A retired insurance executive who recently served as the 13th Poet Laureate of the United States will visit Denison this month. Ted Kooser will give a poetry reading at 8 p.m. on Wednesday (Feb. 21) in Slayter Hall Auditorium and will talk about his writing and his life's work in an interview session with English Professor David Baker and Classics Professor and Chair Timothy Hofmeister at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday (Feb. 22) in Slayter Auditorium. Both programs are free and open to the public. Kooser's visit is co-sponsored by the Beck Lecture Fund and the Lily Visiting Scholar Program.

A visiting professor in the English department of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Kooser is the author of 11 full-length collections of poetry, including "Delights and Shadows" and "Weather Central." He also has written plays, fiction, personal essays and literary criticism. Kooser has read his poetry for The Academy of American Poets in New York City as well as for many university audiences. He also will participate in student workshops and master classes while at Denison.

Kooser has received two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships in poetry, the Pushcart Prize, the Stanley Kunitz Prize, the James Boatwright Prize, and a Merit Award from the Nebraska Arts Council. Kooser has written in a variety of forms, including plays, fiction, personal essays and literary criticism. He won the Nebraska Book Award for Nonfiction in 2003 for his first book of prose, "Local Wonders: Seasons in the Bohemian Alps." The book also won third place in the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award in Nonfiction for 2002, the Best Book Written by a Midwestern Writer for 2002 by Friends of American Writers, and the Gold Award for Autobiography in ForeWord Magazine's Book of the Year Awards.

Born in Ames, Iowa, in 1939, Kooser earned a bachelor of science degree at Iowa State University in 1962 and a master of arts at the University of Nebraska in 1968.

Denison University,Interview session with Poet Ted Kooser conducted by Professors David Baker and Tim Hofmeister; 11:30 a.m., Thursday (Feb. 22), Slayter Hall Auditorium (200 North Road). Free and open to the public. Contact 740-587-6207 to confirm information.

Calendar Listing:

CALENDAR LISTINGS: Denison University, Granville -- Poetry reading by the 13th Poet Laureate of the United States Ted Kooser; 8 p.m., Wednesday (Feb. 21), Slayter Auditorium (200 North Road). Free and open to the public. Contact 740-587-6207 to confirm information.

About Denison:

Denison University, founded in 1831, is an independent, residential liberal arts institution located in Granville, Ohio. A highly selective college enrolling 2,100 full-time undergraduate students from all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries, Denison is a place where innovative faculty and motivated students collaborate in rigorous scholarship, civic engagement and the cultivation of independent thinking.

For press inquiries:

Name

Barbara Stambaugh

Position Title

Director, Media Relations

Primary Email

stambaughb@denison.edu

Business Phone

(740) 587-8575