Poet Laureate coming to Chadron State

Kooser is the author of 10 collections of poetry. His latest book, “Delights & Shadows,” was the winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Several of the others also have received special awards, including the 2001 Nebraska Book Award for Poetry and the Merit Award from the Nebraska Arts Council.

In announcing the poet laureate honor in August 2004, the Washington Post noted that Kooser “writes straightforward verse about stars and cows and office secretaries and everything in between.”

A writer for booklist said, “You don’t have to know literature or literary manners to get a lot out of his poetry; it’s not higfalutin.” Critic Dana Giora said, “Kooser has written more perfect poems than any poet of his generation.”

The official announcement was made by Librarian of Congress James Billington, who said: “Ted Kooser is a major poetic voice for rural and small town America and is the first Poet Laureate chosen from the Great Plains. His verse reaches beyond his native region to touch on universal themes in accessible ways.”

Kooser was born in Ames, Iowa, in 1939 and graduated from Iowa State University in 1962. He received a master of art degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1968. He retired in 1999 as vice president of Lincoln Benefit Life Insurance Co. and serves as a visiting professor of English at UNL.

Reservations may be made by calling the Memorial Hall Box Office at 308-432-6360 from 2 to 6 p.m. each weekday beginning, Monday, Aug. 29. The tickets will be $10 for adults and $6 for senior citizens and youths through high school if obtained in advance. There is no charge for the tickets for CSC students and employees if they are obtained in advance. All tickets at the door will be $11.