by Kelly Rogge
The Poet Laureate of Kansas will be visiting Kansas City Kansas Community College next week to share his talents with students, faculty, staff and community members.
Eric McHenry was named the 2015-2017 Poet Laureate of Kansas by the Kansas Humanities Council in April. As poet laureate, he will work to promote the humanities as a public resource in Kansas through appearances, presentations, public readings and discussions throughout the state.
McHenry will speak at 11 a.m. Oct. 29 in the Intercultural Center on the KCKCC main campus, 7250 State Ave. The event is being jointly sponsored by the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Division; Institutional Services; the KCKCC Library and the Intercultural Center. It is free and open to the public.
“He will read some poetry and include some he has written,” said Joe Grasela, reference librarian and associate professor at KCKCC. “He will also talk about the value of poetry to our society.”
Known throughout the United States as a poet, McHenry is an associate professor at Washburn University in Topeka, Kan. His work has appeared in a variety of publications including Poetry International and Yale Review. In addition, publications such as the New York Times and Columbia magazine has published his poetry reviews.
His third book of poems, “Odd Evening,” will be published in 2016. He has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize for poetry seven times and is the recipient of the Theodore Roethke Prize. In 2007, he received the Kate Tufts Discovery Award for his first book of poems, “Potscrubber Lullabies.” It is the largest American prize for a first book of poetry.
“Many writing and poetry faculty plan to bring their classes to see what he might have to say about creating poetry,” he said. “This is certainly a unique opportunity to hear one of the outstanding poets in our state and our nation.”
For more information about McHenry’s visit, contact Grasela at [email protected] or by calling 913-288-7650.
Kelly Rogge is the public information supervisor at Kansas City Kansas Community College.