Former Utah Poet Laureate to Share Reading at Kloefkorn Writers Series

Former Utah Poet Laureate to Share Reading at Kloefkorn Writers Series

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  • David Lee
    David Lee will deliver this year's William C. Kloefkorn Nebraska Writers Series lecture.
  • David Lee
    David Lee will deliver this year's William C. Kloefkorn Nebraska Writers Series lecture.

David Lee, Utah’s first poet laureate, will deliver the second annual lecture of the William C. Kloefkorn Nebraska Writers Series.

The lecture will be held Monday, March 9 at 7 p.m. in Callen Conference Center, located in the lower level of the Smith-Curtis Administration Building.

Over the past 35 years Lee has been writing unique narrative poems in the voices of the people of the rural southwest. In 1997, he was named Utah's first poet laureate. He is the author of 15 volumes of poetry, including So Quietly the Earth, Driving & Drinking, and News from Down to the Café. A former seminary candidate, semi-pro baseball player, and hog farmer, he has a Ph.D. concentration in John Milton and taught at Southern Utah University for three decades. His 2004 book So Quietly the Earth was among the 25 books chosen for the New York Public Library's annual "Books to Remember" list.

Lee’s reading will include excerpts from his book, Last Call, a memorial tribute to his longtime friend William Kloefkorn.

A reception and book signing will follow his lecture and reading. The William C. Kloefkorn Nebraska Writers Series is free and open to the public.

The lecture will also be webcast live on the Nebraska Wesleyan University website.

William Kloefkorn taught English at Nebraska Wesleyan for 35 years from 1962 to 1997. He died in May 2011.

The William C. Kloefkorn Nebraska Writers Series is being underwritten by Dr. Ruth Meyer ('64).