1973 Friends of American Writers prize. In this program, he reads selections from two of his books: Country Tales and Truths and The Outsiders.

William Kloefkorn

reads his poetry, 1985
Lincoln
December 19, 1985
Total Running Time – 31 Minutes
Ames Reading #5

William Kloefkorn, named Nebraska State Poet in 1982, was born in Attica, Kansas. He studied at Emporia State University receiving both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree. In 1962, Kloefkorn came to Lincoln where he began teaching English at Nebraska Wesleyan University. Some of Kloefkorn’s works include: Alvin Turner as Farmer (1972); Uncertain the Final Run to Winter (1973); Not Such a Bad Place to Be (1980); and A Life Like Mine (1984).

William Kloefkorn reads his poetry, 1990
Lincoln
March 15, 1990
Total Running Time – 60 Minutes
Ames Reading #46

Kloefkorn, a native of Kansas, has been an English Professor at Nebraska Wesleyan University since 1962. In 1982, he was named the Poet Laureate of Nebraska. Kloefkorn is the author of many volumes of poetry including, Alvin Turner as Farmer (1972), Uncertain the Final Run to Winter (1973), and A Life Like Mine (1984). This is his second appearance in the Ames Reading Series.

Bill Kloefkorn
Lincoln
November 13, 2003
Total Running Time – 54 Minutes
Ames Reading #145

Bill Kloefkorn is the Nebraska State Poet and professor emeritus from Nebraska Wesleyan University. His poems have appeared in a variety of literary outlets, and he has read for the Ames Series on previous occasions. In this reading, Kloefkorn takes a novel approach in presenting a single incident from his youth – the near drowning of his brother – through three different perspectives. He reads first from Houses and Beyond and relates the incident in a poem. He next presents it as memoir by reading from This Death by Drowning and finally fictionalizes it in his Shadowboxing. Kloefkorn has been a master teacher for some of the poets in the Lincoln area.

Bill Kloefkorn talks about his 2008 One Book One Nebraska title, Restoring the Burnt Child: A Primer
Lincoln
September 21, 2008
Total Running Time – 67 minutes
Ames Reading # 177

Well-known as the Nebraska State Poet for more than 25 years, Bill Kloefkorn has also written a fair amount of prose. His autobiography, Restoring the Burnt Child: A Primer, is the One Book One Nebraska title for 2008. Restoring the Burnt Child is the second volume in his four-part memoir which, when completed, will cover the four elements: water, fire, earth, and air.

Lisa Knopp reads essays from The Nature of Home
January 15, 2004
Ames Reading #146

Lisa Knopp is a perceptive observer and eloquent author who writes creative non-fiction. She has published three collections of essays: Field of Vision, Flight Dreams, and The Nature of Home. Her writing is characterized by an impressive breadth of knowledge and keen insight into natural and communal relationships. Knopp has taught creative writing at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and became a faculty member at Southern Illinois University, and Goucher College in Baltimore. In this program, she reads essays from The Nature of Home.

Ted Kooser reads his poetry, 1986
Lincoln
November 20, 1986
Total Running Time – 51 Minutes
Ames Reading #14

A native of Iowa, Kooser makes his home in Garland, Nebraska. He is the Vice-President of Marketing for a Lincoln life insurance company, as well as a poet. Kooser has twice been awarded poetry fellowships with the National Endowment for the Arts, and he is the author of Official Entry Blank (1969), Old Marriage and New (1978) and the award winning Sure Signs (1980). Kooser reads from his recent poetry in this program.

Ted Kooser reads his poetry from the PlainSense of Things 2, 4/15/99
Lincoln
April 15, 1999
Total Running Time – 56 minutes
Ames Program # 114

In this program, four of the poets collected in PlainSense of Things 2: Eight Poets from Lincoln, Nebraska (1997), edited by Mark Sanders, read from their works. Twyla Hansen, hortaculturalist at Nebraska Wesleyan University, is the author of How the Live in the Heartland (1992) and In Our Very Bones (1997). Ted Kooser has authored many collections of poetry, including Weather Central (1994). Marge Saiser has published poems in various journals and is author of the forthcoming Bones of a Very Fine Hand (1999). Roy Scheele’s most recent publication is Keeping the Horses (1998), a narrative poem.

Ted Kooser reads a long poem he wrote about the Blackhawk War
Garland
March 20, 2008
Total Running Time – 53 minutes
Ames Reading #175

One of the original founders of the Nebraska Literary Heritage Association and supporters of the Jane Pope Geske Heritage Room of Nebraska Authors, Ted Kooser joins us again after his two year term as Poet Laureate of the United States, Oct. 2004 – May 2006.

Ted Kooser reads from his works
Garland, NE
November 20, 2011
Total Running Time – 60 minutes
Ames Reading #200

Ted was born in Ames, Iowa, but became a Nebraskan after attending graduate school at UNL, receiving a master’s degree, and working as a life insurance executive. Though he worked in an office for many years, he has also written a lot of poetry as well as non-fiction and several children’s books. His poetry led to his appointment by the Librarian of Congress in 2004 as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress and to his reappointment for a second year, 2005-2006. He is the editor of a weekly newspaper column, “American Life in Poetry,” now more than 300 columns published in over 150 newspapers. Ted has earned a number of awards and honors; to name several with special ties, he received the Nebraska Literary Heritage Association’s Literary Heritage Award in 1989 and the Nebraska Library Association’s Mari Sandoz Award in 2000. His book, Local Wonders: Seasons in the Bohemian Alps, is the One Book, One Nebraska selection for 2011; this year many people throughout the state have read, reread, and discussed Local Wonders, a book that has something for everyone.

Greg Kosmicki reads from his poetry
Omaha
March 15, 2001
Total Running Time – 61 minutes
Ames Reading #127

Greg Kosmicki is a widely published poet, editor, and publisher of Backwaters Press. He was born in Alliance and now lives in Omaha. He is the author of How Things Happen (1997), which noted poet Hayden Carruth called “strong, lucid, and original,” and Nobody Lives Here Who Saw This Sky (1998). In 2000 Kosmicki received a merit award from the Nebraska Arts Council. In this program Kosmicki reads from his poetry.

Greg Kosmicki reads a sampling of his poetry written over the years.
Omaha
November 15, 2007
Total Running Time – 59 minutes
Ames Reading # 172

Greg, a poet and social worker from Omaha, has written a number of books including The Patron Saint of Lost and Found (2003), Some Hero of the Past (2006), and most recently, We Have Always Been Coming to This Morning (2007). He also coedited, with Mary K. Stillwell, a book that includes 82 poets with Nebraska connections, Nebraska Presence: An Anthology of Poetry (2007).

Harley Jane Kozak reads from her novels featuring amateur detective, Wollie Shelley
California
May 17, 2009
Total Running Time – 70 minutes
Ames Reading #183

Actor and fiction writer, Harley Jane Kozak, was born in Pennsylvania, but lived in Nebraska as she was growing up. With a number of acting credits to her name, her more recent endeavors include writing a mystery series featuring amateur detective, Wollie Shelley. Harley Jane now lives in California.

Steve Langan reads from Freezing
Omaha
September 19, 2002
Total Running Time – 48 Minutes
Ames Reading #136

Steve Langan grew up in Omaha. He earned a baccalaureate degree from the University of Nebraska at Omaha and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Iowa Writer’s Workshop. He is currently the Director of the Muscular Dystrophy Association and a lecturer at Creighton University. His poems have been published in Double Take, The Kenyon Review, Chicago Review, Witness, and Columbia: A Journal of Literature and Art. His work has been praised by critics. In this program, Langan reads from Freezing, his first published book of poems.

Louis Leviticus reads from his book, Tales from the Milestone: My Life before and during 1940-1945
Lincoln, NE
October 21, 2012
Total Running Time: 54 minutes
Ames Reading #205

Lou Leviticus was born in the Netherlands and is a Holocaust survivor. As he recounts his story in Tales from the Milestone: My Life before and during 1940-1945, he notes that he “is the sole survivor of his immediate family, from whom he was separated when he was eleven.” He wrote this biography under the pseudonym, Ben Wajikra, and explains his reasoning in the prologue. He has lived in the United States for many years, earning a PhD from Purdue University. He arrived in Lincoln and at UNL in 1975 to take a professorship in the Department of Agricultural Engineering. He served as director of the Nebraska Tractor Test Laboratory until he retired in 1998 and has been a volunteer curator at the Larsen Tractor Museum. In addition to his biography, he has written about agricultural history as well as scientific reports on his career at the Tractor Test Lab. He lives in Lincoln with his wife.

Betty Levitov reads from her book, Africa on Six Wheels
Lincoln
March 15, 2007
Total Running Time – 45 minutes
Ames Reading #168

Betty Levitov is a professor of English at Doane College, Crete, where she specializes in African literature, African studies and holocaust literature. Her first experience in Africa occurred when she served as a Peace Corps volunteer with the Society of African Missionaries in Liberia. Levitov has led Doane College students on short-term (three week) learning experiences in several European and African countries. She has also led semester-long courses for Doane students in various countries on the African continent. In this program, she reads from her book Africa on Six Wheels: A Semester on Safari.

M. K. Lorens reads from her mystery, The Very Dead of Winter
Fremont
October 21, 1993
Total Running Time – 61 Minutes
Ames Reading #76

Lorens is a native of Fremont, Nebraska. She received her doctorate from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and has since taught writing and literature classes at several colleges throughout the United States. Creator of the Winston Sherman Series, she has also written for theater and network television, most notably an episode for the CBS series, “The Equalizer.” Lorens recently published Sorrowheart (1993), her fifth Winston Sherman mystery, and another is expected soon. In this program, Lorens reads from her mystery The Very Dead of Winter.

Frederick C. Luebke reads from A Harmony of the Arts: The Nebraska State Capitol
Lincoln
March 19, 1992
Total Running Time – 50 Minutes
Ames Reading #63

Luebke is the Charles J. March Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. One of Luebke’s many fields of expertise is Nebraska history and he has written and edited several books in the Great Plains Studies series. He is the recipient of numerous grants and awards including UNL’s Outstanding Research and Creative Activity Award 1985 and the 1990 Nebraska Humanities Council’s Biennial Sower Award. In this program, Luebke discusses the history and symbolism of Nebraska’s state capitol, complimented by references from his book A Harmony of the Arts: The Nebraska State Capitol (1990).

Glenna Luschei reads her poetry
Lincoln
October 20, 1988
Total Running Time – 38 Minutes
Ames Reading #33

A native of Sioux City, Iowa, Luschei attended the University of Nebraska- Lincoln as an undergraduate student. She went on to receive a master’s degree also at UNL after writing a thesis on Nebraska author Wright Morris. Later, she moved to the American Southwest and founded the literary magazine Cafe Solo. Luschei is the author of several books and chapbooks of poetry including Farewell to Winter (1988) and Pulitzer Prize nominee Unexpected Grace (1984), both from which she reads in this program.

Glenna Luschei reads poetry from Witch Dance and other poems
San Luis Obispo, CA
October 17, 2010
Total Running Time – 38 minutes
Ames Reading #192

Glenna Luschei currently lives in San Luis Obispo, California, but grew up in Beaver City and Lincoln, Nebraska. She studied at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and the University of California-Santa Barbara. She is a poet, an editor and a translator; she has written a number of books, most recently, Witch Dance, in 2010.

Shirley Maly shares her book, A Love Affair with the Americas
Lincoln
January 19, 2006
Total Running Time – 55 minutes
Ames Reading #159

Shirley Maly has lived most of her life in Lincoln; she is a writer, but spent much of her time doing various forms of technical writing. At an age past the average volunteer, her desire to “see the world” convinced her to join the Peace Corps. Her travels and Peace Corps experiences inspired her to write and illustrate a book, A Love Affair with the Americas: A Picture Primer of Travel Memories.

Mordecai Marcus reads his poetry
Lincoln
July 18, 1985
Total Running Time – 60 Minutes
Ames Reading #2

Marcus, a Professor of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, received a bachelor’s degree at Brooklyn College, a master’s degree from New York University, and a doctorate from the University of Kansas. He taught at Rutgers University, the University of Kansas, and Purdue University before coming to Lincoln in 1965. Marcus’ poetry has appeared in over 120 journals and he is the author of two published collections of poetry entitled Five Minutes to Noon (1971) and Return from the Desert (1977). In this program, Marcus reads several of his most recent works.

Dwight Marsh reads his poetry
Doniphan/Hastings
April 24, 1986
Total Running Time – 56 Minutes
Ames Reading #9

Marsh is a native of Doniphan, Nebraska, and a graduate of Hastings State College. He moved to Lincoln where he received a master’s degree and a doctorate from the University of Nebraska. Marsh returned to Hastings State College as a Professor of English, and is the editor of Plainsongs. His scholarly writings and poetry have been published in many journals and periodicals. In this program, Marsh reads from a series of poems that he calls “Early Impressions.”

Matt Mason reads selections from his poetry.
Omaha
January 17, 2008
Total Running Time – 55 minutes
Ames Reading #173

Omaha resident Matt Mason is the author of Things We Don’t Know We Don’t Know, winner of the 2007 Nebraska Book Award for Poetry. He is coeditor of Slamma Lamma Ding Dong: An Anthology of Nebraska’s Slam Poets, winner of the 2006 Nebraska Book Award for Best Anthology.

The poetry of Claire Johnson Mattern as read by Carren Miller
January 20, 1993
Total Running Time – 50 Minutes
Ames Reading #70

Claire Johnson Mattern was a native of Wisconsin and a resident of Lincoln from 1951 until her death in 1985. She received a master’s degree and a doctorate from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln during which time she also served as a graduate assistant and visiting professor in the UNL English department. Carren Miller is a graduate of the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, where she studied Communication Arts with a major in Oral Interpretation of Literature.

David McCleery reads his poetry
Lincoln
November 17, 1988
Total Running Time – 36 Minutes
Ames Reading #34

McCleery attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where he studied with the novelist Warren Fine and Nebraska poet Greg Kuzma. A former grocery store manager, McCleery made the choice to pursue writing as a full time career. His poetry has appeared in Forty Nebraska Poets, Kansas Quarterly and Whole Notes. Currently he is working on developing a series of short programs featuring Nebraska poets on KZUM radio as well as working on a novel entitled Ordinary Happiness. In this program he reads from his recent poetry.

David McCleery and Clay Walker present poetry and photography
Lincoln
January 18, 1990
Total Running Time – 36 Minutes
Ames Reading #44

McCleery attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and studied with Nebraska Poet Greg Kuzma and the Novelist Warren Fine. His poems have appeared in numerous periodicals and a chapbook of his poems, Visual Language, was published in 1989 by A Slow Tempo Press. In this program, McCleery reads and discusses his poetry, and speaks of the collaborative effort between his words and the images of Clay Walker.
Walker is a photographer living in Lincoln and a student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His prints have been displayed in the Coffee House, NBC Bank, and various private exhibits throughout Lincoln. His black and white photographs provide striking visual images in the chapbook Visual Language. During this program, Walker will show slides of his work, and discuss his photography.

Nancy McCleery reads her poetry, 1991
Lincoln
January 17, 1991
Total Running Time – 32 Minutes
Ames Reading #53

McCleery recently returned to Nebraska after having lived and worked as an English instructor in Alaska for the past 10 years. She is currently teaching poetry, literature and writing courses at Tarkio College in Missouri. Her poetry has been performed in collaboration with composers, visual artists, and dance choregraphers, and has appeared in such publications as Pebble, Saltillo, and Blue Moon News. Her published books of poetry include Night Muse (1981) and Staying the Winter (1987). In this program, McCleery reads selection from her recent poems.

Nancy McCleery reads her poetry, 1994
Lincoln
March 17, 1994
Total Running Time – 36 Minutes
Ames Reading #80

McCleery is an accomplished Nebraska poet and writer who has lived and worked throughout the United States, teaching both writing and poetry classes in the public schools, colleges and communities. She has been the recipient of several individual artist grants and received the Academy of American Poets Award in 1971. Her published books of poetry include Night Muse (1981), Staying the Winter (1987), and Polar Lights (1994). This is McCleery’s second apperance in the Ames Reading Series.

Nancy McCleery reads from her recently published book, Girl Talk
Lincoln
November 14, 2002
Total Running Time – 75 Minutes
Ames Reading #138

Nancy McCleery has had a varied and interesting career in the world of letters. She has been an English instructor in Alaska, a college professor in Missouri, a mentor in the Lincoln Public Schools, a speaker for the Nebraska Humanities Council, and has participated in the Nebraska Arts Council Artist in Residency Program. Her poems have appeared in Alaska Quarterly Review, Harpoon, Light in the Trees, Whole Notes, The Windflower Almanac of Poetry and many other publications. In this program she reads from her recently published book entitled Girl Talk.

Robert McEwen reads his poetry, 1996
Chadron
September 19, 1996
Total Running Time – 60 Minutes
Ames Reading #96

Robert McEwen is the author of the collection of poetry Heartwood & Other Poems, which he reads selections from in this program. McEwen, who teaches English at Chadron State College, has also worked as a tree trimmer since the early 1960’s. His love for trees and nature can be seen in his poetry, which has appeared in the Prairie Schooner, South Dakota Review and Kansas Quarterly.

Robert McEwen reads from his works
Chadron, NE
September 16, 2004
Total Running Time – about 60 minutes
Ames Reading #150

Robert McEwen has published his work in various journals and has received honors and awards. During this program, he reads excerpts from his Heartwood and Other Poems as well as a variety of published and unpublished selections.

Robert McEwen reads from his poetry book, From Corcaigh to Broken Bow
Chadron
January 18, 2009
Total Running Time – 57 minutes
Ames Reading # 180

Chadron State College professor and arborist Robert McEwen was born in Chicago, Illinois, but has lived in Nebraska since 1978. He earned a PhD in English from UNL in 1985. His new book, From Corcaigh to Broken Bow, draws from his Irish roots.

Sarah McKinstry-Brown reads from her poetry book, Cradling Monsoons
Omaha, NE
January 15, 2012
Total Running Time – 44 minutes
Ames Reading #201

Sarah was born in Albuquerque, NM, but has lived in Omaha for the past ten years. She has degrees in English and the Fine Arts. Her poem, “Music Appreciation 101” is included in Nebraska Presence: An Anthology of Poetry, published by Backwaters Press in 2007. She has won several awards recently, the Academy of American Poets Prize and the Blue Light Book Award in 2010 as well as the Nebraska Book Award for Poetry in 2011 for Cradling Monsoons, published in 2010 by Blue Light Press.

John McNamara reads from his short stories, 1987
Omaha
June 18, 1987
Total Running Time – 49 Minutes
Ames Reading #20

McNamara is a free-lance writer from Omaha, Nebraska. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism from the University of Nebraska-Omaha, and is the Public Relations Officer for the Nebraska Arts Council. His works have appeared in Omaha Magazine, Old Hickory Review, Cross Currents, Piedmont Literary Review, and the Flatwater Arts Companion. In this program, McNamara reads from his selected short stories.

Constance Merritt reads from A Protocol for Touch and her new poetry
Lincoln
February 15, 2001
Total Running Time – 54 minutes
Ames Reading #126

Constance Merritt is a prize-winning and widely published poet who lives in Lincoln. She was born in Pine Bluffs, Arkansas and educated at the Arkansas School for the Blind in Little Rock. She also holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Utah, a MFA from Warren Wilson College, and a Ph.D. in creative writing from the University of Nebraska. She has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize twice. In 1999 Merritt won the Vassar Miller Prize from the University of North Texas Press, which resulted in the publication of her book, A Protocol for Touch. In this program Merritt reads from A Protocol for Touch as well as poems from her new manuscript.

Calvin Miller reads from his work
Omaha
January 21, 1988
Total Running Time – 43 Minutes
Ames Reading #26

Miller is the pastor of Omaha Westside Church in Omaha, Nebraska. He is the author of over 20 books, including works of poetry, fantasy, and popular theology. His first book, The Singer (1975), has sold over 400,000 copies. His latest work is Becoming: Your Self in the Making (1987). In this program, he and his wife, Barbara, read short selections from several of his books and he provides comments on each work.

Karen Mockler reads from her novel, Pride
Omaha/Lincoln
June 16, 1988
Total Running Time – 78 Minutes
Ames Reading #31

Mockler graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1987, and later received her master’s degree from the University of Ohio-Miami. Her unpublished novel Pride received the Sinclair Award for Best Unpublished Work at the University of Ohio-Miami in 1988. She is currently a Creative Writing instructor at Creighton University. In this program, Mockler reads from her novel Pride.

Amelia Maria de la Luz Montes talks about Who Would Have Thought It? and reads her own story, “Queen for a Day.”
Lincoln
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Total Running Time – 64 minutes
Ames Reading # 184

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Amelia Montes has been a professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for the past ten years. She writes fiction, critical literary theory, non-fiction, and criticism. Most recently, she edited a nineteenth-century text, Who Would Have Thought It? by Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton as well as written the introduction, notes and translated letters.

Trish Murphy reads her poetry
Lincoln
March 19, 1987
Total Running Time – 45 Minutes
Ames Reading #18

Murphy is a stockbroker for a local brokerage firm in Lincoln who writes poetry and short stories. A native of Texas with degrees from North Texas State University and the University of Washington, Murphy has been a resident of Nebraska since 1979, and has since completed her doctorate at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. A former English instructor at UNL, she has also written the column “Money Talks with Trish” for Lifelines magazine. In this program, she will read selections from a work-in-progress, Paradise Tossed: A Yuppie Creation Myth, in which poems deal with the transformation of the American hippie into the American yuppie.

Fred Murray reads from God Loves Even Cowboys
Firth
April 20, 1995
Total Running Time – 50 Minutes
Ames Reading #88

Murray has been telling humorous and sentimental tales of cowboys and western life through his narratives for over 30 years. Born on a Cattle Ranch in Western Colorado, he is a long time resident of Nebraska. He has drawn upon childhood reminiscences, folktales, and cowboy traditions and his own experience as a cowhand in order to capture for his audience what life was like for cowboys and cowgirls. Many of these stories can be found in his book God Loves Even Cowboys (1994).

Charlene Neely reads her poetry
Lincoln
February 20, 1992
Total Running Time – 30 Minutes
Ames Reading #62

Neely works in advertising production at the Lincoln Journal-Star and she says she “writes for her sanity.” A native of Lincoln, she has lived in several small towns in Nebraska and Iowa, which lend a real flavor of the Midwest to her writings. Her works have appeared in such publications as Up Against the Wall, Mother; Plainsong and Muse Magazine. Neely has also published a collection of her poetry entitled Putting Up Preserves (1988). In this program, Neely reads from her current poetry.

Judith Nelson reads from her work
North Platte/Lincoln
December 17, 1987
Total Running Time – 41 Minutes
Ames Reading #25

Nelson received her master’s degree in Journalism from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She is currently the Senior Publications Promotion Specialist at the UNL Division of Continuing Studies. Nelson served as the President of the Nebraska Press Women and wrote a column entitled “Poor Judy’s Almanac” for the North Platte Telegraph. She is the author of two Regency Romance books, The Merry Chase (1985) and Kidnapped Confusion (1987), from which she reads in this program.

Terry Oberst reads his poetry
Lincoln
February 15, 1990
Total Running Time – 54 Minutes
Ames Reading #45

Oberst studied at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he received his degree in English in 1988. His poems have appeared in P.A.N., Alternatives, and Laurus. His first book of poems, Returning, was a finalist in the 1982 University of Nebraska-Omaha Annex 21 writing contest. Oberst reads several selections of his poetry in this program.

John Phillips Palmer reads his poetry
Firth
December 14, 1989
Total Running Time – 42 Minutes
Ames Reading #43

A native of Lumberville, Pennsylvania, Palmer was educated in the Midwest. He is a graduate of Pershing College in Beatrice Nebraska and of Parsons College in Iowa. Palmer’s poetry is self-described as “greatly influenced by folklore, alchemy, and the Qabbalistic tradition.” His works have appeared in Ouroboros, Abraxas, and Gnostica; and he is the author of two volumes of poetry: Someone to Smile For (1967), and The Wizzard’s Trade and Other Poems (1977). In this program, Palmer reads selections from his ten poem series The Poems of Rabi Ben Erza (1987), which was composed over 15 years.

Christine Pappas reads two of Dorothy Thomas’ short stories
October 17, 2002
Total Running Time – 59 Minutes
Ames Reading #137

Christine Pappas has earned four degrees from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, including a Ph.D. in Political Science. Currently, she is a member of the faculty at East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma. She is the author of Fighting Statesman: Nebraska’s Senator George Norris. She was a founding editor of Plains Song Review and also edited Dorothy Thomas: The Getaway and Other Stories. In this program Pappas presents a brief sketch of Thomas’s life and reads two of her short stories: “The Pigeon Pair” and “The Getaway.” The work she did on Dorothy Thomas stems from work she did at the Heritage Room when she was processing the Dorothy Thomas collection.

Carol Miles Petersen discusses Bess Streeter Aldrich
Omaha
February 20, 1997
Total Running Time – 59 Minutes
Ames Reading #99

Carol Miles Petersen taught English at the University of Nebraska-Omaha and is the author of a biography of Bess Streeter Aldrich. Petersen is also the editor of two volumes of Aldrich’s short works. In this program, Petersen discusses how and why Aldrich began publishing her stories and her consistent focus on wholesome and family-related topics and themes. Aldrich lived in Elmwood and Lincoln and is the author of many books, including A Lantern in Her Hand (1928).

Ronald Piggee reads his poetry
Lincoln
November 18, 1993
Total Running Time – 43 Minutes
Ames Reading #77

Piggee was born and reared among the steel mills of Northwestern Indiana. Drafted shortly after leaving college, he served as a small unit commander in Vietnam at the height of the conflict in 1968-69 and settled in Nebraska in 1972 after leaving the military. He has studied poetry under Nebraska Poet Greg Kuzma, and has recently published his first book of poems, As Autumn Approaches: A Season of Life in Poetry (1993). In this program, Piggee reads from his current poetry.

Amil Quayle reads from his poetry
Lincoln/Sargent
September 16, 1993
Total Running Time – 56 Minutes
Ames Reading #75

Quayle, a native of Idaho, received a doctoral degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. An accomplished poet and fiction writer, Quayle has been the recipient of the Vreeland Award, The Mari Sandoz Award, and the American Poets Award. He has taught writing classes at UNL and Idaho State University and is currently professor of English at Utah State University in Logan. Quayle is the author of the recently published work, Pebble Creek (1993), published by A Slow Tempo Press. In this program, Quayle reads from his recent poems.

Amil Quayle reads from his book, Grand Canyon and Other Selected Poems.
Idaho
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Total Running Time – 60 minutes
Ames Reading #185

Amil Quayle hails from Idaho, near the Snake River. He earned a degree in sociology from the University of Utah, ranched in Nebraska for seven years and then received an M.A. and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Nebraska. He has taught English at Utah State University and at Idaho State University. Grand Canyon and Other Selected Poems, which includes a cover photo of his son river rafting, is his latest work.

Ladette Randolph reads from This is not the Tropics
Lincoln and Martell, NE
April 20, 2006
Total Running Time – 55 minutes
Ames Reading #162

Ladette Randolph, associate director of the University of Nebraska Press, has deep rural Nebraska roots. She lived in several small Nebraska towns before completing her undergraduate and graduate degrees and entering the world of professional publishing. She is a successful editor and author. Her work has appeared in Prairie Schooner, Fourth Genre, and Connecticut Review. Randolph has written a collection of short stories entitled This is not the Tropics and has recently edited A Different Plain: Contemporary Nebraska Fiction Writers. For this program she reads a short story entitled “The Girls” from This is Not the Tropics.

Ladette Randolph, Lisa Knopp, John Price, Joe Starita and The Big Empty: Contemporary Nebraska Nonfiction Writers
Lincoln
April 19, 2007
Total Running Time – 90 minutes
Ames Reading #169

Ladette Randolph, associate director and editor-in-chief of the University of Nebraska Press, recently edited The Big Empty: Contemporary Nebraska Nonfiction Writers. Several contributors joined Randolph for this Ames Reading: Lisa Knopp, an essayist who uses nature themes to delve into philosophy, history, and personal remembrances; John Price, a professor of English at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, who has written a memoir entitled Not Just Any Land: A Personal and Literary Journey into the American Grasslands; Joe Starita, a former investigative reporter for the Miami Herald and author of The Dull Knifes of Pine Ridge – which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. In this program Knopp reads portions of her essay, “Far Brought,” Price reads his work, “Nuts,” and Starita reads from his manuscript about Chief Standing Bear, his historic trial and its impact on our nation’s culture and society.

Hilda Raz reads from her poetry, 1998
Lincoln
September 18, 1997
Total Running Time – 57 Minutes
Ames Reading #102

Hilda Raz has been the editor-in-chief of the Prairie Schooner since 1987. She is a professor of English at the University of Nebraska and the recipient of numerous awards and honors. Her poetry, collected in The Bone Dish (1989) and What is Good (1988), is described as intensely personal, intelligent, and filled with compelling images. Raz will read from her new collection of poetry Divine Honors (1997), which explores her personal experience with breast cancer.

Hilda Raz reads from several of her works, including Trans
February 20, 2003
Total Running Time – 55 Minutes
Ames Reading #140

Hilda Raz is a full-time professor of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, editor-in-chief of Prairie Schooner, and an honored and accomplished poet. She has won the Outstanding Research and Creative Activity Award from UNL, which recognizes work of national and international significance. Her poetry has appeared in a multitude of publications. Her most recent work includes Divine Honors (poems influenced by her experience with breast cancer), Living on the Margins: Women Writers on Breast Cancer, and Trans, influenced by her experience as the mother of a trans-gendered son. In this program, Raz reads from several of her works, including Trans.

Hilda Raz reads from several of her poetry books and from a manuscript
Lincoln, NE
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Total Running Time – 41 minutes
Ames Reading #190

Hilda is a New York native, educated at Boston University. In 1963, she moved to Nebraska. She is a professor of English and women’s and gender studies at UNL and editor of “Prairie Schooner.” Her numerous writings have been published in books and journals; her most recent works are All Odd and Splendid, published by Wesleyan in 2008, and What Happens, from Bison Books, University of Nebraska Press, 2009.

James Reed reads from his short story “Mr. Tesla’s Thunder”
Omaha
January 19, 1995
Total Running Time – 58 Minutes
Ames Reading #85

Reed, a long time resident of Omaha, writes primarily short stories and is currently the Fiction Editor for Nebraska Review. His stories have appeared in Apalachee Quarterly, The Tennessee Quarterly, The William and Mary Review, The Nebraska Review and Smackwarm. In this program, Reed reads from his unpublished short story about Nikola Tesla, the inventor of the induction engine and experimentor with high voltage and high frequency currents. This fictionalized tale is an account of what life was like in a quiet Colorado town when the real-life Tesla came and “set the mountains on fire.”

Robert Reed reads from his short story, “Pipes”
Lincoln
March 18, 1993
Total Running Time – 37 Minutes
Ames Reading #72

Reed, a native of Omaha, graduated with a degree in Biology from Nebraska Wesleyan University and currently lives in Lincoln. He is a science fiction writer who has published both short stories and novels. Reed was nominated for the 1991 Hugo Award and was the first annual winner of the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future contest for his short story, “Mudpuppies.” His works include The Leeshore (1987), Hormone Jungle (1987), and Black Milk (1989). In this program, Reed reads a Nebraska-based story entitled “Pipes,” which was first published in Fantasy Science Fiction and has subsequently won awards.

Robert Reed reads from his short fiction stories
Lincoln
November 18, 1999
Total Running Time – 40 minutes
Ames Reading #117

Robert Reed, a native of Omaha and a resident of Lincoln, graduated from Nebraska Wesleyan University in 1978 with a BS in Biology. He received the L. Ron Hubbard Gold Award in 1986 for the short story “Mudpuppies.” He has received four Hugo Award nominations, the most recent for The Dragons of Springplace, a collection of short stories, and a Nebula Award nomination for best new Science Fiction writer in 1987. His novels include Black Milk (1989), Beyond the Veil of Stars (1994), and Beneath the Gated Sky (1997). In this program, Reed reads from his short stories.

Robert Reed reads several of his stories
Lincoln
February 16, 2006
Total Running Time – 56 minutes
Ames Reading #160

Robert Reed continues his successful career as a writer of science fiction. In this program, he reads one story, “The New Deity,” which was inspired by local Lincoln events. He also reads some of a second story entitled “Good Mountain,” published as part the Science Fiction Book Club.

Jim Reese reads from his poetry and fiction.
Lincoln
February 17, 2000
Total Running Time – 47 minutes
Ames Reading #119

Jim Reese is originally from Omaha, received his education at Wayne State College, and now lives in Lincoln where he is an editor for Logan House Press. Reese writes both fiction and poetry and has seen his work published in Nebraska Territory, Judas Goat Literary Magazine, Plains Song Review and elsewhere. Cacthouse Publishing published his book Worthless as Tits on a Boar (1995). In this program, Reese reads from his poetry and fiction, including his work in progress, The Jive.

Frances Grace Reinehr reads from and discusses Bloody Mary: Gentle Woman.
Lincoln
October 18, 1990
Total Running Time – 37 Minutes
Ames Reading #50

Reinehr, an elementary school teacher with the Lincoln Public Schools, was the recipient of the Nebraska Cooper Award for Excellence in Education, and has twice been elected president of the Nebraska Council of English Teachers. Her book, Bloody Mary, Gentle Woman (1989), was inspired by and co-researched by her 5th and 6th grade storytelling and composition students at Lincoln’s Elliot School (1985). Reinehr reads from this work, and discusses some of the events behind the Lincoln legend of Mary Ann Partington, also known as “Bloody Mary.”

Georgia Robertson reads from her work
Lincoln
March 10, 1988
Total Running Time – 43 Minutes
Ames Reading #28

Robertson is a student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She received the Vreeland Award for Creative Writing in 1985, and the American Academy of Poets University Award in 1987. Her writing has appeared in Plainsongs as well as other literary journals. For the past seven years, Robertson has been an administrator for the Southeast Library System of Nebraska. In this program, Roberston reads a selection of her poetry.

Ella Robinson reads her poetry
Lincoln
February 16, 1989
Total Running Time – 52 Minutes
Ames Reading #37

Robinson received a bachelor’s degree from Alabama State University and both a master’s degree and a doctorate from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She is an Assistant Professor of English at UNL, specializing in Afro-American Literature. Her poetry is greatly influenced by poet T.S. Eliot and has been included in many anthologies and journals such as Best New Poets and WholeNotes. Robinson is a member of the Lincoln Chapparal Poets, and in this program she reads a selection of her poems.

Otto Rosfeld reads his poetry
Valentine
September 15, 1994
Total Running Time – 60 Minutes
Ames Reading #82

A Sandhills cowboy poet, storyteller, folklorist, and songwriter, Rosfeld has taught music for thirty years. In 1978, he was named Outstanding Teacher at Valentine Public Schools, and in 1983 and 1984, he was named Entertainer of the Year at the Country Music Festival held in Ainsworth, Nebraska. Rosfeld is the President of Old West Days, Inc. which sponsors the Nebraska Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Valentine, Nebraska each year. His published works include Sandhill Song (1985) and Rusty Bits and Pieces (1993). In this program, Rosfeld performs his Sanhills-influenced songs and poems, including the song “Rusty Bits and Pieces.”

Susan Rosowski reads from her book, Birthing a Nation
Lincoln
November 16, 2000
Total Running Time – 63 minutes
Ames Reading #124

Susan Rosowski is the Adele Hall Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Nebraska and is one of the world’s leading scholars on the works of Willa Cather. Rosowski is the author of The Voyage Perilous (1986), a major book on Cather, as well as being the general editor of the Cather Scholarly Edition Project. In this program Rosowski reads from her book Birthing a Nation: Gender, Creativity, and the West in American Literature (1999), which won the Western Literature Association’s prestigious Thomas J. Lyon Book Award.

CarolAnn Russell reads her poetry
Lincoln
February 13, 1986
Total Running Time – 40 Minutes
Ames Reading #7

Russell, a native of North Dakota, grew up in Minnesota and Montana. She completed her undergraduate studies at St. Cloud University, and received a master’s degree from the University of Montana. She later studied with Richard Hugo at the University of Montana Writers’ Workshop earning a Master of Fine Arts degree. In 1985 she moved to Lincoln and is currently a doctoral student at the Uni-versity of Nebraska. In this program, Russell reads selections from her poetry collection entitled, Red Envelope (1985), as well as from her work-in-progress tentatively titled, The Kindred Fireworks.

Cheryl St. John reads from her romance fiction.
Omaha
February 16, 1995
Total Running Time – 53 Minutes
Ames Reading #86

St. John is an Omaha native who writes romance novels for Harlequin Historicals which intermingle romance with the Wild West and Frontier Nebraska. In 1993, her novel, Rain Shadow (1994), was nominated for Romantic Times’ Reviewer’s Choice Award for Best Western Historical of the Year. She has written two other Harlequin Historicals, Heaven Can Wait (1994) and Land Of Dreams (1995). St. John is the President of Romance Authors of the Heartland, and a member of the Nebraska Writers’ Guild. In this program, St. John reads from the first chapters of her books and describes her experience of writing romances for Harlequin.

Marge Saiser reads her poetry
Lincoln
December 17, 1992 Total Running Time – 42 Minutes
Ames Reading #69

Saiser was born in El Paso, Texas, and grew up in Boyd County, Nebraska. She was educated at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where she earned a master’s degree with an emphasis in Creative Writing. Saiser was the recipient of the Outstanding Educator Award, 1992; the Vreeland Award, UNL, 1980; and was a member of the Academy of American Poets. She has contributed to various literary magazines and is published in a collection of poems entitled Adjoining Rooms (1985). Saiser is a teacher with the Lincoln Public Schools and in this program she reads several of her current poems.

Marge Saiser reads her poetry from the PlainSense of Things 2, 4/15/99
Lincoln
April 15, 1999
Total Running Time – 56 minutes
Ames Program # 114

In this program, four of the poets collected in PlainSense of Things 2: Eight Poets from Lincoln, Nebraska (1997), edited by Mark Sanders, read from their works. Twyla Hansen, hortaculturalist at Nebraska Wesleyan University, is the author of How the Live in the Heartland (1992) and In Our Very Bones (1997). Ted Kooser has authored many collections of poetry, including Weather Central (1994). Marge Saiser has published poems in various journals and is author of the forthcoming Bones of a Very Fine Hand (1999). Roy Scheele’s most recent publication is Keeping the Horses (1998), a narrative poem.

Marjorie Saiser reads from Bones of a Very Fine Hand.
Lincoln
October 21, 1999
Total Running Time – 45 minutes
Ames Reading #116

Marjorie Saiser’s poetry has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including Prairie Schooner and Leaning into the Wind: Women Write from the Heart of the West (1997). Saiser received degrees in English and creative writing from the University of Nebraska and has taught elementary school in Lincoln. Bones of a Very Fine Hand (1999), from which she reads in this program, is her first book length publication.

Marjorie Saiser reads selections from several of her works
Lincoln
September 18, 2003
Total Running Time – 59 Minutes
Ames Reading #143

Marjorie Saiser is an award-winning Nebraska poet. Her poems have been published in a variety of distinguished journals and she has made significant contributions to several anthologies, including Times of Sorrow Times of Grace. Her latest publication is Road Trip: Conversations with Writers. She has been a presenter in previous Ames Series readings. Her work is often laced with humor. In this program she reads selections from several of her works.

Marjorie Saiser reads poetry from Beside You at the Stoplight
Lincoln, NE
October 16, 2011
Total Running Time – 45 minutes
Ames Reading #199

Marge was born in El Paso, Texas, but has spent many years in Nebraska. She has several degrees from UNL in education and creative writing. In 1999, Marge received the Nebraska Literary Heritage Association’s Literary Heritage Award and in 2000 and 2002, the Nebraska Book Award. In 2009, she was the Nebraska Arts Council’s Distinguished Artist in Poetry which led to the acceptance of the Little Blue Stem Award in 2010. Marge has written several books; one is entitled Road Trip: Conversations with Writers, co-authored with Shelly Clark. Her most recent poetry book, Beside You at the Stoplight, was published by The Backwaters Press in 2010.

Mark Sanders reads his poetry
Creighton/Ord
November 19, 1987
Total Running Time – 38 Minutes
Ames Reading #24

Sanders was born in Creighton and grew up in Ord, Nebraska. He received both a bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Kearney State College and is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His poems have appeared in Prairie Schooner, Kansas Quarterly, North Dakota Quarterly, Antigonist Review and Tar River Poetry. He is the author of two chapbooks, First Hunt (1979) and Gone Fishing (1981). Publisher of the Sandhills Press, Sanders has published many poetry anthologies and has collaborated with Nebraska poets William Kloefkorn, Ted Kooser, and Greg Kuzma. In this program, Sanders reads a selection of his current poems.

Timothy Schaffert reads from The Phantom Limbs of the Rollow Sisters
Omaha
March 20, 2003
Total Running Time – 29 Minutes
Ames Reading #141

Timothy Schaffert, who grew up on a farm near Aurora, NE, relies on his rural background to describe many scenes in his published work. His first novel, The Phantom Limbs of the Rollow Sisters, is set in rural Nebraska and received critical acclaim in a New York Times Book Review. His short stories have appeared in Prairie Schooner, The Greensboro Review, Natural Bridge, and other literary journals. Schaffert is the recipient of the Henfield/Transatlantic Review Award, the Mary Roberts Rinehart Award and two awards from the Nebraska Arts Council. In this program he reads from The Phantom Limbs of the Rollow Sisters.

Roy Scheele reads his poetry, 1991
Lincoln
November 21, 1991
Total Running Time – 57 Minutes
Ames Reading #60

Scheele is a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and holds a bachelor’s degree in Classical Greek and a master’s degree in English. He has taught both Classics and English at Creighton University, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and the University of Tennessee at Martin. He currently teaches at Doane College in Crete where he is also Poet in Residence. Scheele has published extensively including the poetry volumes Grams and Epigrams (1973), Pointing Out the Sky (1985), and The Voice We Call Human (1991). In this program Scheele reads a selection of his recent poems.

Roy Scheele reads his poetry, 1998
October 15, 1998
Total Running Time – 57 Minutes
Ames Reading #110

Native Lincolnite Roy Scheele is poet-in-residence and Professor of English at Doane College in Crete. His recent chapbooks include The Voice We Call Human (1991), To See How It Tallies (1995) and Short Suite (1997). In this program, Scheele reads from his narrative poem Keeping the Horses (1998) which was published by Windflower Press with original illustrations by Richard Farley. The poem is a wisful contemplation of responsibility in the context of a man’s relationship with his young son.

Roy Scheele reads his poetry from the PlainSense of Things 2, 4/15/99
Lincoln
April 15, 1999
Total Running Time – 56 minutes
Ames Program # 114

In this program, four of the poets collected in PlainSense of Things 2: Eight Poets from Lincoln, Nebraska (1997), edited by Mark Sanders, read from their works. Twyla Hansen, hortaculturalist at Nebraska Wesleyan University, is the author of How the Live in the Heartland (1992) and In Our Very Bones (1997). Ted Kooser has authored many collections of poetry, including Weather Central (1994). Marge Saiser has published poems in various journals and is author of the forthcoming Bones of a Very Fine Hand (1999). Roy Scheele’s most recent publication is Keeping the Horses (1998), a narrative poem.

Roy Scheele reads from several of his works
February 21, 2002
Total Running Time – 70 Minutes
Ames Reading #133

Roy Scheele is a professor of English and poet-in-residence at Doane College in Crete, NE. A native Nebraskan, his poems have appeared in such prestigious literary journals as Prairie Schooner, The North American Review, Poetry Northwest, and The Sewanee Review. His poem “Up River” won a John G. Neihardt nationwide poetry competition. In this program, Scheele reads two of his most recent poems, selected sonnets from his collection From the Ground Up, and closes with several pieces of his children’s poetry.

Robert Schenck reads from his work
Omaha
September 19, 1991
Total Running Time – 36 Minutes
Ames Reading #58

Schenck is a native of Red Oak, Iowa. He has taught at Upper Iowa College and has been at Metro Community College in Omaha since 1980, where he teaches English. Schenck has published a collection of poems entitled Pyschograms (1988) and is at work on an unpublished novel titled, The Archeobiopsy de Mark Twang, from which he reads selections in this program.

Barbara Schmitz reads her poetry, 1986
Omaha/Norfolk
February 19, 1987
Total Running Time – 60 Minutes
Ames Reading #17

Schmitz was born and raised in Plattsmouth, Nebraska. She received a bachelor’s degree from Wayne State College and a master’s degree from the University of Nebraska-Omaha. She also studied at the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado, with the eminent Beat poet Allen Ginsberg. Her poetry has appeared in several periodicals including, Poetry Now, Nebraska Review, Wind, and the anthology All My Grandmothers Could Sing (1984). Schmitz has published two poetry chapbooks, Moonstone (1982) and Making Tracks (1985) and is currently Co-Editor of Elkhorn Review. In this program Schmitz reads a selection of her published poetry.

Barbara Schmitz reads her poetry, 1998
Norfolk
November 19, 1998
Total Running Time – 57 Minutes
Ames Reading #111

Barbara Schmitz, a native of Omaha and graduate of Wayne State College, is an English and creative writing instructor at Northeast Community College in Norfolk. She is a former editor of Elkhorn Review, and she has had poems published in many journals. Schmitz is the author of Moonstone (1982) and Making Tracks (1985) and her work is included in The Plain Sense of Things (1997). In this program, Schmitz pays tribute to Allen Ginsberg and reads from her newest chapbook Lives of the Saints (1996).

Lela Knox Shanks discusses her book Your Name is Hughes Hannibal Shanks: A Caregiver’s Guide to Alzheimer’s
Lincoln
April 17, 1997
Total Running Time – 59 Minutes
Ames Reading #101

In this program, Lela Knox Shanks discusses her book Your Name is Hughes Hannibal Shanks: A Caregiver’s Guide to Alzheimer’s. This book is a personal narrative of Shanks’ experience in learning to care for her husband who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 1986. She explains a few of her keys to successful care giving and also reads excerpts from some of Hughes’ own personal writing. Shanks holds a journalism degree from Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri and frequently lectures on the Civil Rights Movement.

N. L. Sharp reads her books, Effie’s Image and The Flower Girl/The Ring Bear
Fremont, NE
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Total Running Time – 65 minutes
Ames Reading #188

Nancy, who has spent most of her life in Nebraska, lives in Fremont. With degrees and background in education and media, she finds that her interests lie generally in writing and specifically in writing for children. Several of her books have been Golden Sower nominees and several have been honored by the Nebraska Center for the Book. She has written Today I’m Going Fishing with my Dad, Effie’s Image and a newly produced book that combines The Flower Girl/The Ring Bear.

Peg Sheldrick reads from her plays
Lincoln
December 18, 1986
Total Running Time – 30 Minutes
Ames Reading #15

Sheldrick is a playwright and free-lance writer who lives and works in Lincoln. Her play, Something Blue, was performed at the Nebraska Director’s Theatre in June, 1985, and was also produced by The New Playwrights Theatre in Washington D.C. in 1986. She is the author of several plays including Loose End (1983) and The Second Quarterly Unemployment Calendar (1983). In this program Sheldrick reads selections from several of her plays.

Rajean Luebs Shepherd reads C is for Cornhusker – A Nebraska Alphabet
North Platte
February 15, 2007
Total Running Time – 65 minutes
Ames Reading #167

Rajean Shepherd grew up in Michigan and now resides in North Platte, NE. She is a professional educator and is particularly interested in children’s literature. Her background includes 10 years of performing with Up With People, an international educational, musical organization. In this program, Shepherd reads her first children’s book, C is for Cornhusker – A Nebraska Alphabet, which is part of the Discover America State by State series.

Rajean Luebs Shepherd reads from her children’s book Husker Numbers
North Platte
February 21, 2008
Total Running Time – 61 minutes
Ames Reading #174

Rajean Shepherd, who lives in North Platte, is the author of Husker Numbers: A Nebraska Number Book, a companion volume to her popular alphabet book for all ages, C is for Cornhusker: A Nebraska Alphabet.

Karen Shoemaker reads from her fiction.
Lincoln
April 20, 2000
Total Running Time – 40 minutes
Ames Reading #121

Karen Shoemaker is a poet and fiction writer who received her Ph.D. in creative writing from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She has taught creative writing and led workshops for all ages. Her work has been published in South Dakota Review, Heartlands Today, Laurus and elsewhere. Shoemaker is the recipient of the Vreeland Award, two Mari Sandoz Prairie Schooner Prizes and a Nebraska Press Association Award for Best Feature Article for her nonfiction. In this program, she reads from her fiction, a story that is forthcoming in Prairie Schooner.

Karen Shoemaker reads a short story
Lincoln
January 20, 2005
Total Running Time – 50 minutes
Ames Reading #153

Karen Shoemaker, a native of O’Neill, NE, is an author who specializes in fiction but also works in poetry and non-fiction articles and essays. Her work has been published in Prairie Schooner, The Nebraska Review, Laurus, Heartlands Today and other literary journals. Shoemaker has won several awards and honors for her writing, including the Vreeland Award for Fiction Writing, a Nebraska Press Association Award for Feature Writing, and two Mari Sandoz Prairie Schooner Prizes. Her 2002 book, Night Sounds and Other Stories, won the Nebraska Center for the Book Award for Short Fiction. In this program, she reads a new short story entitled “Cain’s Sister.”

Judith Slater reads from her short stories
Lincoln
October 19, 2000
Total Running Time – 48 minutes
Ames Reading #123

In this program Judith Slater reads from her prize-winning collection of short stories, The Baby Can Sing and Other Stories (1999), which was published by Saraband Books. Slater is currently a professor of English at the University of Nebraska and she holds degrees from the University of Oregon, San Francisco State, and the University of Massachusetts. Her writing has appeared in many literary reviews, such as Greensboro Review and Beloit Fiction Journal.

James Solheim reads poetry and excerpts from his children’s books
Omaha
November 17, 2005
Total Running Time – 62 minutes
Ames Reading #158

James Solheim’s work has appeared in many literary magazines; he is a writer who is especially interested in the long poem. Solheim is also the author of several children’s books with long titles, It’s Disgusting – and We Ate It! True Food Facts from Around the World and Throughout History! and Santa’s Secrets Revealed: All Your Questions Answered about Santa’s Super Sleigh, His Flying Reindeer, and Other Wonders. He talks about and reads extensively from Santa’s Secrets Revealed in this program.

Marcia Southwick reads her poetry, 1986
Lincoln
October 16, 1986
Total Running Time – 45 Minutes
Ames Reading #13

Southwick was born and educated in Boston, Massachusetts. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Emerson College and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa. She is currently an English professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her poems have appeared in Poetry, American Poetry Review, and The North American Review, and has published volumes entitled What the Trees Go Into (1977), The Night Won’t Save Anyone (1980), and Connecticut: Eight Poems (1981). In this program, she reads several poems from various periods in her writing career.

Marcia Southwick reads her poetry, 1992
Lincoln
January 16, 1992
Total Running Time – 27 Minutes
Ames Reading #61

Southwick is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She writes poetry that can be described as “meditative” and takes an interest in adopting folktales as themes of her work. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Emerson College in Boston and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Southwick is the author of several volumes of poetry including, The Night Won’t Save Anyone (1980) and Why the River Disappears (1990). This is her second appearance in the Ames Reading Series and in this program she reads a selection of her recent poems.

Brent Spencer reads a new story from his recent work
February 19, 2004
Ames Reading #147

Brent Spencer is the Director of Creative Writing and Co-Director of the Graduate Program in English at Creighton University in Omaha. He is a novelist and short story writer. His work includes The Lost Son (a novel) and Are We Not Men? (a collection of short stories). Spencer has received awards from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop and Stanford University. His stories have appeared in Atlantic Monthly, the American Literary Review, the Antioch Review, and other publications. In this program, he reads a new story that is part of his most recent work.

Brent Spencer, English Professor, Creighton University, reads from his memoir, Rattlesnake Daddy: A Son’s Search for His Father
Omaha, NE
March 20, 2011
Total Running Time – 63 minutes
Ames Reading #196

Brent Spencer was born in Maryland. After living various places around the country – Pennsylvania, Iowa, Michigan, Texas, and California, he has lived in Nebraska since 1992. A professor at Creighton University, he is currently the Director of Creative Writing. His own writing includes fiction, essays, and screenplays; he and his wife, Jonis Agee, have won several awards for their screenplay efforts. Brent’s latest book is Rattlesnake Daddy: A Son’s Search for His Father, a memoir published by Backwaters Press in March, 2011.

Joe Starita reads from his book Dull Knifes at Pine Ridge: a Lakota Odyessy.
Lincoln
May 16, 1996
Total Running Time – 60 Minutes
Ames Reading #95

Starita is an award-winning journalist and author of The Dull Knifes at Pine Ridge: A Lakota Odyssey (1995). A book about Lakota Sioux culture and life, it has been described as an “epic journey” which traces a century of history through the story of a Lakota family, the Dull Knifes. Starita received his journalism degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1978 and was an investigative reporter before returning to the midwest to research and write this Pulitzer Prize nominated book, which is the subject of this program. Starita not only reads from his book but he also summarizes the lessons he learned from the Lakota people during his research.

Joe Starita reads from his book, I Am a Man: Chief Standing Bear’s Journey for Justice
Lincoln
April 19, 2009
Total Running Time – 75 minutes
Ames Reading #182

Joe Starita was born in Lincoln, Nebraska. After working for a number of years as a journalist, he returned to his home state in 1992, becoming a journalism professor at his alma mater, UNL. He is the author of several books, one that was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, The Dull Knifes of Pine Ridge: A Lakota Odyssey, and I Am a Man: Chief Standing Bear’s Journey for Justice.

Helen Winter Stauffer reads from her intorduction to Letters of Mari Sandoz
Kearney
February 17, 1994
Total Running Time – 58 Minutes
Ames Reading #79onfiction

Dr. Stauffer is Professor Emerita of English at the University of Nebraska-Kearney. She has received numerous awards and recognitions for her work as a Mari Sandoz scholar, most notably the Outstanding Member Award from the Western Literature Association, the Pratt-Hines Award for Scholarship, and the Mari Sandoz Award from the Nebraska Library Association. Stauffer has written Women and Western American Literature (1982); Mari Sandoz: Story Catcher of the Plains (1982); and the recently published Letters of Mari Sandoz (1992). In this program, Sauffer reads excerpts from her introduction to Letters of Mari Sandoz.

Mary Helen Stefaniak reads from her book, The Cailiffs of Baghdad, Georgia
Omaha, NE
April 15, 2012
Total Running Time – 84 minutes
Ames Reading #204

A Milwaukee native, Mary Helen grew up in a bicultural household, her father born in Wisconsin and her mother in Georgia; no doubt there is some connection with her most recent novel, The Cailiffs of Baghdad, Georgia (W.W. Norton & Co., 2010.) A writer of fiction and essays with degrees from Marquette University and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, she has also written The Turk and My Mother and Self Storage and Other Stories. Mary Helen currently divides her time between Iowa City and Omaha, where she teaches at Creighton University.

Betty Stevens reads from her columns
Lincoln
October 19, 1995
Total Running Time – 50 Minutes
Ames Reading #90

Former Lincoln Journal-Star reporter from Hallam, Nebraska, Betty Stevens has published her writing in columns, essays and books over the course of her distinguished career. Among her works are Bright Lights and Blue Ribbons (1995), a history of the Nebraska State Fair, and A Dangerous Class (1995), which traces the Nebraska suffrage movement. In this program, Stevens reads from her collection of past Lincoln Journal articles, with a focus on Native-American themes.

Mary K. Stillwell
September 20, 2001
Total Running Time – 37 Minutes
Ames Reading #129

Mary K. Stillwell was born in Omaha and spent her early childhood there. At the age of 14, she moved with her family to a farm near Falls City, NE. She began to write poetry as an adult and believes she was greatly influenced by the Great Plains environment and her experiences in rural life on the family farm. She states that she writes “to figure out what I think.” Returning to Nebraska after living in New York City where she pursued a career in a related area, she says the ordinary events of daily life inspire her. Her poems have been published in more than 50 journals and she has won several honors, including the American Academy of Poetry Wilbur Gaffney Prize from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Marly Swick reads from The Summer Before the Summer of Love.
Lincoln
February 15, 1996
Total Running Time – 49 Minutes
Ames Reading #92

A Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln since 1988, Marly Swick is quickly becoming a nationally-known fiction writer. Swick’s short stories have appeared in The Atlantic Monthly and O’Henry Prize Stories and she has received The James Michener Award. In this program, Swick reads rom her recent collection of stories The Summer Before the Summer of Love (1995).

Ruth Raymond Thone reads from Women and Aging: Celebrating Ourselves
September 17, 1992
Total Running Time – 47 Minutes
Ames Reading #66

Thone is the former first lady of Nebraska and a community activist. She spends much of her time as a volunteer, teacher, and has been active in progressive politics for many years. She has written columns for The Lincoln Star, The Omaha World Herald, The Washington Post Outlook magazine, as well as The Christian Science Monitor. Thone reads from and discusses her book, Women and Aging: Celebrating Ourselves (1992), in this program.

Ruth Thone reads from Fat – A Fate Worse than Death.
Lincoln
January 15, 1998
Total Running Time – 57 Minutes
Ames Reading #105

Ruth Thone is known in Nebraska as an activist, a teacher, and a writer, as well as former first lady. Her latest book Fat: A Fate Worse than Death (1997) and Women and Aging: Celebrating Ourselves (1992) prove that Thone is also a perceptive social critic. In this program, Thone reads from Fat, which explores the expectations society holds for womens’ body image and some of the negative implications of those expectations.

Ruth Thone reads from the manuscript of her fourth book on death and dying
Lincoln
January 17, 2002
Total Running Time – 69 Minutes
Ames Reading #132

Ruth Thone is deeply rooted in Nebraska. She is a native of Scottsbluff, a graduate of the University of Nebraska, and a former first lady of the state. She is an author, an activist, and a social critic. She has worked for a variety of media outlets in Nebraska. Her work has appeared in The Lincoln Star, The Omaha World Herald, The Christian Science Monitor, and the Washington Post. She has written three books – Being Home, Women and Aging: Celebrating Ourselves and Fat: A Fate Worse than Death. She has completed a manuscript for a fourth book, which focuses on the topics of death and dying. In this program, she reads from that manuscript.

Don Welch reads his poetry, 1991
Kearney
May 16, 1991
Total Running Time – 40 Minutes
Ames Reading #57

Welch is an English professor at Kearney State College where he holds the Reynolds Chair of Poetry. Named by Design Magazine as one of the outstanding poets working in the nation’s public schools, Welch is the only poet to twice win the National Blue Unicorn first prize in poetry. He was also the recipient of the prestigious Pablo Neruda Award in 1983. Welch has published several books of poetry and verse including: The Keeper of Miniature Deer (1986), On Common Ground (1983), and The Rarer Game (1980). In this program, Welch reads from his current poetry.

Don Welch reads his poetry
Kearney
November 18, 2004
Total Running Time – 55 minutes
Ames Reading #152

Don Welch has written extensively over the years and has been recognized for that writing. In this reading, he focuses on short poems on a variety of topics and the circumstances that inspired him to write them. He also reads poetry from an unpublished manuscript.

Kathleene West reads from her poetry
Lincoln
November 21, 1985
Total Running Time – 43 Minutes
Ames Reading #4

West is a native of Genoa, Nebraska. She received both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree at the University of Washington and returned to complete a doctorate at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. West’s studies also took her to Iceland, where she was a Fulbright Scholar from 1983-85. She currently teaches in the English department at UNL. Author of five volumes of poetry, her most recent published work is entitled Water Witching (1984). In this program, West reads selections from her recent poems.

Kathleene West reads poetry from her works
Las Cruces, NM
April 15, 2004
Total Running Time – 58 minutes
Ames Reading #149

Kathleene West currently lives in Las Cruces, NM, and is a professor in the English Department at New Mexico State University. She has written poetry and a novel; during this program, she reads from her works.

Kim Wheeler reads from his work
Lincoln
February 18, 1988
Total Running Time – 46 Minutes
Ames Reading #27

Wheeler is a Lincoln resident who’s writing interests center around the short and humorous verses of Haiku and Senryu. Senryu is a 3-line unrhymed Japanese poem structurally similar to a Haiku, but treats human nature in an ironic or satiric vein. Wheeler is also interested in re-establishing the traditional illustrated book. He is the author of three books of collected poems, The Dying Poet/ Chronicles of Plinth (1978), Loves of the Cat (1985), and Found Verse (1986). In this program, he reads both poetry and selections from his books.

Les Whipp reads his poetry
Lincoln
May 17, 1990
Ames Reading #48
44 min.

Born in Jacksonville, Florida, Whipp is currently a professor of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He considers himself “a teacher who writes poetry,” as he began to write poetry 20 years after starting his teaching career. He received both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from the University of Minnesota, and a doctorate from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His poetry has appeared in many journals including, Nebraska English Counselor, Plainsongs, Prairie Schooner, and Dismal River Review. His fiction has also appeared in South Dakota Review. He reads a wide selection of his poetry in this program.

Tamora Whitney reads her poetry, 1989
Omaha/Lincoln
January 19, 1989
Total Running Time – 40 Minutes
Ames Reading #36

A native of Omaha, Nebraska, Whitney is currently a Writing Specialist at Doane College in Crete, Nebraska. She has also taught composition at University of Nebraska-Lincoln and creative writing at Southeast Community College. Whitney received a bachelor’s degree in English at the College of St. Mary’s and a master’s degree in English/Creative Writing from UNL. Her poetry has been published in Plainsongs and Long Pond Review. In this program, Whitney reads several selections from her current poetry.

Tamora Whitney reads her poetry, 1992
Omaha/Lincoln
November 19, 1992
Total Running Time – 56 Minutes
Ames Reading #68

Whitney is a native of Nebraska and holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in Creative Writing from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Currently an Assistant Professor at Creighton University in Omaha, she has taught at Doane and Union Colleges in Nebraska, and Iowa Western College. Her poetry has appeared in many publications including, Nebraska English Journal, Platte Valley Review, Plainsongs, and Cloverdale Review. This is Whitney’s second appearance in the Ames Reading Series, and in this program she reads several of her new poems.

Stephanie Whitson reads from her Prairie Winds Series
Douglas
March 20, 1997
Total Running Time – 59 Minutes
Ames Reading #100

Stephanie Whitson’s fiction is a blend of Christian and historical romance which is carefully researched. In this program, Whitson reads portions from three novels in her Prairie Winds Series; Walks the Fire, Soaring Eagle and Red Bird, which are set in turn-of-the-century Nebraska. Whitson currently lives in Douglas, Nebraska and has operated two home-based businesses.

Stephanie Grace Whitson reads from Unbridled Dreams and A Claim of Her Own
Lincoln
February 15, 2009
Total Running Time – 56 minutes
Ames Reading #181

Stephanie Whitson was born in Illinois, and has lived in Nebraska for many years. She’s written a number of books, often focusing on the frontier and pioneer life of women; one of her first books is Walks the Fire, a part of the Prairie Winds Series, and one of her most recent, Unbridled Dreams.

David Wishart discusses his work as editor of Encyclopedia of the Great Plains.
Lincoln
March 16, 2000
Total Running Time – 45 minutes
Ames Reading #120

David Wishart is a professor of geography at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and is the principal editor of Encyclopedia of the Great Plains. This project will be published in a book in the next five years with grant support from the Center for Great Plains Studies and the National Endowment for the Humanities. In this program, Wishart discusses how he decided to organize the encyclopedia, how the geographical region of the Great Plains was mapped, and gives a preview of some of the more than 500 entries that will be in the encyclopedia.

Susan and John Wunder read from their book, Nebraska Moments
Lincoln
October 19, 2008
Total Running Time – 53 minutes
Ames Reading #178

The first edition of Nebraska Moments: Glimpses of Nebraska’s Past was written by Donald R. Hickey and published in 1992. University of Nebraska-Lincoln professors, Susan and John Wunder, recently had the opportunity to develop a new edition, with chapters that have been added, deleted and merged, entitled Nebraska Moments and published by the University of Nebraska Press.

Joseph Wydeven talks about Wright Morris
Lincoln, NE
November 21, 2010
Total Running Time – 61 minutes
Ames Reading #193

Joseph Wydeven, Professor Emeritus at Bellevue University, Bellevue, NE, earned degrees at Indiana University, DePaul University and Purdue University. Over the years, he has been interested in Nebraska author and photographer, Wright Morris. He presented a special program about Morris in the Heritage Room in 1985 and wrote a book about him, Wright Morris Revisited, which was published by Twayne in 1998. Since Wright Morris’ book, The Home Place, has been the 2010 One Book One Nebraska title, it seems fitting to have Joe return to the Heritage Room to talk about one of his favorite topics.

Michael Zangari reads from his fiction
Lincoln
June 19, 1986
Total Running Time – 33 Minutes
Ames Reading #10

Lincoln poet and writer, Zangari recently published his poetry in Rolling Stone Magazine and is working on his third novel. A disc jockey and Lincoln City Library employee, he has been active in the local literary scene, reading his works at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the Nebraska Directors Theater, and the 11th Street Gallery. In this program, he introduces the characters from his recent novel Community of One.

Fredrick Zydek reads his poetry, 1986
Omaha
July 17, 1986
Total Running Time – 55 Minutes
Ames Reading #11

Zydek is a graduate of Seattle University and the University of Washington and currently teaches English at the College of St. Mary in Omaha. In 1970, he received the Hart Crane Award, and most recently, the Sara O’Laughlin Folley Award in 1985. He is the author of three published books of poetry, Lights Along the Missouri, Storm Warning (1983), and Ending the Fast (1984). Zydek’s poems have appeared in such publications as: Michigan Quarterly, Prairie Schooner, Poetry Northwest, and California Quarterly. In this program, Zydek reads selections from his poetry.

Fredrick Zydek reads his poetry, 1992
Omaha/Brunswick
May 21, 1992
Total Running Time – 40 Minutes
Ames Reading #65

Zydek is a graduate of the Seattle University and the University of Washington. He shares his time between his corn farm in Brunswick, Nebraska and the College of St. Mary in Omaha, where he is an instructor. Winner of the Hart Crane Poetry Award and the Sarah O’ Laughlin Folley Poetry Award, Zydek also writes plays, essays and short fiction. His published works include Lights Along the Missouri, Storm Warning (1983), and Ending the Fast (1984). Zydek’s reads several selection from his recent poetry in this program, his second appearance in the Ames Reading Series.

Poetry and Fiction Series

This series, sponsored by the Nebraska Literary Heritage Association, originated in 1984 and features poetry and fiction readings by Nebraska poets and writers. In 1985, this series was named for John H. Ames, a benefactor and trustee of Lincoln City Libraries. See the John H. Ames Reading Series section for additional poetry and fiction readings.

Don Welch reads his poetry
Norfolk
April 19, 1984
Total Running Time – 40 Minutes
Poetry & Fiction Reading #1

Welch, a Nebraska native, holds the Reynolds Chair of Poetry at Kearney State College. Named by Design Magazine as one of the outstanding poets working in the nation’s public schools, Welch is the only poet to win the National Blue Unicorn first prize award twice. He is the author of several works of poetry and verse, including The Keeper of Miniature Deer (1986), On Common Ground (1983) and The Rarer Game (1980). This is Welch’s first reading for the Heritage Room, and it opens the Poetry and Fiction Reading Series.

Elizabeth Banset reads her poetry
Omaha
May 17, 1984
Total Running Time – 48 Minutes
Poetry & Fiction Reading #2

Banset, a native of Omaha, currently resides in Lincoln, where she is the facilitator of the poetry series at The Glass Onion. A poet herself, Banset’s work has appeared in the Windflower Home Almanac (1980), published by another Nebraska poet, Ted Kooser. In this program, she reads selections from her works of poetry. This is the second reading in the Poetry and Fiction Reading Series.

Steve Hahn reads his poetry
Johnson / Lincoln
June 21, 1984
Total Running Time – 38 Minutes
Poetry & Fiction Reading #3

A native of Johnson, Nebraska, Hahn grew up on a farm. He earned his B.A. from Dana College, and is a graduate student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His poetry has appeared in a collection entitled, A Hard Row to Hoe (1981). In this program, he will read selections from his works of poetry. This is the third reading in the Poetry and Fiction Reading Series.

Judith Sornberger reads her poetry
Omaha
July 19, 1984
Total Running Time – 39 Minutes
Poetry & Fiction Reading #4

Sornberger, a native of Omaha, Nebraska, earned her B.A. and M.A. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She was awarded the Vreeland Award for poetry in 1980 and 1982, and was a recipient of the Academy of American Poets Award in 1981. Sornberger is currently a professor of English and Women’s Studies, and recently edited an anthology of poems entitled, All My Grandmothers Could Sing: Poems by Nebraska Women (1984). In this program she reads selections from her works of poetry.

Marilyn Coffey reads from her oral history “My Flood Story”
Alma
July 31, 1984
Total Running Time – 54 Minutes
Poetry & Fiction Reading #5

Born in Alma, Nebraska, Marilyn Coffey lived in Lincoln while she attended the University of Nebraska. A poet, essayist and novelist, she was named Master Alumnus by UNL for her distinction in the field of writing. In this program, Coffey reads from her oral history entitled “My Flood Story.”

David Landis reads a selection of poetry
Lincoln
September 20, 1984
Total Running Time – 63 Minutes
Poetry & Fiction Reading #6

David Landis, a Nebraska state senator, disc jockey, and theatrical performer reads “poems that he loves” written by such notables as Walt Whitman, Wendell Barry, Karl Sandberg and Nebraska’s own, Ted Kooser. Several poems contain images of the prairie and are delivered in Landis’ own special way.

J.V. Brummels reads his poetry
Osmond / Wayne
October 18, 1984
Total Running Time – 63 Minutes
Poetry & Fiction Reading #7

Brummels is a native of Osmond, Nebraska. He attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and Syracuse University, where he studied under Philip Booth. A poet, Brummels has taught English at Wayne State College since 1977. He has published extensively in both commercial and private presses. His most recent works are Homesick for Heaven, and 614 Pearl. This is the seventh reading in the Poetry and Fiction Reading Series, and Brummels’ first reading for the Heritage Room.

Roy Scheele reads his poetry
Lincoln
November 15, 1984
Total Running Time – 47 Minutes
Poetry & Fiction Reading #8

Scheele is a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He received his B.A. in Classical Greek, and his M.A. in English. He has taught at various colleges, including Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, UNL, and Doane College, where he has been the poet in residence since 1982. In this program, Scheele reads selections from his works of poetry. This is his first reading for the Heritage Room, and the seventh reading in the Poetry and Fiction Series.

Ted Kooser reads his poetry
Lincoln
December 20, 1984
Total Running Time – 47 Minutes
Poetry & Fiction Reading #9

Kooser is a native of Ames, Iowa. He came Lincoln in the mid 1960’s in order to study English at the University of Nebraska, where he received his M.A. An adjunct professor of English at UNL, and vice president of a local insurance company, Kooser was also an editor and publisher of the Wind Flower Press. He received the Prairie Schooner Prize in poetry for 1977-78, and the Stanley Kunitz Poetry Prize from Columbia University in 1984. Some of his works include, Official Entry Blank (1969), Not Coming to Be Barked At (1976), Cottonwood Country (with William Kloefkorn, 1979), and Sure Signs (1980). In this program, Kooser reads selections from his works of poetry.

Hilda Raz reads her poetry
Lincoln
January 17, 1985
Total Running Time – 32 Minutes
Poetry & Fiction Reading #10

Raz was born in Rochester, New York, and studied at Boston University, where she earned her B.A. She is a poet and essayist, and currently the editor of the Prairie Schooner. Raz received the Breadloaf Scholarship in poetry in 1985, and the Breadloaf Scholarship for her work as an editor in 1974. She was also the Governor’s Art Award Nominee for 1984. Her poetry has appeared in North American Review, Poetry Miscellany, Denver Quarterly, and WholeNotes. She has contributed to the Nebraska author based anthology, All My Grandmothers Could Sing (1984). In this program, she reads selections from her poems and essays.

Robert McEwen reads his poetry
Lincoln
February 21, 1985
Total Running Time – 86 Minutes
Poetry & Fiction Reading #11

Robert McEwen is currently an instructor of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, although he draws on his experiences from many states and professions while writing his poetry. In this program, McEwen reads several of his poems on trees as well as portions of his unpublished novel Whitey’s Way. McEwen’s narrative poems spring out of the tradition of storytelling.

John McNamara reads his fiction
Omaha
March 21, 1985
Total Running Time – 37 Minutes
Poetry & Fiction Reading #12

John McNamara is a free-lance writer from Omaha. He received his bachelor of science degree from UNO and is the public relations officer for the Nebraska Arts Council. His works have appeared in Omaha Magazine, Old Hickory Review, Cross Currents, Piedmont Literary Review and The Flatwater Arts Companion. In this program, McNamara reads from his short fiction, including the story “Piecework,” which is one of several stories that explore the psychological impact of being a soldier in the Vietnam conflict.

Shirley Buettner reads her poetry
Kearney
April 18, 1985
Total Running Time – 38 Minutes
Poetry & Fiction Reading #13

A native of Concordia, Kansas, Buettner grew up in the rural surroundings of Kearney, Nebraska. She graduated from Kearney State College, where she studied poetry under Nebraska poet Don Welch. She recently received her M.A. and is a part-time college instructor. Her most recent work is entitled Walking Out the Dark (1984). Buettner reads selections from her works of poetry. This is the thirteenth reading in the Poetry and Fiction Reading Series.

Jim Luebbe reads his poetry
Beaver Crossing
May 16, 1985
Total Running Time – 37 Minutes
Poetry & Fiction Reading #14

A native of Beaver Crossing, Nebraska, Luebbe is a poet who spends his days operating a crop dusting business. He shares his recent writing in this, the fourteenth and final reading of the Poetry and Fiction Reading Series.

Celebrating Nebraska Women

This 11 part lecture series discusses the cultural contributions of women with Nebraska backgrounds and the problems these women faced in developing their vision and creativity in their field of work. Major funding for this series was provided by the Nebraska Committee for the Humanities, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The LaFlesche Sisters
Anne Diffendal
September 12, 1988
Total Running Time – 43 Minutes
Program #1 of 11

In this program, Anne Diffendal, Director and Curator of the National Museum of Roller Skating, discusses the lives and achievements of the LaFlesche sisters, daughters of Joseph LaFlesche, the last recognized Chief of the Omaha Tribe. The LaFlesche sisters – Susette Tibbles, writer and lecturer; Rosalie Farley, intermediary for the Omaha during U.S. Land Allotment; Marguerite Diddock, Founder and Community Leader of Walthill, Nebraska; Lucy LaFlesche, active in Omaha Tribal politics; and Susan Picotte, the first recognized Native American Doctor – were an outstanding group of accomplished women in early Nebraska frontier history.

Contemporary Nebraska Women Fiction Writers
Emily S. Uzendowski
September 29, 1988
Total Running Time – 88 Minutes
Program #2 of 11

In this program, Emily S. Uzendowski, Professor of English at Central Community College in Columbus, Nebraska, explores mainstream women fiction writers, and other genres of literature written by women. Her discussion also focuses on particular themes and writings that Nebraska women writers favor and find popular. Some of the Nebraska authors discussed are short story writers Lorraine Duggin, Miriam Ben-Yaccov, and Sally Herrin; and novelists Marilyn Coffey, Catherine Kidwell, and Shirley Schoonover.

Tillie Olsen
Linda Pratt
October 13, 1988
Total Running Time – 57 Minutes
Program #3 of 11

In this program, Linda Pratt, Professor of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, lectures about Nebraska author and feminist, Tillie Olsen. Olsen is a native of Omaha’s Jewish and socialist communities. Her writings have received critical praise for their unsentimental portraits of mothers, as well as her realistic depictions of the midwest’s urban ethnic working class – characters that have fallen outside the Plains stereotype. Dr. Pratt also discusses her own interest in Olsen and her writings.

Nebraska Women in Sociology: 1890-1925
Mary Jo Deegan
October 27, 1988
Total Running Time – 56 Minutes
Program #4 of 11

In this program, Mary Jo Deegan, Professor of Sociology at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln, discusses how several Nebraska women were early leaders in the founding of sociology as a social science. These women, Frances B. Taylor, Mary Tremain, Edith Abbott, Letta Stetter Hollingworth and others became guiding forces in such areas as intellectual thought, social change, professional activities, and the development of feminism. Deegan will show how their group interaction, worldview, and experiences were channeled through the University of Nebraska and its academic setting, developing a unique mixture of populist and progressive thought that went beyond the boundaries of Nebraska.

Louise Pound
Evelyn Haller
November 10, 1988
Total Running Time – 58 Minutes
Program #5 of 11

In this program, Professor Evelyn Haller of Doane College discusses the life and career of Louise Pound, Educator and Pioneer in the study of American Literature and Language. Pound was educated at the University of Nebraska, later to return in 1889 as an instructor, where she remained until 1945. Pound succeeded in a world that was, for the most part, closed to women through her command of athletics and academics. She was named the first women president of the Modern Language Association, as well as the first woman named to the Nebraska Sports Hall of Fame.

Black Women of the Great Plains
Bertha Calloway
February 23, 1989
Total Running Time – 54 Minutes
Program #6 of 11

In this program, Bertha Calloway Curator of the Great Plains Black Museum, discusses the national contributions of African-American women. Calloway’s talk begins with the 1870s, the end of the reconstruction, when African-Americans began leaving the south to come north. She discusses Black history on the plains, describing migration patterns of Black families across the plains, and settlements in Nebraska and parts of Iowa. Calloway’s lecture is accompanied by artifacts from the Great Plains Black Museum’s collection.

Edith Abbott: Her Sociological Career
Mary Jo Deegan
March 2, 1989
Total Running Time – 40 Minutes
Program #7 of 11

In this program, Mary Jo Deegan, Professor of Sociology at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, speaks informally about the life and career of Edith Abbott. Abbott was a high school principal, a feminist and a strong advocate of women’s rights, child labor laws, and immigration concerns. Deegan’s discussion will chronologically cover Abbott’s life up to 1920, where her achievments and career reached its apex.

Documenting Women Photographers Working in Nebraska, 1820-1920
Martha Kennedy
March 9, 1989
Total Running Time – 43 Minutes
Program #8 of 11

Over 140 women practiced the craft of photography in Nebraska during the years of 1879 through 1920. However, most of the research on photographers of Nebraska have concentrated solely on men. In this program, Martha Kennedy, an Assistant Professor of Art at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, explores some of the state’s early women photographers and their works. She also addresses the similarities and differences in conditions under which both men and women worked as photographers, and the issue of whether these women’s works differ in distinctly visible ways from their male counterparts. Slides are included in Kennedy’s lecture.

Anna Louise Strong
Katherine Riddle & Laura Weymouth
March 23, 1989
Total Running Time – 56 Minutes
Program #9 of 11

In this program, Katherine Riddle and Laura Weymouth introduce and discuss in some detail the life of political activist and correspondent Anna Louise Strong. Strong was a communist spokeswoman who had a career in real estate, writing, and reporting political revolutions of twentieth century China and Russia.

Jean Potts & Patricia McGerr: Mystery Writers
Betty Levitov
September 12, 1988
Total Running Time – 43 Minutes
Program #10 of 11

In this program, Betty Levitov, an assistant professor at Doane College, discusses the careers of mystery writers Jean Potts and Patricia McGerr. Both of these Nebraska authors have received national recognition for their work and many awards. Levitov will include tantalizing excerpts from their plots – without giving away the “whodunit.”

Dorothy Thomas: The Woman and the Work
Sherrill Daniels
April 13, 1988
Total Running Time – 58 Minutes
Program #11 of 11

In this program Sherrill Daniels, the Director of Reference Services at the Nebraska State Historical Society, discusses the life and career of Nebraska writer, Dorothy Thomas. Thomas was primarily a short story writer who drew extensively upon her own experiences, developing a fictionalized style that proved popular among her readers. Many of Thomas’ best works were written and published between 1929 and 1941, and were sold to the top magazines of her day. She is probably best known as the author of Ma Jeeter’s Girls. Daniels’ lecture also includes slides of Thomas, and the various geographical locations associated with this writer.

The Frontier Heritage in Nebraska Literature and Arts

The frontier held both hope and challenge for those who settled here, bringing changes that would effect themselves, the native peoples, and the environment. The purpose of this 12 part series is to explore these changes, and the effects of such individuals on the frontier, as well as the effect of the frontier on the Euro-settlers and native American populace. This series was sponsored by the Nebraska Literary Heritage Association and was funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The Nebraska Frontier in Swedish and Danish Ethnic Literature
Dorothy Burton Skardal
May 15, 1985
Total Running Time – 95 Minutes
Program #1 of 12

This program features a discussion and readings from the ethnic literature of the Swedes and Danes who settled on the plains. Dorothy Burton Skardal, Professor of American Civilization at the University of Oslo (Norway) American Institute, reads short stories, novels and poetry from various Scandinavian plains writings while placing the works into their historical and cultural significance.

Czechs in Nebraska as Reflected in their History, Arts and Letters

June 19, 1985
90 Minutes
Program #2 of 12

This lecture examines the experience of Nebraska Czechs in all aspects of their cultural and family life, including their participation in political, fraternal, and religious activities throughout the state and the plains. Presenting this program is Bruce Garver, a Professor of History at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Oscar Micheaux: The Man and His Work
Joseph Young
July 17, 1985
Total Running Time – 60 Minutes
Program #3 of 12

In this program, Joseph Young, Assistant Professor of English at the University of Iowa discusses the literary and film works of Oscar Micheaux, a black pioneer, Nebraska author and filmmaker. Micheaux wrote seven novels, including The Homesteader (1918), an autobiographical account of his life on the plains, which was also made into a full-length movie and believed to be the first film with an all black cast.

Contemporary Indian Reconstruction of the Frontier: Recapturing the Past
Dr. Paul Olson
August 21, 1985
Total Running Time – 60 Minutes
Program #4 of 12

Dr. Paul Olson, Foundation Professor of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, discusses the attempts that Native Americans have historically made to recapture and promote their unique cultural and political systems. Many of their hunting, farming and ceremonial traditions, which were well established prior to contact with Anglo-European culture, are being reinstituted today.

The Frontier In Contemporary Literature (1)
Don Welch, James Brummels & Ted Kooser
September 4, 1985
Total Running Time – 54 Minutes
Program #5 of 12

The Frontier continues to play a role in the contemporary writings and literature of the Plains. In this program, the first of three parts, featured poets Don Welch and James Brummels read selections from their works, and the works of others. Brummels and Welch also explore how the frontier has affected these works. Poet and publisher Ted Kooser is the moderator.

The Frontier In Contemporary Literature (2)
Steve Hahn, Judith Sornberger & Ted Kooser
September 11, 1985
Total Running Time – 78 Minutes
Program #6 of 12

The Frontier continues to play a role in the contemporary writings and literature of the Plains. In this program, the second of three parts, featured poets Steve Hahn, Judith Sornberger and Elizabeth Banset pick up where Welch and Brummels left off. Each read selections from their works and the works of others and explore how the frontier has affected these works. Poet and publisher Ted Kooser is the moderator.

The Frontier In Contemporary Literature (3)
William Kloefkorn, Marjorie Saiser & Ted Kooser
September 18, 1985
Total Running Time – 62 Minutes
Program #7 of 12

The Frontier continues to play a role in the contemporary writings and literature of the Plains. In this program, the third of three parts, featured poets William Kloefkorn and Marjorie Saiser read their works and those of others and discuss how the frontier has affected their writing. This program is moderated by Ted Kooser.

Literary History of the True West: Reality vs. Fiction
John R. Milton
October 16, 1985
Total Running Time – 60 Minutes
Program #8 of 12

Most fiction regarding the Old West was written well after the closing of the frontier in 1890. While there is “honest fiction” full of historical truth about the Old West, there is also “formula fiction” that appeals more to mass readership. John R. Milton, Professor of English at the University of South Dakota, discusses these points and explores the differences between historically accurate fiction and the formula fiction geared towards the market.

The Frontier in Film: Fact vs. Fiction
Richard W. Etulain
November 20, 1985
Total Running Time – 60 Minutes
Program #9 of 12

Richard W. Etulain, Professor of History at the University of New Mexico, explores the views commonly held about the Old West, and how these ideas are the result of long-held beliefs and myths about the region. Etulain’s slide illustrated discussion focuses on Western films, which in part show the historical development of the West. He pinpoints specific films about Nebraska and the Plains that also illustrate such historical development.

Folktales and Folksongs: Literature of the Frontier
Roger Welsch
January 22, 1986
Total Running Time – 60 Minutes
Program #10 of 12

Roger Welsch, Professor of English and Anthropology at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, discusses the development of folktales and folksongs as an aspect of historical and literary documents, which are created by a “collective social genius.” He explains that socially oriented folktales or songs are just as meaningful and dramatic as the high-style literature which is created by a “single creative genius.”

Of the Open Sky: The Frontier Art
Jon Nelson
February 19, 1986
Total Running Time – 50 Minutes
Program #11 of 12

In this program, Jon Nelson, Art Historian and Curator of the Center for Great Plains Studies Art Collection, explores the various ways in which frontier artists such as Carl Bodmer and Albert Bierstadt treated the sky. Other artists Nelson discusses include George Catlin, Alfred J. Miller, Frederick Remington, Charles Russell, Worthington Whittredge and others. Examples of these artists works are also included.

The Frontier Culture Expressed in the Art of Architecture
Keith Sawyers
March 19, 1986
Total Running Time – 60 Minutes
Program #12 of 12

In this program, Keith Sawyers, Professor of Architecture at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln discusses the artistic expression and form that developed in frontier architecture. He explores what roles art and architecture played in the course of Nebraska’s frontier experience, and identifies common architectural types and styles found there. Sawyer concludes that much of the architectural art was an expression and reflection of individuals, culture and life of the Frontier.

Nebraska: The Individual Voice

In celebration of the Prairie Schooner’s 60th Anniversary this series features special readings by various Nebraska authors whose work appeared in the Schooner’s anniversary issue Nebraska: The Individual Voice (Summer Issue, vol. 60, no. 2). This series is sponsored by the Nebraska Literary Heritage Association.

Nebraska: The Individual Voice #1
Shirley Buettner, Dan Looker & Shirley Trout

July 23, 1986
Total Running Time – 50 Minutes
Program #1 of 4

Part one of this series features the works of Shirley Buettner, Dan Looker, and Shirley Trout. Buettner, a farm woman and part-time English instructor at Kearney State College, is the author of Walking Out the Dark (1984). She will read selections of her poetry. Looker is the Farm Editor for the Lincoln Journal and will read from his essay on farming and the farm condition. Trout is a farm wife and mother of four. She will read from her works of prose.

Nebraska: The Individual Voice #2
Ted Kooser, Sally Herrin, Twyla Hansen & Joanne Casullo
August 6, 1986
Total Running Time – 68 Minutes
Program #2 of 4

Part two of this series features the works of Ted Kooser, Sally Herrin, Twyla Hansen and Joanne Casullo. Kooser lives in Garland, Nebraska and is the Vice President of Marketing for a Lincoln insurance company. He has written many volumes of poetry, from which he will read several selections. Herrin is a poet, fiction writer and reader for the Prairie Schooner. She will read from her writings. Hansen, who will read her poetry, is a native of rural Burt County, and a student of the Nebraska State Poet, William Kloefkorn. Joanne Casullo, Curator of the Heritage Room, will read selections from her works of poetry.

Nebraska: The Individual Voice #3
Stephen Behrendt, Marie Arnot, Kim Calvillo & Jim Luebbe
August 20, 1986
Total Running Time – 53 Minutes
Program #3 of 4

Part three of this series features the works of Stephen Behrendt, Marie Arnot, Kim Calvillo, and Jim Luebbe. Behrendt, who will read selections from his poetry, is a professor of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and has recently completed a work on the poet, Shelley. Arnot was born in Northpoint, Nebraska and will share selections from her writings. Calvillo will share several of her short stories which have been published in the North America Review. Luebbe writes poetry in his spare time and farms with his father in Beaver Crossing, Nebraska.

Nebraska: The Individual Voice #4
William Kloefkorn, Jon Volkmer, Kathleen West & William Pratt
September 3, 1986
Total Running Time – 75 Minutes
Program #4 of 4

Part four of this series features the works of William Kloefkorn, Jon Volkmer, Kathleen West, and William Pratt. Kloefkorn, the Nebraska State poet, teaches at Wesleyan University, will read from his works of poetry. Volkmer is a fiction writer who has recently completed his first work of historical fiction entitled Glory on God’s Earth. He will read from his short story, “The Elevator Man.” West who will share her poetry, recently returned from a Fulbright term in Iceland. Pratt is a professor of History at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. His interest and specialties is in labor movements, a subject he will discuss, as well as read from the interviews he conducted with labor leaders, Vita Morrison and James C. Harris.

Scandinavian Lecture Series

This seven part series examines the history, literature, culture and folkways of the Scandinavian immigrants to Nebraska and Great Plains states. This series was sponsored by the Nebraska Literary Heritage Association and was funded by a grant from the Nebraska Committee for the Humanities.

Patterns of Scandinavian Immigration
Frederick C. Luebke
October 17, 1984
Total Running Time – 75 Minutes
Program #1 of 6

Lecturing in this program is Frederick C. Luebke, the Director of the Center for Great Plains Studies and a Professor of History at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. Professor Luebke defines Scandinavians and discusses their settlement patterns in the Great Plains region.

The Lives of Danish Immigrants as Seen Through Their Letters, Diarires and Other Writings
Donald Watkins
October 23, 1984
Total Running Time – 67 Minutes
Program #2 of 6

Lecturing in this program is Donald Watkins, Professor in the Department of Germanic Languages and Literature at the University of Kansas. Watkins will showcase certain letters, diaries, and writings that illustrate elements of Danish immigrant life. He also discusses how one can evaluate these writings carefully to use as evidence for immigration history.

Brawling Cities and Blossoming Prairies: The Experiences of Danish Immigrants in the Nebraska Novels of Kristian Ostergaard
John Mark Nielsen
October 30, 1984
Total Running Time – 67 Minutes
Program #3 of 6

Lecturing in this program is John Mark Nielsen, an Assistant Professor of English at Dana College. Neilsen who believes that Danish immigrant writer Kristian Ostergaard deserves more recognition for his works, discusses in detail how the novelist viewed the American Experience and translated it to a Danish audience.

An Evening of Readings from Scandinavian Plains Literature
Peg Sheldrick, Susan Gering & Phil Heckman
November 6, 1984
Total Running Time – 42 Minutes
Program #4 of 6

In this program, readers perform scenes from the works of admired writers, including Willa Cather, Sophus Keith Winther and Rölvaag. Stories of unexpected hardships that threatened settlers on plains and the common immigrant dream of owning and working one’s own land are told. The readers are Peg Sheldrick, Susan Gering and Phil Heckman.

Swedes on the Great Plains: Life on the Plains as Portrayed in Swedish Immigrant’s Letters
Arnold Barton
November 13, 1984
Total Running Time – 82 Minutes
Program #5 of 6

Lecturing in this program is Professor Arnold Barton from Southern Illinois University. Barton discusses letters that illustrate what common Swedish immigrant life was like on the Great Plains.

The Norwegian American Press: A Window on Immigrant Community Life
Dr. Odd Sverre Lovoll
November 20, 1984
Total Running Time – 56 Minutes
Program #6 of 6

Lecturing in this program is Dr. Odd Sverre Lovoll of St. Olaf College, in Minnesota. Dr. Lovoll discusses how the Norwegian American Press began and spread westward across the frontier all the way to Washington State, through the efforts of various individuals. A slide show accompanies this program.

Scandinavian Heritage Christmas Traditions
Frederick C. Luebke
December 16, 1984
Total Running Time – 58 Minutes
Special Event

In this program, three groups of speakers lecture about the Christmas traditions of three different Scandinavian countries. Florence and Ruth Amen share Swedish customs and traditions, Mr. and Mrs. Otto Hoiberg speak of Danish customs and traditions and Mr. and Mrs. Robert Narveson discuss Norwegian customs and traditions.

Three Centuries of Germans in America

This seven part series examines the role of German ethnic groups in American history and culture, while also celebrating the 300th anniversary of the first German settlement in America. The lecture series was supported by a grant from the Nebraska Committee for the Humanities and was sponsored by the Center for Great Plains Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Lincoln City Libraries.

Three Centuries of Germans in America, Part 1 (Not videotaped)

German Settlement in Nebraska
Frederick C. Luebke
October 25, 1983
Total Running Time – 58 Minutes
Program #2 of 7

This lecture, given by Frederick C. Luebke, outlines the pattern of German immigration to the Great Plains. Luebke, a Professor of History at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, and former editor of Great Plains Quarterly, will also discuss his book, Immigrants and Politics: The Germans of Nebraska, 1880-1900.

German Folklore and the American Experience
Richard Thill
November 1, 1983
Total Running Time – 75 Minutes
Program #3 of 7

This lecture, given by Professor Richard Thill form the University of Nebraska-Omaha, defines the beliefs, attitudes, language, music, and favorite dances of Germans. Professor Thill explains the way Germans saw the world as reflected in their folklore, and traces how German folklore evolved in America within the community of German immigrants.

Black Sea Germans From Russia on the Great Plains
Elaine Jahner
November 8, 1983
Total Running Time – 65 Minutes
Program #4 of 7

This lecture is given by Elaine Jahner, an Associate Professor in Ethnic Studies and English at the University of Nebraska. As a descendant of the Black Sea Germans from Russia, she holds a great interest in this culture. Professor Jahner will illustrate the lives of this group based on her own interviews and acquaintances with the Black Sea Germans from Russia.

The German Language in America
Paul Schach
November 15, 1983
Total Running Time – 72 Minutes
Program #5 of 7

This lecture given by Paul Schach, Professor of Modern Languages and Literature at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, will analyze the amount of German and different dialects spoken by German among immigrants in the U.S. throughout time. He also discusses the particular regions from which these German speakers came.

German Immigrants and American Politics
Frederick C. Luebke
November 29, 1983
Total Running Time – 83 Minutes
Program #6 of 7

This lecture given by Frederick C. Luebke, a Professor of History from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, discusses German immigrants’ involvement in American political parties and issues. Luebke also discusses the negative dimensions of political history, including the persecution German immigrants experienced during World War I.

Santa Claus and the Christmas Tree
Frederick C. Luebke
December 6, 1983
Total Running Time – 84 Minutes
Program #7 of 7

This lecture given by Frederick C. Luebke, a Professor of History from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, analyzes the background of two famous symbols: the Christmas Tree, and Santa Claus. Luebke will discuss the symbols’ origins, their changes over the years, how they came to America, and how American influences have changed them.

Women Writers of the Great Plains

This six part series is intended to provide an introduction to the literature produced by women writing in and about this region. Our idea of Western Literature is still heavily influenced by the popular western films and pulp novels. This genre which has largely excluded women as writers, as characters, and even, to some extent, as readers. Because women’s experiences have differed from men’s, women’s writings include not only a different point of view of common experiences, but also record experiences that men have chosen not to record. The lecture series was supported by a grant from the Nebraska Committee for the Humanities and was sponsored by the Center for Great Plains Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Lincoln City Libraries.

Willa Cather, Mari Sandoz and Bess Streeter Aldrich
January 22, 1985
Total Running Time – 92 Minutes
Program #1 of 6

This program lays the foundation for a general understanding of the concerns of plainswomen writers, and how each of the writers exemplifies these concerns. Presentations are given by Susan Rosowski, an Associate Professor of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Barbara Rippey, an instructor of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and Carol Miles Peterson, an instructor of Business and Communications at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

Great Plains Canadian Women, Part 2
Frances W. Kaye
January 29, 1985
Total Running Time – 78 Minutes
Program #2 of 6

This lecture provides a brief historical introduction to Canadian women writing on the Plains, while concentrating on a few important contemporary writers such as Anna Brownell Jameson, Margaret Lawrence, Susanna Moody, and Emily Murphy. Presenting the lecture is Frances W. Kaye, an Associate Professor of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Women’s Journals, Diaries and Letters
Helen Winter Stauffer
February 5, 1985
Total Running Time – 67 Minutes
Program #3 of 6

In this program, Helen Winter Stauffer, Professor of English at Kearney State College, examines both the published and unpublished private writings of women. Her lecture also discusses the social and historical context of such writing, as well as its relationship to more formal genres of writing.

Native American Writers
Laura Tohe
February 12, 1985
Total Running Time – 67 Minutes
Program #4 of 6

This program focuses on Native American women writers of the Great Plains, particularly on how contemporary poets’ and fiction writers’ works relate to tribal traditions. This program also examines how such works relate to autobiographical writing by Native American women of the recent past. Presenting the lecture is Laura Tohe, a poet and freelance writer from Omaha.

Images of Women in the Writing of Plainsmen
Kenneth C. Mason
February 19, 1985
Total Running Time – 74 Minutes
Program #5 of 6

This lecture addresses the ways in which male writers of the Great Plains have represented women in literature. A comparison is also drawn to the images women have presented of themselves in literature. Kenneth C. Mason, an Associate Professor of English at Bellevue College, presents this program.

Contemporary Plainswomen Poets
Hilda Raz
February 26, 1985
Total Running Time – 69 Minutes
Program #6 of 6

This program looks at the formal and academic concerns of contemporary poets of the Plains. Included in this program are readings that illustrate contemporary trends and techniques, as well as a look at “grass roots poetry.” The lecture is given by Hilda Raz, the poetry editor for the Prairie Schooner.

Special Programs

Many special programs were held in the Heritage Room which appeal to all ages and interests. This is an alphabetical listing of programs. See also the subject index for programs on a particular topic.

Adjoining Rooms: A Special Program
January 30, 1986
Total Running Time – 47 Minutes

Nebraska poets Liz Banset, Susan Strayer Deal, and Marjorie Saiser are three of five writers whose works appeared in the poetry anthology, Adjoining Rooms (1985). All three poets have been widely published in many periodicals, and their poems appeared in an earlier anthology entitled, All My Grandmothers Could Sing (1984), edited by Judith Sornberger. In addition, Susan Strayer Deal is the author of two books of poetry, The Dark is a Door (1984) and No Moving Parts (1980). The works of both Banset and Saiser were also included in Forty Nebraska Poets (1981), edited by Greg Kuzma. For this program, Banset, Deal and Saiser read selections of their work from Adjoining Rooms.

Alan Boye: A Special Program
May 14, 1990
Total Running Time – 70 Minutes

Writer Alan Boye is a native Nebraskan and graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is best known for his work The Complete Roadside Guide to Nebraska (1989), and Guide to the Ghosts of Lincoln (1983). In this program, Boye reads from his novel in progress, “Blood on the Camus,” a western based on historical and fictional characters. Boye’s works also include the plays, “Joaquin Miller! Tonight!!” and “The Grieved are many, I am Told.” Boye teaches writing at Lyndon State College in Vermont.

Aleane M. Carter: A Special Black History Month Program
February 1, 1990
In this program, Omaha native Aleane Carter, celebrates Black History Month by performing dramatic readings of poems and plays by black writers., Her selections include poems written by her father which were collected in the books Poems of Protest and God’s Trombone. Partial funding for this program is provided by the Nebraska Committee for the Humanities.

Anna Banana: A Special Puppet Show
Sam Ridge
May 31, 1986
Total Running Time – 36 Minutes

Puppeteer Sam Ridge, with the help of the Friends from the Nebraska Corporation for Puppetry, stages an adaptation of Rosekrans Hoffman’s best known story, Anna Banana, through the use of puppets. Hoffman wrote and illustrated Anna Banana in 1975. The story features Charlie and Berthola, and their new baby, Anna Banana. Charlie is sure the baby is a boy, because all first-born babies in his family are boys. Berthola doesn’t know how to tell Charlie that their baby is not James Charles, as Charlie believes, but instead Anna, an exceptionally clever baby who creates a surprise ending. Other short puppet sketches also are included in this program. This program is sponsored in part by a grant from the Lincoln Arts Council.

Anne Truitt: The Influence of Willa Cather on Her Art
October 9, 1985
Total Running Time – 66 Minutes

Anne Truitt, a native of Maryland, discusses her work and how Nebraska author Willa Cather has been a major influence upon her both professionally and personally. Truitt’s narrative includes her reminiscences at discovering Cather and becoming familiar with her writings while growing up, as well as how Truitt relates to Cather. She also reads passages from Cather’s works, discussing with the audience how those specific passages influenced her and helped her to identify with Cather’s writings.

The Art of a Cartoonist
Paul Fell
August 28, 1985
Total Running Time – 58 Minutes

Paul Fell, a native of Massachusetts, came to Nebraska to attend Peru State College, and “never left.” A professional cartoonist, Fell began his career as a high school and college art teacher before becoming an editorial cartoonist for five area Southeast Nebraska newspapers. In 1984, he joined the Lincoln Journal as their cartoonist and Art Director. In this program, Fell discusses his work as an illustrator for Roger Welsch’s book, You Know You’re a Nebraskan (1985).

Aunt Tiny and the Spirit of the Plains
Marilyn Coffey
April 27, 1989
Total Running Time – 45 Minutes

Marilyn Coffey, an Associate Professor of English at the Pride Institute in New York, presents her public premier of “Aunt Tiny and the Spirit of the Plains – A Tribute to Faith L. Kemper.” Her reading explores aspects of Plains womens’ lives through the use of poetry, prose and slides. Featured in this performance is Miss Faith Kemper, a long time resident of Alma, Nebraska and Coffey’s 92-year-old aunt. Dressed in a costume of the late 19th century, Coffey performs her poetry and commentary accompanied by a background of fiddle music as would have been heard by pioneers in the evenings after setting up camp. Coffey also performs “The Psyche of Esther Belle Hanna”, the story of an 18-year-old woman who crossed the plains in 1852 with her husband. Coffey is also the author of the highly controversial novel Marcella (1973).

Baba Yaga: A Show for Kids of All Ages
Nancy Duncan
June 26, 1985
Total Running Time – 81 Minutes

Playwright and actress Nancy Duncan plays the part of a witch named Baba Yaga in a short performance for children. Duncan also walks the audience through her application of stage make-up which creates her character. Duncan has been the Executive Director of the Emmy Gifford Children’s theater in Omaha since 1976. Prior to that she was the Associate Director of the Omaha Community Playhouse. She has acted in and directed numerous plays and has written many plays for children and adults. This program is sponsored by the Nebraska Literary Heritage Association and made possible by a grant from the touring program of the Nebraska Arts Council.

Behind the Scenes of Nebraska Football
Dr. James Sherwood
November 4, 1987
Total Running Time – 42 Minutes

In this program Dr. James Sherwood, Sports Historian at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, discusses his book, Nebraska Football: The Coaches, the Players, the Experience. He explores the history of football at the University, and details the research methods he and others used in writing this book, Behind the Scenes of Nebraska Football. This reading is sponsored by the Nebraska Literary Heritage Association.

Bess Streeter Aldrich, Nebraska Author
Carol Miles Petersen
January 28, 1988
Total Running Time – 42 Minutes

Poet and scholar Carol Miles Petersen discusses in depth the writing career and family life of Nebraska author Bess Streeter Aldrich. Petersen currently teaches at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, where she is finishing her Ph.D. dissertation on Aldrich. Aldrich, who lived in Elmwood and Lincoln, is known for her family-oriented novels, such as A Lantern in Her Hand (1928) and Rim of the Prairie (1925).

Blizzard Voices: a dramatic reading of the play by Ted Kooser
February 5, 1986
Total Running Time – 33 Minutes

Blizzard Voices (1986), a play by Nebraska poet Ted Kooser, is based on true personal accounts of the blizzard in 1888. The play, which is dramatically read by Alan Drees, Barbara Frank, Susan Cross Helms, and Sam Ridge, is presented in four voices which are interwoven – giving the audience a sense of the confusion of that devastating storm. Kooser is also the author of many books of poetry including Official Entry Blank (1969) and One World at a Time (1985). This reading is sponsored by the Nebraska Literary Heritage Association and made possible in part by a grant from the Lincoln Community Arts Council.

Blossoms on the Prairie: Danish Lutherans in Nebraska
Jean and Edith Matteson
September 19, 1989
Total Running Time – 46 Minutes

Jean and Edith Matteson discuss their work, Blossoms of the Prairie (1988), a book about Danish Lutheran churches and congregations in Nebraska. Their lecture outlines chapters of the book which is divided into two sections. The first part deals with early developments in the Danish Lutheran Church from the mid 1800’s through the mid 1940’s. The second part focuses on the way pastors served their various congregations. A slide show accompanies this presentation.

Brian’s Homecoming: A one-act play
Sally Walker
August 22, 1985
Total Running Time – 37 Minutes

Brian’s Homecoming deals with the struggles of a successful and well-meaning mother and father to comprehend and divert their only son’s slide into self destruction. Nebraska author and playwright Sally Walker has dabbled in every literary form from poetry and screenplays to technical writing and children’s books. Even though she co-wrote an episode of the long-running TV series “Bonanza” while still in her teens, Sally did not begin to think of herself as a serious writer until she completed her BFA in Creative Writing at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

The Caged Birds Sing: Readings of African Poetry
February 24, 1985
Total Running Time – 92 Minutes

In this program, Nebraska poets Oyekan Owomoyela, Matthew Stelley, Deborah Plant, Ella Robinson and Cecilia Lawson read works of poetry by African poets Tsegaye Aabre-Medhrin, Oswald Mtshali, Ferdinand Oyono, Jorge Rebelo and Onesimo Silveira in honor of African-American History month. The Nebraska poets also read some of their own writings.

Celebrating Nebraska Children
The Imagine That! Players
April 7, 1990
Total Running Time – 45 Minutes

The Imagine That! Players dramatize stories, poems and songs written by children from all over Nebraska. Music and movement are added to build an imaginative interpretation of the children’s works. The result is an entertaining celebration of the wonderful creativity of Nebraska’s children. First performed at First Night Nebraska on New Year’s Eve (1990), this production continues to change as new material is added. Children delight in seeing their writing “come alive.”

Clues to Clara: The Rediscovery of Local Women’s History
Laureen Riedesel and Diana Church
March 23, 1993
Total Running Time – 52 Minutes

This program, presented by Laureen Riedesel and Diana Church, explores the life of the little-known Nebraska suffragist, Clara Colby, and her accomplishments in the state of Nebraska. Their lecture also documents the stages of their re-discovery of Colby, and illustrates how completely a person can be removed from local history and historical records. The speakers will also address the necessity and effort towards reclaiming and reemphasizing women’s roles in history. Laureen Reidesel is the Director of the Beatrice Public Library, and Diana Church is a consultant and resident of Beatrice. This program is funded by the Nebraska Humanities Council, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Dreams of a New Land: The Story of Danish Immigrants to the Great Plains
John Mark Nielsen
January 8, 1985
Total Running Time – 63 Minutes

In this program, Professor John Mark Nielsen from Dana College, discusses the story of Danish immigration to the United States, and settlement in the Great Plains region. Through the use of letters, journals and diaries, accompanied by slides of old photographs and drawings, Nielsen traces the experiences of Danish immigrants as they leave Denmark, arriving in the new land, and finally settling on the western prairies. Professor Nielsen is a native of Blair, Nebraska and studied at Dana College, Creighton University and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He has lived and taught in Denmark and currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Danish Immigrant Museum, in Elk Horn, Iowa.

Eight Hundred Rubles: A Special Puppet Show
Sam Ridge
September 10, 1986
Total Running Time – 17 Minutes

Puppeteer Sam Ridge, with the help of friends from the Nebraska Corporation for Puppetry, uses marionettes to stage an adaptation of Nebraska’s Poet Laureate John G. Neihardt’s one-act play, “Eight Hundred Rubles.” The play begins with Neihardt’s poetry and develops into character dialogue. This drama in verse, which appears in Lyric and Dramatic Poems, tells of a peasant woman, who out of greed, murders a wealthy traveller. Ironically, unbeknownst to her, the victim is her long lost son. This puppet show is sponsored by the Nebraska Literary Heritage Association and made possible by a grant from the Lincoln Community Arts Council.

Evolution and Reason: Beyond Darwin
Dr. Dorothy Kurth Boberg
September 30, 1993
Total Running Time – 55 Minutes

Boberg is a pioneer interdisciplinarian and professor of Evolution Sciences. In this program, Dr. Boberg discusses theories of complimentary systems of evolution which build on Darwin’s theory of natural selection, while incorporating twentieth century discoveries. Her book, Evolution and Reason – Beyond Darwin, which won the 1994 First place award from the California Press Women, identifies Darwinian-based reasoning inadequacies and offers alternative reasoning patterns. Her study of evolution, genetics and the evolution of scientific thought from Newton to Einstein stimulated a lifetime of reading philosophical and scientific works. Dr. Boberg is a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

A Guide to the Ghosts of Lincoln and other works
Alan Boye
August 22, 1983
Total Running Time – 67 Minutes

Alan Boye, Lincoln native and expert on stories relating to Lincoln’s ghosts, reads from a variety of works. In addition to excerpts from his Guide to the Ghosts of Lincoln, Boye reads from his play “Joaquin Miller! Tonight!!” and other short stories. The program also includes presentations of work by Emily Dickinson & John G. Neihardt.

Gail Rock Discusses her Writing Career, including The House Without A Christmas Tree
September 29, 1985
Total Running Time – 101 Minutes

In this program, Gail Rock, a native of Valley, Nebraska explains how her childhood in Nebraska influenced her writing and relates behind-the scenes information on how television shows are produced. She also introduces the CBS television special A House Without A Christmas Tree, for which she wrote the script in 1974. This story, set in 1946, is about a young girl who tries to overcome her stern fathers objections to having a Christmas tree, and in the process, she learns how to reach out to others in the true spirit of Christmas.

The Impact of Television on Sports
Dr. Benjamin Rader
November 12, 1987
Total Running Time – 38 Minutes

In this program Dr. Benjamin Rader, professor of American social history at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, discusses how television has impacted sports, specifically the development and domination of ABC television in sports coverage. Rader is the author of American Sports: From the Age of Folk Games to the age of Spectator Sports (1983), and In Its Own Image: How Television Has Transformed Sports (1984).

Ivy Ruckman at Anderson Branch Library
April 21, 1989
Total Running Time – 60 Minutes

Nebraska author, Ivy Ruckman, writes for children and young adults. A native of Hastings, she graduated from Hastings College, and has taught English and creative writing to high school students in Salt Lake City, Utah. In this program, Ruckman discusses the process of writing her books from the beginning idea through the final production. She also describes how some of her books were created from specific experiences in her life. Slides of her home life in Utah compliment this program.

Joaquin Miller! Tonight!!
Alan Boye
October 3, 1985
Total Running Time – 82 Minutes

Lincoln native Alan Boye has had both fiction and non-fiction published in national and regional publications since 1970, but he is probably best known for his work, The Guide to the Ghosts of Lincoln (1983). Boye’s interest in regional history continues in this program, with the staging of his play, Joaquin Miller! Tonight!!, which is based on the story of Joaquin Miller, an Oregon pioneer, California gold miner, school teacher, judge, horse thief, and world famous writer. Boye, with the help of a small cast, tells the interesting story of this exciting and rather popular man.

The Legend of the Lion
Tom Frye
April 5, 1986
Total Running Time – 22 Minutes

Tom Frye, author of Scratchin’ on the Eight Ball (1982), a novel for young adults based loosely on the Havelock neighbor-hood in Lincoln, discusses and reads from his work in progress, The Legend of the Lion. This entertaining fantasy, which is appropriate for young adults, is about a little cub that grows in to the lion king of the land after confronting sorcery, dragons and elves. Music composed by Frye also accompanies this reading.

The Life of Thomas Jefferson Fitzpatrick
Jim McKee
March 4, 1985
Total Running Time – 115 Minutes

Local historian, Jim McKee, tells the story of the legendary book collector Thomas Jefferson Fitzpatrick. A native of Centerville, Iowa, Fitzpatrick was a member of the faculty of the Botany Department at UNL beginning in 1920. While serving as the librarian for that department he began to actively pursue his own book collecting interests. Over his collecting career, Fitzpatrick advanced in stages of bibliomania, and his collection eventually exceeded the city code regulations for the amount of books in his home. Upon his death in 1952, his collection was considered by many to be of the finest. McKee, himself a book collector, has written hundreds of articles on Nebraska history and is the owner of Lee Booksellers.

Linda Leidiger and Marly Swick: A Special Program
February 15, 1989
Total Running Time – 69 Minutes

Linda Leidiger, visiting writer at Doane College, and Marly Swick, Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, are both graduates of the University of Iowa’s Writers’ Workshop, and recipients of many awards and fellowships. Their stories have appeared in numerous popular magazines, including Redbook. For this program, Leidiger reads her short work, “The White Zone,” and Swick reads “Eating Alone.” This reading is sponsored by the Nebraska Literary Heritage Association and made possible by an endowment from Doane College for Creative Studies and the Arts.

Loren Eiseley’s Religious Pilgrimage
Dr. Harvey Potthoff
November 28, 1990
Total Running Time – 48 Minutes

Using a scholarly approach to the writings of Loren Eiseley, distinguished theologian Dr. Harvey Potthoff probes Eiseley’s religious or spiritual beliefs. Eiseley, a Lincoln native and professor of Anthropology at Pennsylvania University, is the author of such naturalist works as The Immense Journey (1957). Potthoff, a Methodist minister, served as the Mattingly Distinguished Visiting Professor of Religion at Nebraska Wesleyan from 1981-1992.

Nebraska ’49: An Act for Adults
Nancy Duncan
June 26, 1985
Total Running Time – 51 Minutes

In this program, playwright and actress Nancy Duncan will perform in this one-person act about a woman who is traveling from Iowa to Oregon in 1849. Duncan created this work after researching the subject and reading over 200 women’s diaries who made or attempted this trek. Duncan has been the Executive Director of the Emmy Gifford Children’s theater in Omaha since 1976. She received her degree from the Agnes Scott College in Georgia, and her Master’s of Fine Arts from the University of Iowa. This program is sponsored by the Nebraska Literary Heritage Association and funded by a grant from the touring program of the Nebraska Arts Council.

Nebraska Roots: The Creative Talents of Weldon Kees
Steve Shivley
March 15, 1993
Total Running Time – 52 Minutes
Video available here

In this program, Steve Shively discusses the life and short fiction of the little-recognized American mid-century poet, artist and filmmaker, Weldon Kees. Kees was born in Beatrice in 1914, and later graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. During his college career, he experimented with the short story, most of which found publication in the small literary magazines of the 1930’s, in particular the Prairie Schooner. Shively reads and discusses several of Kees’ short stories and poems, including, “Gents 50 cents Ladies 25”, and “The Purcells.” In 1988, Shively served as the General Chairman for a national conference held on the life and works of Weldon Kees.

The Pelican in the Desert: A Special Program
September 21, 1989
Total Running Time – 44 Minutes

This program is a special reading from the short story anthology, Pelican in the Desert (1988), edited by David Kubicek. The book is a collection of short stories about family farm life in Nebraska and the Great Plains. Valerie Vierk, who wrote “New Moon”, Marge Saiser, author of “Settling In” and David Kubicek, who contributed “Ball of Fire” read from and discuss their short works.

Photographing the American Dream: The Life and Times of Solomon Butcher
John Carter
August 7, 1985
Total Running Time – 66 Minutes

In this program, John Carter, Curator of Photographs at the Nebraska State Historical Society, discusses the life and career of Solomon D. Butcher, an early frontier photographer. Butcher’s photographs depict the Nebraska sod-house frontier, particularly that of Western Nebraska. His work constitutes one of the most extensive photographic records in existence of the generation that settled the Great Plains. Carter is the author of Solomon D. Butcher – Photographing the American Dream (1985) which drew heavily upon Butcher’s photographs that are housed in the Butcher Collection at the Nebraska State Historical Society.

Poetry in the Courtyard: A Special Program
May 13, 2001
Total Running Time – 60 Minutes

In this program, three poets from the Lincoln Chapter of the Chaparral Poets read selections from their works as part of a special celebration of Older Americans Month and of Mothers’ Day 2001. Pat Pike, Charlene Neely and Linda Stringham read poems that focus on aging, inter-generation communication, family connections, extended families, and the myriad relationships that form between and among family members.

Prairie Children, Mountain Dreams
Paul Johnsgard
December 14, 1985
Total Running Time – 47 Minutes

Paul Johnsgard, Professor and Ornithologist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln since 1961, reads from his children’s book, Prairie Children, Mountain Dreams (1985). Best known for his many books on birds, Johnsgard’s first work for children centers around dinosaurs. In this program, Johnsgard discusses the themes of this book and his experience in writing it.

The Prairie Schooner 1969 – 1985
Hilda Raz
July 10, 1985
Total Running Time – 68 Minutes

Hilda Raz, poetry editor of the Prairie Schooner, discusses in this program what the job of editor entails as well as what the role of literary magazines, such as the Prairie Schooner, have in the development of high quality poetry and prose. Raz is a published author herself, with poems appearing in Whole Notes and All My Grandmothers Could Sing. She has been on the staff of Prairie Schooner since 1967.

Puppet Workshop with Sam Ridge
May 17, 1986
Total Running Time – 60 Minutes

In this program, Sam Ridge, a professional puppeteer, conducts a puppet-making workshop, and discusses the world of puppetry as an art. He demonstrates the different types of puppets that are used, how one is able to make their own puppets and how to use them. Ridge stages a puppet show combining the puppets made at the workshop with creative short stories. This workshop is sponsored by the Nebraska Literary Heritage Association and made possible by a grant from the Lincoln Arts Council.

The Role of Music in the Life of 19th Century Settlers in Nebraska
Karen Dyer
August 13, 1985
Total Running Time – 67 Minutes

In this program, Karen Dyer, Administrative Assistant for the School of Music at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, discusses the role that music played in Nebraska’s frontier heritage, especially in the lives of Nebraska’s settlers. Dyer’s narrative is accompanied by slides and musical examples which show the immediate, extensive, and diverse nature of music during this period, as well as provide some insight into the different personal, social, and communal roles that music fulfilled. This program is funded by a grant from the Woods Charitable Fund.

Rosekrans Hoffman: A Special Program
1981
Total Running Time – 15 Minutes

This program serves as an introduction to the life and works of Nebraska children’s author and illustrator, Rosekrans Hoffman. A native of Denton, Nebraska she graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she studied under Kady Faulkner and received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. During this program, she discusses her life through personal narrative, while focusing largely on her art and career as an artist and illustrator. Hoffman explains how she developed her unique artistic style and techniques. She reads from, Alexandra the Rock Eater (1978), an old Romanian folktale re-told by Dorothy VanWoerkom and illustrated by Rosekrans Hoffman. This program is sponsored by the Junior League of Lincoln.

Sixth Annual Celebration of the life and works of Loren Eiseley: By a Panel of Eiseley Scholars
September 26, 1987
Total Running Time – 98 Minutes

In this program, Fred Carlisle, provost of the University of Miami-Ohio, moderates a panel of distinguished scholars of Loren Eiseley. Panelists include Erleen Christiansen, a professor of English at the University of Kansas, Peter Heidtmann, professor of English at Ohio University and Robert Franke, the Dean of the College of Science at the University of Arkansas. Topics of discussion include Eiseley’s autobiographical writings and Eiseley’s relationship with English and the sciences. This program is sponsored by the Friends of Loren Eiseley, with partial funding by the Nebraska Committee for the Humanities, in cooperation with Lincoln City Libraries.

Sixth Annual Celebration of the life and works of Loren Eiseley: Old South Party Members Reminisce
September 26, 1987
Total Running Time – 66 Minutes

In this program, members of the Old South Party discuss their memories of the 1931 anthropological dig sponsored by the University of Nebraska’s department of anthropology. Discussing their research and experiences are C. Bertand Schultz, Rev. William Deahl, Marian Schultz, Robert Long and Mylan Stout. Loren Eiseley began his scientific education and anthropological career by participating in these paleontological digs in western Nebraska and the Wildcat Hills, before graduating from the University of Nebraska in 1933. This program is sponsored by the Friends of Loren Eiseley, with partial funding by the Nebraska Committee for the Humanities, in cooperation with Lincoln City Libraries.

Sixth Annual Celebration of the Life and Works of Loren Eiseley: Drama Quartet of Eiseley Readers
September 26, 1987
Total Running Time – 46 Minutes

This program features selected works by noted Nebraska author Loren Eiseley, as read by contemporary Nebraska authors. Hilda Raz, poet and editor of the Prairie Schooner; retired Doane College President and scholar, Phil Heckman; and poet, Roy Scheele read from Eiseley’s works. Loren Eiseley was an anthropologist, naturalist and poet from Lincoln who infused his poetry and prose with science and naturalistic images. This program is sponsored by the Friends of Loren Eiseley, with partial funding by the Nebraska Committee for the Humanities, in cooperation with Lincoln City Libraries.

Special Readings of Notable Nebraska Authors for NLHA Auction Program
November 13, 1985
Total Running Time – 67 Minutes

In this program Nebraska State Senators, Chris Beutler and Bill Harris, along with Dr. Frederick Luebke, History professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, read excerpts from Pioneer’s Progress (1952) by Alvin Johnson; One House Legislature (1937) by John P. Senning, and Fighting Liberal (1945) by George Norris. The purpose of this program is to raise awareness of Nebraska literature, and to help benefit the Heritage Room through an auction of books. These works are but a few examples of what can be found in the Heritage Room Collection.

Staying the Winter, poetry by Nancy McCleery
January 17, 1988
Total Running Time – 50 Minutes

Nancy McCleery reads from her book of poetry, Staying the Winter (1987), published by Harry Duncan and the Cummington Press, which is a fine arts press in Omaha. McCleery is a former Poet in Residence of Anchorage, Alaska, and is also the author of a chapbook titled Night Muse (1981). She earned her master’s degree at the University of Nebraska. This reading is sponsored by the Nebraska Literary Heritage Association in conjunction with Cummington Press’ publication of the work.

Straws in the World Wind: The Critical Writings of John G. Neihardt
Lori Utecht
February 21, 1995
Total Running Time – 40 Minutes

In this program, Lori Utecht, Curator of the John G. Neihardt Center, will trace and discuss the stages of Neihardt’s literary editorship beginning with The Bancroft Blade in 1901, to his tenure with the St. Louis Dispatch, 1926-1938, giving examples of his essays and reviews of works published at this time. These thoughtful and insightful essays, on a large range of subjects, are full of wit and wisdom. Some carefully lay out his literary philosophy and some are just plain fun. In his criticisms on other authors, Neihardt’s own views of poetry, philosophy, and even economics, become apparent.

Sweet Betsy and Ike: A Special Puppet Show
Sam Ridge
August 29, 1987
Total Running Time – 30 Minutes

Nebraska puppeteers Sam Ridge and Mark Krivda use marionettes to stage “Sweet Betsy and Ike” a humorous puppet show based on the popular pioneer ballad “Sweet Betsy from Pike.” The show, co-written by Ridge and Krivda, encourages audience participation and features traditional American folk music by local fiddler Terry Keefe. The marionettes were designed and hand-made by Lynne Hazuka-Ridge. This puppet show is sponsored by the Nebraska Literary Heritage Association and made possible by a grant from the Lincoln Arts Council.

The Talents and Accomplishments of Alvin S. Johnson
Steve Shively
April 19, 1993
Total Running Time – 50 Minutes

In this program, Steve Shively discusses the life and accomplishments of Nebraska educator and author, Alvin S. Johnson. Educated at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Johnson went on to develop a distinguished career as an educator, editor, author and liberal activist. Johnson taught Economics at Stanford University and Columbia University until he founded the New School for Social Research in New York City. Johnson was also instrumental in the development of pioneering work in Jewish resettlement, civil rights, and government service. In 1992, as an Assistant with the University of Nebraska Archives, Shively was responsible for the organization of the Alvin S. Johnson papers and collection.

Tales of Mr. Punch: A Special Puppet Show
Sam Ridge
September 10, 1988
Total Running Time – 40 Minutes

In this program Sam Ridge and the Nebraska Puppeteers stage a “History of Puppets” show, through the adventurous tales of Mr. Punch and other characters. Audience participation also adds to the performance, while instructing viewers to the artistry of puppets and puppeteering. This program is funded by the Lincoln Arts Council and sponsored by the Nebraska Literary Heritage Association.

Those Wonderful Men in the Cactus Starfighter Squadron
Col. Barney Oldfield
December 19, 1984
Total Running Time – 54 Minutes

Native Nebraskan and retired Air Force Colonel, Barney Oldfield was born in Tecumseh and graduated from the University of Nebraska -Lincoln. A journalist and free-lance writer, he has written numerous works involving personal narrative and military history. Oldfield began his writing career as the movie editor for the Sunday Lincoln Journal -Star, later writing for Variety magazine. His work and subjects eventually focused on various aspects of World War II. In this program, Oldfield discusses his work, Those Wonderful Men in the Cactus Starfighter Squadron, and talks about his experiences in the writing and publishing professions.

The Western Awakening: A Survey of Children’s Magazines from 1890-1920
Dr. Susanne George
November 13, 1990
Total Running Time – 54 Minutes

Dr. Susanne George, Professor of English at Kearney State College, presents “The Western Awakening: A Survey of Children’s Magazines from 1890-1920.” In this talk and slide show, George demonstrates through western magazines how children began to be treated as children and not “miniature adults.” George received her PhD from UNL and is the author of Adventures of a Woman Homesteader: The Life and Letters of Elinore Pruitt Stewart.

“Which is All of the Room:” The Weldon Kees Collection of the Heritage Room of Nebraska Authors
Laura Lacy
October 1, 1998
Total Running Time – 59 Minutes

Weldon Kees was born in Beatrice, Nebraska in 1914. After attending the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, he left his home state behind for a coast-to-coast excursion as a poet, film critic, painter, jazz musician and critic during the post-modern era of the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. An intriguing and eclectic man, Kees’ death is as mysterious as his life. On July 18, 1955, his car was found abandoned at the entrance to the Golden Gate Bridge, and he has not been seen since. Since 1962, Lincoln City Libraries has housed Weldon Kees’ personal papers and literary artifacts. In this program, Laura Lacy, Assistant Curator of the Heritage Room of Nebraska Authors, describes this collection and discusses how, in recent years, these papers have been used to try and explain who this obscure and fascinating poet was.

Willa Cather and Nebraska
Robert Harwick
April 28, 1988
Total Running Time – 70 Minutes

Robert Harwick, a Professor of English at Hastings College and a Willa Cather enthusiast, discusses the author’s life, career and works. His lecture focuses on how Cather’s fiction draws greatly upon the experiences of her early years in Nebraska and how these images have been incorporated into her novels. Cather moved to Red Cloud, Nebraska from Virginia when she was nine years old. Slides illustrating Nebraska scenes important to Cather’s life and fiction are also included in the program.

Willa Cather Perfects Her Craft: Discoveries of the Nebraska Scholarly Edition Kathleen Danker
September 8, 1988
Total Running Time – 40 Minutes

In this program, Kathleen Danker discusses her involvement with the Cather Scholarly Editions project at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Danker received her Ph.D. from UNL, specializing in Native American Oral Tradition. Prior to joining the Cather project in August 1986, served as an editor and translator of Winnebago text. During this program, she will discuss the early stages of Cather’s writings and offer proof that Cather revised her manuscripts extensively, much more than previously believed.

William Holland discusses his book, Let A Soldier Die
October 8, 1984
Total Running Time – 62 Minutes

Let a Soldier Die (1984) is a fictional story of a helicopter gunship pilot during the Vietnam war, written by William Holland, a native of Kearney Nebraska. Holland, himself a pilot in a helicopter assault company in Vietnam, is a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where he studied civil engineering. He also received a PhD in English literature and a law degree from Stanford University. He is currently an international lawyer, living and working in Omaha.

Women’s History Week: A Special Poetry Reading
March 5, 1986
Total Running Time – 58 Minutes

This program is a reading of poetry by several Nebraska poets in celebration of Women’s History Week. Reading selections of their works are poets Liz Banset, Jo Casullo, Susan Strayer Deal, Jackie Fox, Donna Polk, Hilda Raz, Marge Saiser and Maria Mullinaux. Banset, Casullo, Deal, Mullinaux, Raz and Saiser are contributors to All My Grandmothers Could Sing (1984), and their works have also appeared in such literary journals as Plainsongs, Prairie Schooner, and the Kansas Quarterly.

The Works of Loren Eiseley
Phil Heckman
November 6, 1985
Total Running Time – 42 Minutes

This program of works by Nebraska author Loren Eiseley, is an introduction to his life and works through his own words. Phil Heckman, a professor at Doane College and an Eiseley enthusiast, brings to life this selection of poems and essays which provide a “time walk” of sorts through Eiseley’s life. Beginning in early childhood, the first poems have a central theme of flight. Eiseley also provides a personal, compelling identification with animals in the next selections. The final readings share the major theme of mortality, in which Eiseley extols that we are “all short term visitors.” This program is sponsored by the Lincoln Community Arts Council.

The Works of John G. Neihardt
Phil Heckman
January 8, 1986
Total Running Time – 56 Minutes

Throughout his life, John G. Neihardt, worked at various jobs in order to support his family, though he sought recognition first and foremost as a poet. By the age of 19, he had already composed his first book of poetry, and in 1921, after composing several more works of verse, Neihardt was named Nebraska’s Poet Laureate. Neihardt’s lyrical verse and poems are epic in their scope and emotion. In honor of this poet’s birthday, Phil Heckman, President of Doane College, reads selections from Neihardt’s lyrical and autobiographical works including, A Cycle of the West (1949), All is but a Beginning: Youth Remembered, 1881-1901 (1972), and Black Elk Speaks (1932).

The Works of Willa Cather
Terry Rotolo Hatch
April 30, 1986
Total Running Time – 39 Minutes

Though she was not a Nebraskan by birth, Willa Cather moved to Red Cloud, Nebraska, when she was ten years old and spent her formative years in the state. A graduate of the University of Nebraska, she is considered a major American novelist. In this program, Terri Rotolo Hatch traces the growth of Cather’s admiration and love for Nebraska and it’s people through excerpts of Cather’s writings from The Kingdom of Art: Willa Cather’s First Principles and Critical Statements, 1893-1896 (1966). Hatch has acted professionally with NETV (Nebraska Educational Television), and performed at the Omaha Community Playhouse. This program is sponsored in part by a grant from the Lincoln Arts Council.

Wright Morris: His Novels and Photographs
Joseph Wydeven
July 24, 1985
Total Running Time – 63 Minutes

Joseph Wydeven, Professor of English and Chair of the Humanities Division at Bellevue College, discusses the photographic works of Nebraska author and photographer Wright Morris. In this program, Wydeven shares various Morris images on slides, pointing out key elements in his works, such as Morris’ fear of the loss of privacy, celebration, and utility of tradition, and how these images were incorporated into and compliment Morris’ writings. Biographical and pertinent career information regarding Morris supplements the discussion. This program is made possible by a grant from the Woods Charitable Fund.

Subject Index

A key follows each video title, which refers to where a description for each program can be found in the annotated section:

(AMES) – John H. Ames Reading Series
(CNW) – Celebrating Nebraska Women Series
(FRH) – Frontier Heritage in Nebraska Literature and Arts
(NIV) – Nebraska: The Individual Voice Series
(PF) – Poetry and Fiction Series
(SLS) – Scandinavian Lecture Series
(SP) – Special progams
(TCG) – Three Centuries of Germans in America Series
(WW) – Women Writers of the Great Plains

African Americans

Aleane Carter: A Special Black History Month Program (SP)
Black Women of the Great Plains (CNW)
The Caged Birds Sing: Readings of African Poetry (SP)
Oscar Micheaux: The Man and His Work (FRH)

Aldrich, Bess Streeter

Bess Streeter Aldrich, Nebraska Author (SP)
Carol Miles Petersen Discusses Bess Streeter Aldrich (AMES)
Willa Cather, Mari Sandoz and Bess Streeter Aldrich (WW)
Susan and John Wunder read from their book, Nebraska Moments (AMES) 2008

Art

Anne Truitt: The Influence of Willa Cather on Her Art (SP)
Art of a Cartoonist: Paul Fell (SP)
The Frontier Culture Expressed in the Art of Architecture (FRH)
Frederick C . Luebke reads from his work A Harmony of the Arts: The Nebraska State Capitol (SP)
Of the Open Sky: The Frontier in Art (FRH)
Rosekrans Hoffman: A Special Program (SP)

Biography (see also the Celebrating Nebraska Women Series and the names of specific authors)

Anne Truitt: The Influence of Willa Cather on Her Art (SP)
Clues to Clara: The Rediscovery of Local Women’s History (SP)
Marilyn Coffey reads from her oral history: “My Flood Story.” (PF)
Susanne George reads from her book The Adventures of the Woman Homesteader: The Life and Letters of Elinore Pruitt Stewart (AMES)
Susanne George Bloomfield reads from her book Impertinences: Selected Writings of Elia Peattie, A Journalist in the Gilded Age (AMES) 2006
Bill Kloefkorn talks about his 2008 One Book One Nebraska title, Restoring the Burnt Child: A Primer (AMES) 2008
The Life of Thomas Jefferson Fitzpatrick (SP)
Frances Grace Reinehr reads from and discusses Bloody Mary: Gentle Woman (AMES)
Gail Rock Discusses her Writing Career, including The House Without a Christmas Tree (SP)
Ivy Ruckman at Anderson Branch Library (SP)
The Talents and Accomplishments of Alvin S. Johnson (SP)
Rick Cypert reads from his biography of Mignon Eberhart and a book of her short stories (AMES) 2010
Brent Spencer, English Professor, Creighton University, reads from his memoir, Rattlesnake Daddy: A Son’s Search for His Father (AMES) 2011

Cather, Willa

Anne Truitt: The Influence of Willa Cather on Her Art (SP)
Willa Cather and Nebraska (SP)
Willa Cather, Mari Sandoz and Bess Streeter Aldrich (WW) Willa Cather Perfects Her Craft: Discoveries of the Nebraska Scholarly Edition (SP)
The Works of Willa Cather (SP)

Children’s Literature and Programs

Mary Elizabeth Anderson reads from her book, Gracie Gannon, Middle School Zero (AMES) 2008
Anna Banana: A Special Puppet Show (SP)
Baba Yaga: A Show for Kids of All Ages (SP)
Celebrating Nebraska Children (SP)
Susan Grace Dittman reads from her book, Abraham Lincoln’s Shining Star: The Inspiring Story of Abraham Lincoln and Nebraska (AMES) 2012
Eight Hundred Rubles: A Special Puppet Show (SP)
Gail Rock Discusses her Writing Career, including The House Without a Christmas Tree (SP)
Ivy Ruckman at Anderson Branch Library (SP)
The Legend of the Lion (SP)
Prairie Children, Mountain Dreams (SP)
Puppet Workshop with Sam Ridge (SP)
Rosekrans Hoffman: A Special Program (SP)
N. L. Sharp reads her books, Effie’s Image and The Flower Girl/The Ring Bear (AMES) 2010
Rajean Luebs Shepherd reads C is for Cornhusker: A Nebraska Alphabet (AMES) 2007
Rajean Luebs Shepherd reads from her children’s book Husker Numbers: A Nebraska Number Book (AMES) 2008
James Solheim reads poetry and excerpts from his children’s books (AMES) 2005
Sweet Betsy and Ike: A Special Puppet Show (SP)
Tales of Mr. Punch : A Special Puppet Show (SP)
The Western Awakening: A Survey of Children’s Magazines from 1890-1920 (SP)
The Legend of the Lion (SP)

Cowboy Poetry

Otto Rosfeld reads his poetry (AMES)

Cowboy Storytelling

Fred Murray reads from God Loves Even Cowboys (AMES)
Otto Rosfeld reads his poetry (AMES)

Czech Americans

Czechs in Nebraska as Reflected in their History, Arts and Letters (FRH)

Danish Americans

Blossoms on the Prairie: Danish Lutherans in Nebraska (SP)
Dreams of a New Land: The Story of Danish Immigrants to the Great Plains (SP)
See also: Frontier Heritage in Nebraska Literature and Arts Series and Scandinavian Lecture Series

Eiseley, Loren

Loren Eiseley’s Religious Pilgrimage (SP)
Sixth Annual Celebration of the life and works of Loren Eiseley: By A Panel of Eiseley Scholars (SP)
Sixth Annual Celebration of the life and works of Loren Eiseley: Old South Party Members Reminisce (SP)
Sixth Annual Celebration of the life and works of Loren Eiseley: Drama Quartet of Eiseley Readers (SP)
The Works of Loren Eiseley (SP)

Essays

Steve Buhler examines films based on Shakespeare’s works (AMES) 2003
Michael Forsberg reads several of his “Nebraskaland” articles and from his Great Plains: America’s Lingering Wild (AMES) 2010
Nebraska: The Individual Voice, Part 1 (NIV)
Nebraska: The Individual Voice, Part 4 (NIV)
Amelia Maria de la Luz Montes talks about Who Would Have Thought It? and reads her own story, “Queen for a Day.” (AMES) 2009
Ladette Randolph, Lisa Knopp, John Price, Joe Starita and The Big Empty: Contemporary Nebraska Nonfiction Writers (AMES) 2007

Fiction

Jonis Agee reads from her short stories and novel The Weight of Dreams (AMES) 2001
Anna Banana: A Special Puppet Show (SP)
Aunt Tiny and the Spirit of the Plains (SP)
Ann Bardens reads from her fiction (AMES)
Miriam Ben-Yaacov reads from her stories (AMES)
John Stevens Berry reads from his works (AMES)
Ron Block reads his short stories (AMES)
Alan Boye : a special program (SP)
Contemporary Nebraska Women Fiction Writers (CNW)
Richard Dooling reads from his novel Bet Your Life (AMES) 2002
Richard Duggin reads from his short story “The great teacher.” (AMES)
Paul Eggers reads from his novel Saviors (AMES) 2000
An Evening of Readings from Scandinavian Plains Literature (SLS)
Charles Flowerday reads from his work (AMES)
The Frontier In Contemporary Literature: Part 1 (FRH)
The Frontier In Contemporary Literature: Part 2 (FRH)
The Frontier In Contemporary Literature: Part 3 (FRH)
The Frontier in Film: Fact vs. Fiction (FRH)
Kent Haruf reads from his short story “Private debts, public holdings” (AMES)
Sally Herrin reads from her fiction, 1987 (AMES)
Sally Herrin reads from her work, 1992 (AMES)
Barbara Jones reads from three of her novels (AMES) 2000
Julie Kaewert reads from her fiction (AMES) 2005
Richard Kimbrough reads from Country Tales and Truths and The Outsiders (AMES) 2001
The Legend of the Lion (SP)
Linda Leidiger and Marly Swick : A Special Program (SP)
Literary History of the True West: Reality vs. Fiction (FRH)
John McNamara reads his fiction, 1985 (PF)
Calvin Miller reads from his works (AMES)
Karen Mockler reads from her novel, Pride (AMES)
Native American Writers (WW)
Christine Pappas reads two of Dorothy Thomas’ short stories (AMES) 2002
The Pelican in the Desert: A Special Program (SP)
Prairie Children, Mountain Dreams (SP)
Ladette Randolph reads from This is Not the Tropics (AMES) 2006
James Reed reads from his short story, “Mr. Tesla’s Thunder” (AMES)
Gail Rock Discusses her Writing Career, including The House Without a Christmas Tree (SP)
Ivy Ruckman at Anderson Branch (SP)
Timothy Schaffert reads from The Phantom Limbs of the Rollow Sisters (AMES) 2003
Robert Schenck reads from his work (AMES)
Karen Shoemaker reads from her fiction (AMES) 2000
Karen Shoemaker reads a short story (AMES) 2005
Judith Slater reads from her short stories (AMES) 2000
Brent Spencer reads a new story from his recent work (AMES) 2004
Mary Helen Stefaniak reads from her book, The Cailiffs of Baghdad, Georgia (AMES) 2012
Marly Swick reads from The Summer Before the Summer of Love (AMES)
Linda Leidiger and Marly Swick : A Special Program (SP)
Dorothy Thomas: The Woman and the Work (CNW)
Kim Wheeler reads from his work (AMES)
Willa Cather, Mari Sandoz, and Bess Streeter Aldrich (WWGP)
The Works of Willa Cather (SP)
Michael Zangari reads from his fiction (AMES)

Fiction – Historical

Judith Nelson reads from her work (AMES)
Stephanie Whitson reads from her Prairie Winds Series (AMES)
Stephanie Grace Whitson reads from Unbridled Dreams and A Claim of Her Own (AMES) 2009

Fiction — Mystery and Suspense

Sean Doolittle reads a short story and excerpts from upcoming novel, Safer (AMES) 2008
The Life and Career of Mignon Eberhart (AMES)
Julie Kaewert reads from her fiction (AMES) 2005
Alex Kava reads from One False Move and A Necessary Evil (AMES) 2006
Harley Jane Kozak reads from her novels featuring amateur detective, Wollie Shelley (AMES) 2009
M. K. Lorens reads from her mystery: The Very Dead of Winter (AMES)
Jean Potts and Patricia McGerr: Mystery Writers (CNW)

Fiction – Romance

Victoria Alexander reads from Play it Again, Sam. (AMES)
Catherine Kidwell reads from a work in progress, Charm is Not Enough (AMES)
Judith Nelson reads from her work (AMES)
Cheryl St John reads from her romance fiction (AMES)
Stephanie Whitson reads from her Prairie Winds Series (AMES)
Stephanie Grace Whitson reads from Unbridled Dreams and A Claim of Her Own (AMES) 2009

Fiction – Science Fiction The Legend of the Lion (SP)
Robert Reed reads from his short story “Pipes” (AMES)
Robert Reed reads from his short fiction stories (AMES) 1999
Robert Reed reads several of his stories (AMES) 2006

Folklore and Fables

Jim Fargher reads from his book The Boy Who Had an Elephant as a Pet and Other Fables (AMES)
Folktales and Folksongs: Literature of the Frontier (FRH)
Guide to the Ghosts of Lincoln and Other Works (SP)

German Americans See: Three Centuries of Germans in America series

Health and Aging

Lela Knox Shanks discusses her book: Your Name is Hughes Hannibal Shanks: A Caregiver’s Guide to Alzheimer’s (AMES)
Ruth Raymond Thone reads and discusses Women and Aging: Celebrating Ourselves (AMES)
Ruth Thone reads from the manuscript of her fourth book on death and dying (AMES) 2002
Ruth Thone reads from Fat: A Fate Worse Than Death (AMES)

Holidays Gail Rock Discusses her Writing Career, including The House Without a Christmas Tree
Santa Claus and the Christmas Tree: German American Customs in America (TCG)
Scandinavian Heritage Christmas Traditions (SLS)

Humor

Joan Rossiter Burney reads from her humorous columns (AMES)
Kate Cavanaugh reads from her humorous columns (AMES)
Amelia Maria de la Luz Montes talks about Who Would Have Thought It? and reads her own story, “Queen for a Day.” (AMES) 2009

Journalism

Art of a Cartoonist: Paul Fell (SP)
Joan Rossiter Burney reads from her humorous columns (AMES)
Kate Cavanaugh reads from her humorous columns (AMES)
Herb Hyde reads from his weekly columns (AMES)
The Norwegian American Press: a window on immigrant community life (SLS)
Prairie Schooner 1969-1985 (SP)
Betty Stevens reads from her columns (AMES)

Kees, Weldon

Nebraska Roots: The Creative Talents of Weldon Kees (SP)
“Which is all of the Room” The Weldon Kees Collection of the Heritage Room of Nebraska Authors (SP)

Morris, Wright

Wright Morris: His Novels and Photographs (SP)
Joseph Wydeven talks about Wright Morris (AMES) 2010

Music

Dominique Garay and Oscar Rios perform their poetry and music together. (AMES) 2010
Folktales and Folksongs: Literature of the Frontier (FRH)
The Legend of the Lion (SP)
The Role of Music in the Life of 19th Century Settlers in Nebraska (SP)
Otto Rosfeld reads his poetry (AMES)

Native Americans

Marion Marsh Brown reads from her books Homeward the Arrow’s Flight and Susette LaFlesche: Advocate for Native American Rights. (AMES)
Contemporary Indian Reconstruction of the Frontier: Recapturing the Past (FRH)
The LaFlesche Sisters (CNW)
Native American Writers (WW)
Prairie Children, Mountain Dreams (SP)
Joe Starita reads from his book Dull Knifes at Pine Ridge: a Lakota Odyessy (AMES)
Joe Starita reads from his book, I Am a Man: Chief Standing Bear’s Journey for Justice (AMES) 2009

Neihardt, John G.

Straws in the World Wind: The Critical Writings of John G. Neihardt (SP)
The Works of John G. Neihardt (SP)

Non-fiction

Jeff Barnes reads from his book, Forts of the Northern Plains: Guide to the Historic Military Posts of the Plains Indian Wars (AMES) 2009
Susan George Bloomfield reads from her book Impertinences: Selected Writings of Elia Peattie, A Journalist in the Gilded Age (AMES) 2006
David L. Bristow reads from his first book, A Dirty Wicked Town: Tales of 19th Century Omaha (AMES) 2002
Steve Buhler examines films based on Shakespeare’s works (AMES) 2003
Joy Carol reads from her book The Fabric of Friendship (AMES) 2006
Charlotte Hogg reads from her book From the Garden Club: Rural Women Writing Community (AMES) 2007
Bill Kloefkorn talks about his 2008 One Book One Nebraska title, Restoring the Burnt Child: A Primer (AMES) 2008
Betty Levitov reads from her book Africa on Six Wheels (AMES) 2007
Shirley Maly shares her book A Love Affair with the Americas (AMES) 2006
Amelia Maria de la Luz Montes talks about Who Would Have Thought It? and reads her own story, “Queen for a Day.” (AMES) 2009
Ladette Randolph, Lisa Knopp, John Price, Joe Starita and The Big Empty: Contemporary Nebraska Nonfiction Writers (AMES) 2007
Hilda Raz reads from several of her works, including Trans (AMES) 2003
Susan Rosowski reads from her book Birthing a Nation (AMES) 2000
David Wishart discusses his work as editor of Encyclopedia of the Great Plains (AMES) 2000
Susan and John Wunder read from their book, Nebraska Moments (AMES) 2008

Photography

Documenting Women Photographers (CNW)
Michael Forsberg reads several of his “Nebraskaland” articles and from his Great Plains: America’s Lingering Wild (AMES) 2010
David McCleery and Clay Walker present poetry and photography (AMES)
Photographing the American Dream: The Life and Times of Solomon Butcher (SP)
Wright Morris: His Novels and Photographs (SP)

Plays

Aleane Carter: A Special Black History Month Program: Dramatic Reading of Poems and Plays (SP)
Baba Yaga: A Show for Kids of All Ages (SP)
Brian’s Homecoming : A One-Act Play (SP)
Blizzard Voices: a dramatic reading of the play by Ted Kooser (SP)
Eight Hundred Rubles: A Special Puppet Show (SP)
Sally Herrin reads from her poetry and unpublished play, 1992 (AMES)
Joaquin Miller! Tonight!! (SP)
Nebraska ’49: An Act for Adults (SP)
Nebraska: The Individual Voice, Part 1 (NIV)
Nebraska: The Individual Voice, Part 4 (NIV)
Ronald Raygun’s Rock-n-Roll Reformation by Chuck Jagoda (AMES)
Peg Sheldrick reads from her plays (AMES)

Poetry

Politics and War

Anna Louise Strong (CNW)
Charlyne Berens reads from Leaving Your Mark: The Political Career of Nebraska State Senator Jerome Warner (AMES)
Special Readings of Notable Nebraska Authors for NLHA Auction Program (SP)
Those Wonderful Men in the Cactus Starfighter Squadron (SP)
William Holland discusses his book Let a Soldier Die (SP)
Louis Leviticus reads from his book, Tales from the Milestone: My Life before and during 1940-1945

Puppetry

Anna Banana: A Special Puppet Show (SP)
Eight Hundred Rubles: A Special Puppet Show (SP)
Puppet Workshop with Sam Ridge (SP)
Sweet Betsy and Ike: A Special Puppet Show (SP)
Tales of Mr. Punch : A Special Puppet Show (SP)

Sandoz, Mari

Helen Winter Stauffer reads from her introduction to Letters of Mari Sandoz (AMES)
Willa Cather, Mari Sandoz and Bess Streeter Aldrich (WW)
Susan and John Wunder read from their book, Nebraska Moments (AMES) 2008

Science and Natural History

Evolution and Reason: Beyond Darwin (SP)
Michael Forsberg reads several of his “Nebraskaland” articles and from his Great Plains: America’s Lingering Wild (AMES) 2010
John Janovy, Varner Professor of Biological Sciences, UNL, reads from Pieces of the Plains: Memories and Predictions from the Heart of America (AMES) 2011
Paul Johnsgard reads from This Fragile Land: A Natural History of the Nebraska Sandhills (AMES)
Lisa Knopp reads essays from The Nature of Home (AMES) 2004

Sports

Behind the Scenes of Nebraska Football (SP)
Hobe Hayes reads from Take Two and Hit to Right (AMES) 1999
The Impact of Television on Sports (SP)
Roger Aden reads from his book, Huskerville: A Story of Nebraska Football, Fans, and the Power of Place (AMES) 2011

Collection Highlights

Friday, 10 October 2014 21:15

The Heritage Room collection focuses on books by and about Nebraska authors. The following lists introduce some themes that reflect the diverse ways that living in Nebraska has inspired literary creativity.

Nature Writing by Nebraska Authors

Friday, 10 October 2014 20:54

Nebraska has nourished some of the most creative and influential nature writing in the English language. One measure of success in nature writing has been that—in the words of Nebraskan John Janovy—one “learns from nature… rather than [just] about nature.” This thought expresses the influence of a long literary tradition of romantic natural history writing reaching back to Emerson and Thoreau.

In that tradition, writing is personal and reflective, and engages the imagination. Writers in the romantic vein have often felt that contact with nature is a source of freedom and renewal. In presenting and dramatizing the natural world, romantic writers explore the fluid boundaries between human beings and nature, seeking to understand the limits of our perception of nature, and our growing responsibility for its fate. Of the three best known Nebraska nature writers, Loren Eiseley, John Janovy, and Paul Johnsgard, Eiseley felt the pull of this romantic tradition most strongly, but all three writers have acknowledged its influence in some manner.

In works gathered in this list, writers seek to change the context of our experience of the natural world. They use local knowledge, insight gained from lifetimes of observation or scholarship, and literary skill to make us look more closely at the world and our place in it.

This is a representative list, many of the authors included have written other works.

500 Bor
Borland, Hal. Hal Borland’s book of days. New York: Alfred Knopf, 1976.
Borland, born in Sterling, Nebraska, wrote more than 30 nature books and was for many years nature editor for the New York Times. This book is a nature diary that follows his observations through the year.

500.9 Bor
Borland, Hal. Homeland. A report from the country. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippencott co., 1969.
Essays follow the seasons in this chronological collection of Borland’s essays that appeared in The Progressive. Borland received the John Burroughs Medal in 1968, the highest award for nature writing given in the United States.

B Ei7 1987
Eiseley, Loren. All the strange hours: The excavation of a life. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1975.
A fascinating book that presents itself as the autobiography of the distinguished anthropologist. It tells the reader something about Eiseley’s inner life of the mind, while the usual personal autobiographical memoir of events in family and career is absent. It helps us understand Eiseley the romantic nature writer better, while leaving Eiseley the man in shadow.

575 Eis 1957
Eiseley, Loren. The Immense Journey. New York: Random House, 1957.
This collection of essays gained Eiseley a wide audience and critical acclaim. Available in many editions. Includes “How flowers changed the world” and “The judgement of birds.”

500.9 Eis
Eiseley, Loren. The night country. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1971.
In the view of some critics, this was Eiseley’s finest collection of essays. One characteristic theme is an exploration of how we study and perceive time in the natural world.

508 Gat
Gates, Doris B. Nature Trails by The Pine Ridge Naturalist., 2 Vols. Chadron: B&B Printing, 1991.
A collection of a decade of the author’s “Nature Trails” newspaper columns in western Nebraska newspapers. Chatty and heterogeneous tidbits convey the fruits of deep local knowledge of the Pine Ridge, as well as a naturalist’s view of travel and current events.

917.828 Jan
Janovy, John, Jr. Keith County Journal. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1978.
This book and its successor are considered to be among the finest works of American natural history. Insects, birds, plants and people in a single Nebraska county.

917.828 Jan
Janovy, John, Jr. Back in Keith County. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1981.
Adds chapters to Janovy’s acclaimed Keith County Journal.

598.33 Jan
Janovy, John, Jr. Yellowlegs. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1980.
An eccentric biologist follows a sandpiper on her migration all the way from her nesting ground in arctic Canada to South America and back.

574 Jan
Janovy, John, Jr. On becoming a biologist. (Harper and Row Series on the Professions) New York: Harper and Row, 1985.
From the introductory chapter on naturalists onward, this book conveys Janovy’s personal perspectives and his experience in the profession he chose, as well as advice for the student.

598.301 Joh
Johnsgard, Paul A. Crane Music: A natural history of American cranes. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991.
Distinguished ornithologist, educator, conservationist, and nature writer Johnsgard offers a brief survey of the natural history of American cranes focusing on their annual migration, their habitats, dancing and other behaviors, and conservation, in a world wide context of crane populations and concern for their conservation.

598 Joh
Johnsgard, Paul A. Earth, water, and sky. A naturalist’s stories and sketches. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1999.
One of the world’s leading authorities on bird behavior, and the author of over forty books and countless professional publications, Johnsgard writes engaging personal essays about his encounters with birds, all illustrated with his own pen and ink drawings.

508.782 Joh
Johnsgard, Paul A. The nature of Nebraska: Ecology and biodiversity. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2001.
The most comprehensive guide to the ecological regions, processes, and flora and fauna of the state. With some of Johnsgard’s pen and ink illustrations. An accessible and engaging work by a writer who knows the scholarship, the wildlife and the place itself.

598.2 Joh
Johnsgard, Paul A. Prairie birds: Fragile splendor in the Great Plains. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2001.
In this work, dedicated to the memory of Aldo Leopold and to Annie Dilliard, Johnsgard offers a handbook to the behaviors, ecology, and conservation of prairie birds. Johnsgard gives careful attention to the history of landscape conservation, offers his personal observations of bird behavior, and includes his own pen ink drawings.

578.74 Joh Johnsgard, Paul A. Prairie dog empire: A saga of the shortgrass prairie. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2005.
An introduction to the ecological history of the short grass prairie and this key species. Moves from behavior and habitat of the prairie dog and its associates to the destructive effects of human domination and prospects for conservation.

508.782 Joh
Johnsgard, Paul A. This Fragile Land. A Natural History of the Nebraska Sandhills. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1995.
The most thorough guide available to the natural history and regional ecology of the Sandhills, a place where travel is difficult and population sparse. This book explores the regions, habitats, ecology and plants, birds, wildlife and insects of the Sandhills. With line drawings, maps, and habitat profiles. By a world renowned ornithologist who loves the Sandhills.

917.82 Kno
Knopp, Lisa. The nature of home: A lexicon and essays. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2002.
Knopp’s essays have won critical acclaim for their intertwining explorations of ecology and personal perception. These essays relate Knopp’s thoughts about nature in and around Lincoln, Nebraska.

978 San 1954
Sandoz, Mari. The Buffalo Hunters. New York: Hastings House, 1954.
The story of the buffalo and their slaughter by a great Nebraska writer who sought to recover, in the mind’s eye, the grandeur of a natural world destroyed, who understood the spiritual meaning of the destruction for the native tribes, and who could put events in a powerfully evoked historical context.

978 Sa51o
Sandoz, Mari. Love Song to the Plains. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1961.
This is a celebration of the natural world and of the way that history has revealed the character of the inhabitants of the plains. At the same time, Sandoz puts the exploitation of this natural region casually but accurately in global contexts that included European financial markets and world trade.

633.15 W66c
Will, George F. (senior) and George E. Hyde Corn Among the Indians of the Upper Missouri. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1967 (1917).
George Hyde of Omaha was an informant and researcher for George Bird Grinnell. In this book Will and Hyde give a broad comparative ethnographic account of farming practices by the Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara and other groups. The knowledge, the seeds, and the practices that conserved them had crossed a gulf of horrors beginning with disease, war, and dislocation in the 1830s, and yet were still recoverable. Using seeds and information passed to them by Myron Gilmore and tribal elders, Will and Hyde cultivated and passed strains of corn adapted to cold and aridity along to the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station, making possible a 50 fold increase in Montana corn production between 1910 and 1924. This pioneering work sharpens our understanding of the interdependencies of culture and nature.

The work that Gilmore, Will, and Hyde undertook would now be called ethnobotany. A contemporary writer whose work in this field has been widely admired is Gary Nabhan. Nabhan recalls the efforts of Will and Hyde in the closing chapter of his Enduring Seeds: Native American agriculture and wild plant preservation (San Francisco: North Point Press, 1989).

641.63 You
Young, Kay. Wild Seasons: Gathering and Cooking Wild Plants of the Great Plains. Illustrated by Mark E Marcuson. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1993.

This compendium of botanical information and recipes offers a delightful alternative path to appreciating the natural world. Nebraskan Kay Young helps us find the wild foods of the Great Plains and better understand the natural history of where we live. How to cook nettle greens, make chokecherry jelly, cattail pollen pancakes, prickly-pear cactus dressing and many other good things.

dsc: 6-8-2006

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