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Will speak at Library and give reading at THELMA May 12
As part of a collaboration between the Fond du Lac Public Library, Foot of the Lake Poetry Collective, and Thelma Sadoff Center for the Arts (THELMA), Wisconsin’s Poet Laureate, Kimberly Blaeser, will speak at the Fond du Lac Public Library and then give a reading at THELMA Tuesday, May 12.
Dr. Blaeser will speak at 6 pm at the library regarding the role of poetry in public life as well as the importance of the Poet Laureate position for our state. At 7 pm she will give a reading in Café 1906 at THELMA. Both events are free and open to the public. A cash bar will be available at THELMA.
Blaeser was selected for a two year term in November by the Poet Laureate Commission, of which Kevin Miller, THELMA Executive Director is a member. The interviews were held at THELMA.
The Poet Laureate plays a crucial role in keeping the arts accessible and vital to all age groups, and acts as a statewide emissary for poetry and creativity.
Blaeser, of the Town of Lyons in Walworth County, is the author of three acclaimed poetry collections, Absentee Indians and Other Poems, Apprenticed to Justice, and Trailing You. Drawing on literal observation and the power of metaphor, Blaeser’s poems create complex harmonies between the vibrant natural world and the resonant human imagination.
She is also a professor of English and creative writing at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Blaeser is active in service to literature, the arts, and social justice. She serves on the editorial board for the American Indian Lives series of the University of Nebraska Press, and for the Native American Series of Michigan State University Press. She has served on the Poetry Fellowship Panel for the National Endowment of the Arts, and has been a member of the Native American Alumni Board for the University of Notre Dame.
Most recently, Blaeser initiated the Milwaukee Native American Literary Cooperative which helped to bring 75 Native American writers to Milwaukee for the 20th Anniversary Returning the Gift Festival of Native Writers and Storytellers in 2012 and continues to sponsor events each year.
As Wisconsin’s Poet Laureate, Blaeser hopes to “celebrate the state’s rich resources in poetry and put poetry to work in Wisconsin,” she said.
For more information about the Wisconsin Poet Laureate Commission, visit wisconsinpoetlaureate.org.
THELMA is located at 51 Sheboygan St., in the heart of Downtown Fond du Lac’s Arts and Entertainment District.
Learn more about THELMA at thelmaarts.org, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
