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The National Endowment for the Humanities and the State of Kansas help fund Kansas Humanities Council grants and programs. Please thank your legislators and members of Congress for their support. KHC also relies on donations from people like you.  Please thank the Friends of the Humanities who support KHC. 
Townley named Poet Laureate of Kansas

Wyatt Townley
Wyatt Townley
Photo by Terry Weckbaugh 

The Kansas Humanities Council (KHC) announced that Wyatt Townley of Shawnee Mission, Kan., has been named the 2013-2015 Poet Laureate of Kansas. As Poet Laureate of Kansas, Townley will promote the humanities as a public resource for all Kansans through public readings, presentations, and discussions about poetry in communities across the state. Click here to find out how you can request a Poet Laureate of Kansas event in your community. 

 

"Wyatt's work, along with her knowledge of the craft and history of poetry, will guide Kansans as they make the connection between poetry and civic life," said Julie Mulvihill, executive director of the Kansas Humanities Council.

 

"I'm humbled and honored to be asked to serve as Poet Laureate of Kansas," shared Townley.  

 

Wyatt Townley is a widely published, nationally known poet and a fourth-generation Kansan. Her work has been featured on National Public Radio's "The Writer's Almanac" with Garrison Keillor, in US Poet Laureate Emeritus Ted Kooser's "American Life in Poetry" column, and published in journals ranging from "The Paris Review" to "Newsweek." She has published three collections of poetry: "The Breathing Field" (Little Brown), "Perfectly Normal" (The Smith), and "The Afterlives of Trees" (Woodley Press), a Kansas Notable Book and winner of the Nelson Poetry Book Award.

 

Support for the Poet Laureate of Kansas has been provided by the Friends of the Humanities. For more information about the Poet Laureate of Kansas program, visit the KHC website or contact Leslie Von Holten, program officer. 

 

Members of the Media: Click here for a press release or contact Tracy Quillin, director of communications, for more information.