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POETRY-FRIENDLY BOOKSTORES


The Alley Book Shoppe
309 West Ave.
Holdrege, NE

Nebraska Book Co
4700 S 19th St.
Lincoln, NE

Chapters Books
548 Seward Street
Seward, NE 68434
(402) 643-2282

The Bookworm
8702 Pacific St.
Countryside Village
Omaha, NE

Confluence Books
505 Cornhusker Road
#107
Bellevue, NE 68005
(402) 502-0906

Jackson Street Booksellers
1119 Jackson St.
Omaha, NE

Lee Booksellers
Edgewood Center
5500 S. 56th Street
Suite 4
Lincoln, NE 68516
(402) 420-1919

The Pegasus Book Center
6103 Maple St.
Omaha, NE

Plains Trading Company Books
269 N Main
Valentine, NE 69201
(402) 376-1424

LITERARY MAP


Available from the Nebraska English/Language Arts Council (NELAC), 4000 Washington, Lincoln NE 68506. ($11.50, shipping and handling included)

Nebraska Add to Notebook
Poet Laureate

William Kloefkorn

Named the Nebraska State Poet by proclamation of the Unicameral in 1982. A retired professor of English at Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln, he is the author of many collections of poetry and other books, including Alvin Turner as Farmer (Logan House, 2004), Sunrise, Dayglow, Sunset, Moon (Talking River Publications, 2004), and Walking the Campus (Lone Willow Press, 2004).
More information on this state's laureateship
Featured Poets

Ted Kooser

Ted Kooser
The author of ten collections of poetry, Ted Kooser served as the National Poet Laureate from 2004 through 2006. He lives in Garland, Nebraska.

Martha Collins

Martha Collins
Born in Omaha, Martha Collins is the author of five collections of poetry, including The Arrangement of Space, winner of the Peregrine Smith Poetry Competition.

Other Nebraska Poets
Jim Brummels
Willa Cather
Allison Adelle Hedge Coke
Loren Eiseley
Charles Fort
Neil Harrison
Weldon Kees
Greg Kosmicki
Greg Kuzma
Mark Sanders
Marge Saiser
Barbara Schmitz
Terese Svoboda
Don Welch
Literary organizations & centers

Center for Great Plains Studies
The mission of the Center for Great Plains Studies is to foster the understanding of the culture and history of the Great Plains. Their various projects include the Great Plains Quarterly, Great Plains Research and seminars for the public.

Nebraska Arts Council
A state run arts organization, the Nebraska Arts Council provides a variety of grants, programs and services for the Nebraskan art community.

Nebraska Center for Writers
A web-based organization that provides resources for poets, fiction and non-fiction writers. Their site offers a wide variety of links related to writing in Nebraska and beyond.

Nebraska Humanities Council
The Nebraska Humanities Council is committed to enhancing the quality of life for Nebraskans by disseminating the humanities through communities across the state. They host an array of events and programs, including grants, which encourage both artists and the appreciation of arts. Their website contains a statewide calendar of arts events.

Nebraska Center for the Book
The Nebraska Center for the Book brings together the state’s readers, writers, booksellers, librarians, publishers, printers, educators, and scholars to build the community of the book. It supports programs to celebrate and stimulate public interest in books, reading, and the written word, and has been an affiliate of the Library of Congress Center for the Book since 1990.

Nebraska Literary Heritage Association
Encourages the collection, preservation, and promotion of work by and about Nebraska authors through support of the Lincoln City Libraries special collection; the Jane Pope Geske Heritage Room of Nebraska Authors, which houses more than 12,000 volumes representing more than 3,350 authors; and to foster the creation and appreciation of this literature through programs, collaborative partnerships, and the use of technology.

Literary journals & small presses

The Backwaters Press
A publisher of poetry, Blackwaters Press offers two prizes, the Blackwaters Prize and the Omaha Prize. In addition they maintain the Nebraska Poetry Menu, a site that contains a calendar of literary events around the state.

The Carillon
The Carillon is the official literary journal for Sigma Tau Delta. Any University of Nebraska Kearney student who has a knack for the writing arts can submit their creative works for consideration in this publication. It features the writings of both graduate and undergraduate UNK students.

Nebraska Book Arts Center
The Nebraska Book Arts Center distributes handmade limited edition books for regional fine presses including Abattoir Editions, Blue Heron Press, Bradypress, The Cummington Press, Goldfinch Press, Lyra Press, Nosila Press, Pterodactyl Press, The Stone Dragon Press, The Swing Bridge Press, The Yellow Barn Press, UNO Editions and UNO's book arts students.

The Platte Valley Review
An international journal of poetry, prose, photography, artwork, environmental and cco-critical essay, The Platte Valle Review is currently within auspices of the Reynolds Endowed Chair of Poetry and the Creative Writing Emphasis in the English Department of the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

Prairie Schooner
The oldest literary quarterly in the mid-west, Prairie Schooner was established in 1926 at the University of Nebraska. Since then Prairie Schooner has expanded away from its original regional appeal to become a nationally recognized quarterly of poetry, fiction, non-fiction and review.

Sandhills Press
Sandhills Press is a Nebraska-based, non-profit, small concern publisher of contemporary writing. They host three awards: the Weldon Kees Book Award in Poetry, the Mari Sandoz Book Award in Fiction and the John G. Neihardt Narrative Poem Award.

Poems about Nebraska

Prairie Spring
by Willa Cather
Evening and the flat land...

Readings series, conferences, & literary festivals

Omaha Lit Fest
Started in 2005, the Omaha Lit Fest is two days of tours, writers in conversation, book buying, and a literary happy hour. In addition to Nebraska authors, the fest has hosted novelists, short-story writers, nonfiction writers, and poets from New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and beyond. The Omaha World-Herald cited it as "another strong indication of Omaha's continuous cultural growth and expansion of diverse activities."

Plum Creek Children's Literacy Festival
Each year, this three-day festival brings thousands of children and adults to the campus of Concordia University, Nebraska, to find nationally known award-winning authors, illustrators and literacy experts, dozens of activities and lots of books.

Nebraska Book Festival
The goal of this annual two-day festival is to celebrate past Nebraskan authors and to encourage contemporary writers. The programs appeal to a wide age range; the festival features a high school day with several events specifically for students.

Nebraska Summer Writers' Conference
This annual writing conference held at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, features workshops and panel discussions on the novel, short story, poetry, travel and nature writing, mystery, memoir, screenwriting and publishing.

The Poetry Menu
Maintained by poet Matt Mason, The Poetry Menu is a free event listing for the Nebraska poetry scene.

Reynolds Reading Series
Bringing nationally and internationally acclaimed poets and writers to Nebraska through the auspices of the Endowed Reynolds Chair in poetry and writing, this reading series is funded by the UNK Reynolds Chair and co-funded by the Nebraska Arts & Humanities Councils and the Kearney Area Community Foundation. Recent Distinguished Visiting Readers include: Quincy Troupe, Marvin Bell, and Arthur Sze.

Sandhill Crane Migration Literary Festival
Each spring, Sandhill Cranes enjoy an annual spring apex near what is now considered the Kearney, Nebraska area on the Platte River. Begun in 2008 by Reynolds Chair, Poet Allison Hedge Coke, this festival honors this unique experience and the literary value the cranes have gifted indigenous language and writing for thousands of generations.

Nebraska Writers Guild Conferences
The annual Fall and Spring Conferences are an opportunity for members to meet, showcase their communities and take part in discussions and workshops about writing.

Writer Across Nebraska
Free and open to all writers, this event, sponsored by the Nebraska Writers Guild, is a weekend retreat intended to motivate attendees to write as much as possible. Events include tours, discussions, socializing, and lots of dedicated writing time.

Writing programs & colonies

University of Nebraska, Kearney, Creative Writing Program
The english department offers a BA and MA with a concentration in creative writing. Students in the program are responsible for running several University based literary journals. The Endowed Reynolds Chair and Creative Writing Emphasis hosts the Platte Valley Review, Reynolds Review, Reynolds Reading Series, and the Sandhill Crane Migration Literary Retreat and Festival. Sigma Tau Delta hosts the literary journal The Carillon.

University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Creative Writing Program
The University of Nebraska, Lincoln is one of the few institutions in America that offers both a MA and a PhD in Creative Writing. The department hosts several guest writers each semester. In addition, their bi-monthly reading series, the No Name Reading Series, features students and members of the larger writing community. UNL is also home to The Prairie Schooner, a premiere literary quarterly.

University of Nebraska MFA in Writing
Managed by UNK and UNO for the university system (held in Nebraska City at Lied Lodge), the MFA program offers a low-residency MFA degree with focused instruction for creative writers who are committed to a literary career. Unique offering of in-state tuition for the LR degree program.

University of Nebraska, Omaha, Writer's Workshop
The University of Nebraska, Omaha offers an intensive BFA in Creative Writing. It is also home to The Nebraska Review.

Fine Lines Summer Writing Camp
Fine Lines journal has been providing a place where creative writers can share their written ideas with others since 1990. The journal is dedicated to the writing development of all its members—a fifty-state network of authors. The non-profit organization sponsors two writing camps, one for middle schoolers and one for high schoolers, each for four days.

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