Award-winning poet, author to speak

Hollenbeck and her husband Glen live on a ranch near Clearfield, S.D., where they raise cattle and quarter horses. However, in recent years she has traveled widely as she has become one of the rising stars in the cowboy poetry circles and one of the most published cowgirl writers in the West.

She said her poetry reflects everyday experiences that occur on the range. Although most of her poetry is humorous, some of it turns to the serious side. She usually writes about women involved in ranching in the Great Plains, spanning from the homestead days to the present.

Her latest book, “From My Window,” recently received the Will Rogers Gold Medallion Award. She is the first author to win the award twice.

She also received the Female Poet of the Year Award from the Academy of Western Artists in 2005 and was a first place winner at the Cowboy Poetry Rodeo in Kanab, Utah, in 2003.

In addition, Hollenbeck recently won the Female Poet of the Year Award given by the Western Music Association and was recognized for her collaboration with Jean Prescott on their song, “How Far Is Lonesome.”

Hollenbeck’s appearance in Chadron is being sponsored by the Nekota Reading Council and Chadron State College. She will return to Chadron State on Nov. 2 and 3 for the third annual CSC Cowboy Poetry Gathering. She also was a presenter at the first gathering in January 2006.

Prior to coming to Chadron on Monday night, she will be speaking at the Willow Tree Festival in Gordon on Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 8 and 9.

At the end of September, she will participate in the World’s Only Cowboy Poetry Rodeo in Hot Springs. In late October, she will attend Red Steagall’s Cowboy Gathering in Fort Worth, Texas.

Altogether, she is scheduled to appear in nine states during the last five months of the year.