Heritage Room Annotated Video List

Series:

John H. Ames Reading Series
Poetry and Fiction Series
Celebrating Nebraska Women
The Frontier Heritage in Nebraska Literature and Arts
Nebraska: The Individual Voice
Scandinavian Lecture Series
Three Centuries of Germans in America
Women Writers of the Great Plains
Special Programs
Subject Index

John H. Ames Reading Series

This reading series, sponsored by the Nebraska Literary Heritage Association, showcases Nebraska poets and writers reading their own works. Originally called the Poetry and Fiction Reading Series in 1984, the series was named for John H. Ames, a benefactor and trustee of Lincoln City Libraries, in 1985. These programs were videotaped by Lincoln City Libraries until 1990, when the Citizen Information Center produced them for broadcast on Lincoln's Government and Educational cable channel. Programs held after 1991 include interviews with authors describing their Nebraska connection, their writing style, influences and career and much more. See also the Poetry and Fiction section for earlier programs.

Tom Adamson reads his poetry and from his journal, 1991
Omaha/Fremont
February 21, 1991
Total Running Time - 47 Minutes
Ames Reading #53

Adamson is a Business instructor at Midland Lutheran College in Fremont. Author of two colletions of lyrical poetry, All About the Girl Who Came to Stay and Blackbird Sunday. Along with several selections of his poems and lyrics, Adamson will also read excerpts from his personal journal detailing his experience in prison as a white collar criminal.

Tom Adamson reads his poetry and from his journal, 1994
Lincoln/Fremont
January 20, 1994
Total Running Time - 42 Minutes
Ames Reading #78

Tom Adamson creates lyric poetry and would someday like to collaborate with a composer to write songs. He has published two volumes of lyrics entitled: All About the Girl Who Came to Stay (1986) and Blackbird Sunday (1988). Along with several selections of his poems and lyrics, Adamson reads excerpts from his personal journal. Published as Idle Speed: One Year in Prison (1992), it details his experiences in prison for creating a Ponzi scheme dealing with stock options. The author describes this work as "intense and vulgar" as it reflects his actual time in prison.

Lucy Adkins reads a variety of her poems
Lincoln
October 21, 2004
Total Running Time - 65 minutes
Ames Reading #151

Lucy Adkins, a Nance County native, is a poet; she also writes folksongs with help from her husband and has written a novel that she says is not quite polished enough. In this program, she reads nature poems, poetry from her early days, and poems from a manuscript.

Jonis Agee reads from her short stories and her novel, The Weight of Dreams
Denton
January 18, 2001
Total Running Time - 54 minutes
Ames Reading #125

Jonis Agee was born in Omaha. She now lives near Denton and is a professor of English and creative writing at the University of Nebraska. Agee is the author of several novels and collections of short stories, many of which are set in Nebraska's Sandhills. Agee received her bachelor's in English from the University of Iowa and her master's and Ph.D. from the State University of New York-Binghamton. In this program, Agee reads selections from her collection of short stories, Taking the Wall (1999) and her novel, The Weight of Dreams (2000).

Victoria Alexander reads from Play it Again, Sam
Omaha
February 19, 1998
Total Running Time - 86 Minutes
Ames Reading #106

Formerly a news reporter, Omaha resident and UNL graduate in Journalism, Victoria Alexander has turned her writing talents to the genre of romance. The author of many novels, Yesterday and Forever (1995), The Princess and the Pea (1996), and The Perfect Wife (1996), have received critical attention. In this program, Alexander discusses the research required to write period romance and reads from her new work, Play It Again, Sam (1997), a two-part story with a time-traveling border collie as the main character.

Joyletta Alice reads her poetry
Lincoln
December 15, 1988
Total Running Time - 38 Minutes
Ames Reading #35

After growing up in Omaha, Alice went to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, moved to California for eight years and then returned to Lincoln. She was the 1988-89 recipient of the YWCA Tribute to Women Award and is active on the Lincoln-Lancaster Commission on the Status of Women. Activist Fannie Lou Hammer, serves as a role model and inspiration to Alice, and Harlem Renaissance poet, Mae Cowdery, is a favorite of hers. She is the author of three books of poetry: Winter (1988); Sudden Reunion and Secrets, Volume I. In this program, she will read excerpts from Winter and other selections.

Anne Bardens reads from her fiction, 1987
Lincoln
October 15, 1987
Total Running Time - 51 Minutes
Ames Reading #23

Bardens received her doctorate in English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and subsequently taught in the English Department. She is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Central Michigan. In this program she reads selections from her poetic novel manuscript entitled, Namesake. The work is divided into three parts which examines the life of a woman and her relationships with others through poetry and prose. Barden calls her work, "... a journey into self-discovery" in which the main character "writes herself into being."

Pam Barger shares her poetry
Lincoln
October 20, 2005
Total Running Time - 60 minutes
Ames Reading #157

Pam Barger, a Lincoln native, is a poet, a piano teacher and a musician. Her works have appeared in Platte Valley Review, Nebraska Territory, and West Branch as well as other publications. The poems she chose to read do reflect her interests - family, nature, music, parenting, gardening, music, cars, solitude, and music. It's apparent that music is a recurring theme in her poetry.

Grace Bauer reads from her poetry Lincoln
October 18, 2001
Total Running Time - 61 Minutes
Ames Reading #130

Grace Bauer is a faculty member in the English Department and coordinator of the creative writing program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. A native of Pennsylvania, she has degrees from Temple University and the University of Massachusetts. She believes poetry can make people more aware of themselves, of others, and of the world in which we live. Bauer won an Academy of American Poets award for three consecutive years (1985-87), the Irene Leache Poetry Award (1994), and has also been honored with an excellence in teaching award at the university level. Her books include The Women at the Well, The House Where I've Never Lived, Where You've Seen Her, and Field Guide to the Ineffable: Poems on Marcel Duchamp. In this presentation, she reads selections from her various works.

Stephen Behrendt reads his poetry, 1987
Lincoln
July 16, 1987
Total Running Time - 42 Minutes
Ames Reading #21

Behrendt is a Professor of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a member of the advisory board for the Prairie Schooner. His poetry has been published in The Nebraska Review, Kansas Quarterly, Plainsong, and Prairie Schooner. In addition to his poetry, Behrendt has written scholarly essays specializing in British Romanticism, especially Blake, Wordsworth and Shelley. He has written The Moment of Explosion: Blake and the Illustration of Milton, (1983), which was published by the University of Nebraska Press. In this program he will read selections of his poetry.

Stephen Behrendt reads his poetry, 1990
Lincoln
September 20, 1990
Total Running Time - 40 Minutes
Ames Reading #49

Behrendt is an English professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with specialities in British Romanticism and Comparative Literature. He has been a member of the advisory board for the Prairie Schooner, and has received the Annis Chaikin Sorenson Award for Distinguished Teaching in the Humanities. His poetry has appeared in numerous publications most notably, Plainsongs, Nebraska Review, Prairie Schooner and Kansas Quarterly. This is his second poetry reading in the Ames Reading Series.

Erin Belieu reads her poetry
Omaha
April 20, 1989
Total Running Time - 49 Minutes
Ames Reading #39

Belieu, a native of Omaha, is a graduate of the writing programs at both the University of Nebraska-Omaha and Boston University. She is currently the poetry editor of AGNI Magazine. In this program she reads some of her newly written works, as well as pieces from her chapbook, Stealing Sounds from the Phoenicians (1986) published by UNO's fine press.

Miriam Ben-Yaacov reads from her stories
Omaha
September 21, 1989
Total Running Time - 52 Minutes
Ames Reading #41

Ben-Yaacov was born on a farm in South Africa and moved to Omaha, Nebraska, in the late 1970's. Her short stories predominately feature South African themes and settings, incorporating an immigrant perspective. These stories have appeared in Nexus, Short Story Inter-national, Nebraska Review and the Nebraska English Journal and are featured in this reading.

Charlyne Berens reads from Leaving Your Mark: The Political Career of Nebraska State Senator Jerome Warner
Seward
November 20, 1997
Total Running Time - 54 Minutes
Ames Reading #104

Charlyne Berens is a former newspaper publisher and assistant professor of journalism whose master's degree in political science served as a springboard to a political biography of State Senator Jerome Warner. Warner, known as the "Dean" of the Nebraska legislature, served for over thirty years as an influential speaker and chairman until his death in 1997. In this program, Berens reads from Leaving Your Mark: The Political Career of Nebraska State Senator Jerome Warner (1997).

John Stevens Berry reads from his work
Lincoln
May 19, 1988
Total Running Time - 65 Minutes
Ames Reading #30

Berry is a Lincoln attorney and Fellow of the American Board of Criminal Lawyers. He studied under author Wallace Stegner at Stanford University, where he completed his undergraduate work. Berry is the author of, Darkness of Snow (1973), which has won several awards from the Academy of American Poets. He has also written Those Gallant Men: On Trial in Vietnam (1974), which details his experiences as Chief Defense Counsel for soldiers during the Vietnam War. Berry also writes "Sherlock Holmes stories" which have been published in the United States, England and Japan. In this program he will read from his poetry and prose.

Ron Block reads from his short stories
North Platte
February 18, 1999
Total Running Time - 51 Minutes
Ames Reading #112

Ron Block is a native of Gothenburg and currently teaches English at Mid-Plains Community College in North Platte and he is also the author of Dismal River: A Narrative Poem (1990). Block is a graduate of the University of Nebraska and his stories have been widely published. In this program, Block reads stories from his new collection The Dirty Shame Hotel (1998), including "The Gothenburg Marching Band" and "A Bedtime Story," which both highlight Block's odd sense of humor which he fuses with a dark sense of foreboding.

Susanne George Bloomfield reads from her book Impertinences
Kearney
March 16, 2006
Total Running Time - 80 minutes
Ames Reading #161

Susanne George Bloomfield is a life-long resident of Nebraska. As a member of the University of Nebraska-Kearney English Department, she holds the Martin Distinguished Professorship. She is also the recipient of the Pratt-Heins Excellence in Education Award. She is primarily a biographer, although she is also a published poet. She is the author of The Adventures of the Woman Homesteader: The Life and Letters of Elinor Pruitt Stewart, Letters on an Elk Hunt, and Kate M. Cleary. For this program, Bloomfield reads excerpts from her book Impertinences: Selected Writings of Elia Peattie, Journalist in the Gilded Age.

David L. Bristow reads from his first book
Omaha
March 21, 2002
Total Running Time - 75 Minutes
Ames Reading #134

David Bristow, former managing editor of Nebraska Life magazine, has lived in the state since 1992. He first came to Omaha to work as a counselor at Richard Young Psychiatric Hospital. He describes himself as a storyteller and believes good stories can provide a window into the human condition. He states that writers must earn the right to be heard and can do so by first telling stories well. Bristow started writing seriously at the age of 16. He has written for several Nebraska publications. In this presentation, he reads two chapters from his first book: A Dirty, Wicked Town - Tales of 19th Century Omaha.

Marion Marsh Brown reads from her books Homeward the Arrow's Flight and Susette LaFlesche, Advocate for Native American Rights
Omaha
April 18, 1996
Total Running Time - 54 Minutes
Ames Reading #94

Prolific Omaha writer Marion Marsh Brown has been writing for over 45 years for readers "from age 8 to 80." Her body of works include both fiction and nonfiction and her greatest satisfaction comes from readers recognizing the "basic values" in her writing. In this program Brown reads from her non fiction works Homeward the Arrow's Flight (1980), which recounts the life of Dr. Susan La Flesche; and Susette La Flesche: Advocate for Native American Rights (1992).

Terri Brown-Davidson reads her poetry
Lincoln
September 17, 1998
Total Running Time - 59 Minutes
Ames Reading #109

Terri Brown-Davidson is a self-styled romantic poet whose poems defy the ordinary. She is a professor of English at the University of Nebraska and has received degrees from San Jose State, Vermont College and the University of Nerbraska. Her chapbooks include the award-winning Rag Men (1994) and The Doll Artist's Daughter (1997) and her poems have been published in top poetry journals. In this program, Brown-Davidson reads her poetry.

J.V. Brummels reads his poetry, 1998
Winside
April 16, 1998
Total Running Time - 61 Minutes
Ames Reading #108

J.V. Brummels is a rancher and creative writing teacher at Wayne State College. His poetry has been published in book form in a collection entitled Sunday's Child, as well as in the Prairie Schooner, Southwest Review, and anthologies. His short story Clay Hills was published by the fine arts press, Nosila Press in 1996. In this program, Brummels reads a selection of his poems, many of which explore Nebraskans' relationship to their state.

Steve Buhler examines films based on Shakespeare's works
January 16, 2003
Total Running Time - 53 Minutes
Ames Reading #139

Steve Buhler, a Shakespearean scholar, is a member of the faculty in the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is a recipient of UNL's Outstanding Teaching and Instructional Creativity Award and the author of Shakespeare in the Cinema - Ocular Proof. In this reading, he examines some of the many films based on Shakespeare's work, focusing on interpretations by Orson Welles, Laurence Olivier, and Kenneth Branagh.

Joan Rossiter Burney reads from her humorous columns
Hartington
April 15, 1993
Total Running Time - 49 Minutes
Ames Reading #72

Burney describes herself as "one of life's cheerleaders." A columnist, author, and motivational humorist, she is also a counselor and presenter of speeches, seminars and workshops. Burney was named Mother of the Year in 1991 and has received over 225 state and national writing awards. Her regular columns appear in Nebraska Farmer, The Catholic Voice, Nebraska Cattleman, and several regional newspapers. She has also authored The Keepers, Volume 1 (1987) and 2 (1989) and Sharing Your Faith With Your Child (1984 and 1992). This program features several selections of her humorous columns.

Joy Carol: Author, Speaker and Counselor
New York City
September 21, 2006
Total Running Time - 67 minutes
Ames Reading #163

Joy Carol, raised on a farm near Clatonia, NE and a graduate of Nebraska Wesleyan University, currently resides in New York City. She is an author, counselor, and spiritual director who conducts seminars on a variety of topics, including issues of particular interest to women. She has been an international consultant on women and development for the Ford Foundation, the United Nations, Save the Children and other organizations. Carol was co-author of the official report on the United Nation's "Decade for Women." In this Ames program, she reads from two of her books: Towers of Hope and The Fabric of Friendship.

Lenora Castillo reads her poetry
Lincoln
September 21, 1995
Total Running Time - 30 Minutes
Ames Reading #89

Born in Scotts Bluff County in Western Nebraska, Castillo currently pursues a degree in creative writing at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her latina-themed poetry has appeared in The Prairie Schooner and The Nebraska Humanities Magazine and in 1994 Castillo received the Vreeland Award in writing. In this program Castillo reads selections from her current poetry.

Kate Cavanaugh reads from her humorous columns
Omaha
April 18, 1991
Total Running Time - 32 Minutes
Ames Reading #56

A native of St. Charles, Illinois, Cavanaugh is a graduate of Creighton University in Omaha. She currently works as a columnist for the Omaha World Herald, where she writes humorous tales of her family, which includes her husband, John, former U.S. Congressman, and their eight children. Cavanaugh has written several works including, Mother's Day (1989) and I Can't Sleep With Those Elves Watching Me (1990). This program features several selections of her humorous columns.

Jim Cihlar reads his poetry
Omaha
October 20, 1994
Total Running Time - 36 Minutes
Ames Reading #83

An Omaha native, Cihlar received his Ph.D. in English from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and has taught writing and literature at UNL and Southeast Community College -Lincoln. In 1988, he won the Academy of American Poets first place award, and his works have appeared in Plainsongs, WholeNotes, Bitterroot, Leaves of Grass and Midwest Poetry Review. Cihlar has served as former editorial assistant for the Great Plains Quarterly and Prairie Schooner. He is currently the Publications Editor and Media Liaison at the Nebraska Humanities Council.

Helen Crosswait reads her poetry
Lincoln
October 17, 1991
Total Running Time - 40 Minutes
Ames Reading #59

Crosswait was born on the Rosebud Reservation in White River, South Dakota. A graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, her course work emphasized Women's Studies and English. After graduation she found herself drawn to long-term work with the people on the Rosebud Reservation and to Native American issues and culture. Crosswait's humorous writings are a mixture of "autobiographical prose, poetry and anecdotes about real people." Her writings are collected in the book A Riot in a Parrot Shoppe and Other Erruptions (1991).

Clarence Davis reads his poetry
Lincoln
March 16, 1995
Total Running Time - 60 Minutes
Ames Reading #87

Originally from Maryland, Davis has lived in Nebraska since 1973. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Education from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and is currently a graduate student in English under the direction of Nebraska poet, Greg Kuzma. Davis recently published a chapbook entitled, Red Rover, Red Rover (1994) and his poems have also appeared in the poetry collections Poems for the Dead and The New American Poetry Anthology. In this program, Davis reads several of his poems, many of which have been influenced by his time serving in Vietnam.

Susan Strayer Deal reads her poetry, 1986
Lincoln
September 25, 1986
Total Running Time - 30 Minutes
Ames Reading #12

Deal, a native Nebraskan, received her degrees from Kearney State College and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her works have appeared in the Prairie Schooner, Poetry Now, Cottonwood Review and Ohio Journal and in the collections All My Grandmothers Could Sing (1984) and Adjoining Rooms (1985). Deal was the recipient of the Writers' Choice Award, from the Pushcart Foundation, 1984-85, and the Poetry in Motion Award, sponsored by the University of Nebraska-Omaha, 1984. Collections of her own poetry include No Moving Parts (1980) and The Dark is a Door (1984).

Susan Strayer Deal reads her poetry, 1994
Lincoln
April 21, 1994
Total Running Time - 50 Minutes
Ames Reading #81

Deal is a poet, essayist, and short fiction writer. She was a recipient of the Writer's Choice Award, from the Pushcart Foundation, and the Poetry In Motion Award, from the University of Nebraska-Omaha. A contributor to many anthologies and journals, Deal's works have appeared in All My Grandmothers Could Sing (1984); Adjoining Rooms (1985); the Prairie Schooner, and Whole Notes. Her most recent works include Trees and Flowers (1991) and The Shape of Herself (1993). This is her second appearance in the Ames Reading Series.

Richard Dooling reads from his forthcoming novel, Bet Your Life
Omaha
April 18, 2002
Total Running Time - 56 Minutes
Ames Reading #135

Richard Dooling, author and attorney, is a native Nebraskan. Born, reared, and currently residing in Omaha, Dooling has undergraduate and law degrees from St. Louis University. He has worked as a respiratory therapist in an ICU and as an employment-discrimination lawyer. As a high school student he wondered whether he could be a writer. After winning a short story competition in college, he began to seriously consider being an author. As of this date, he has published four books: Critical Care, White Man's Grave, Brainstorm, and Blue Streak. White Man's Grave was a finalist for the 1994 National Book Award. Here he reads from his forthcoming novel, Bet Your Life, an insurance investigation murder mystery.

Sean Doolittle reads his short story, "Mr. Big Deal," and several chapters from his manuscript, Safer
Omaha
April 17, 2008
Total Running Time � 75 minutes
Ames #176

An Omaha resident, a Nebraska native, and the 2007-2008 Nebraska Literary Heritage Association honorary author member, Sean Doolittle is the author of several suspense/crime novels including Dirt, Burn, Rain Dogs, and the most recent, The Cleanup.

Marilyn Dorf reads her poetry
Lincoln
November 17, 1994
Total Running Time - 60 Minutes
Ames Reading #84

Dorf is a Lincoln poet and writer, and a member of both the Nebraska Writers' Guild and the Chapparal Poets. She writes primarily free-verse poetry, short stories and articles, many of which she has contributed to publications such as Kansas Quarterly, Plainsongs, WholeNotes, Mankato Poetry Review and Midwest Poetry Review. Her poem, "Waiting Out the Wind" was a 1988 Plainsongs Award Winner. Her poems are collected in Windmills Walk the Night (1992).

Marilyn Dorf reads from a number of her works, including This Red Hill
Lincoln
October 16, 2003
Total Running Time - 61 Minutes
Ames Reading #144

Marilyn Dorf, a native of Albion who now resides in Lincoln, is a poet and author. She writes some short stories and articles but focuses mainly on free verse poetry. Her work has appeared in a wide variety of poetry journals and reviews. She is a member of the Lincoln Chapter of the Nebraska Chaparral Poets and much of her poetry reflects her abiding love of nature. In this program she reads selections from a number of her works, including her latest, This Red Hill.

Lorraine Duggin reads from her work
Omaha
April 16, 1987
Total Running Time - 47 Minutes
Ames Reading #19

Duggin received her master's degree in English from the University of Nebraska-Omaha, and is a doctoral candidate in Creative Writing at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her poetry and fiction have won several awards including the First Prize from the Academy of American Poets, and a nomination for the Pushcart Prize in 1984 for her short fiction. She has taught writing at UNO's Community Writers' Workshop, Creighton University, and Metropolitan Community College. Her works have been published in All My Grandmothers Could Sing (1984), Plainsongs and the Prairie Schooner. In this program, she will read selections from both her poetry and short fiction.

Richard Duggin reads from his short story "The Great Teacher"
Omaha
January 15, 1987
Total Running Time - 72 Minutes
Ames Reading #16

Duggin is a Creative Writing Professor at the University of Nebraska-Omaha Writers' Workshop. He edited the literary magazine, Annex 21: Coming Home, and was instrumental in organizing UNO's reading series. Fiction editor for the Nebraska Review, he is also an award-winning novelist, with fiction awards from Playboy and Kansas Quarterly. Duggin's works have been published in Laurel Review and Beliot Fiction Journal. He is the author of a novel entitled, The Music Box Treaty (1982). In this program, Duggin will read from his short story, "The Great Teacher."

The life and career of Mignon Eberhart
Lincoln
November 16, 1995
Total Running Time - 44 Minutes
Ames Reading #91

Mignon G. Eberhart was born in Lincoln's University Place in 1899. By the early 1940's she was the third highest money-earning woman detective-story writer in the world, only outranked by Agatha Christie and Mary Roberts Reinhart. By the late 1980's she had written almost 60 novels, not to mention numerous short stories and plays. Nebraskans especially enjoy her work as many scenes in her early books are derived from her experiences in Lincoln. In this program, Barbara Rix and Lila McVay, both Eberhart enthusiasts, describe Eberhart's life and writing career, which is as interesting as her mysteries.

Paul Eggers reads from his novel, Saviors.
Lincoln
January 20, 2000
Total Running Time - 41 minutes
Ames Readng #118

Paul Eggers is an English instructor who received his Ph.D. in English from the University of Nebraska. His debut novel, Saviors (1998) is based in part on his experience as a Peace Corp and United Nations volunteer in Malaysia in the 1970's. The novel, set in a Malaysian refugee camp for Vietnamese boat people in 1979 has been highly praised for its portrayal of the complexities of international humanitarian intervention. In this program, Eggers reads from his novel, Saviors.

Kelly Madigan Erlandson
Lincoln
January 18, 2007
Total Running Time - 70 minutes
Ames Reading #166

Lincolnite Kelly Madigan Erlandson is a state-licensed drug and alcohol counselor. She is also a poet and essayist. Her chapbook, Born in the House of Love, won the Main-Traveled Roads Chapbook Award in 2004. Her work has been published in Barrow Street, Prairie Schooner, The Massachusetts Review, Puerto del Sol and other publications. Erlandson's work has also appeared in the anthologies, Times of Sorrow/Times of Grace and Crazy Woman Creek. She was honored with a Nebraska Arts Council Distinguished Artist Award in Non-fiction in 2006. During this program, she reads her poetry and talks a bit about her book Getting Sober: A Practical Guide to Making It through the First Thirty Days.

Sarah Fairchild, Lucy Adkins, and Robert King read from the Nebraska Poets Calendar
April 19, 2001
Total Running Time - 60 minutes
Ames Reading #128

Sarah Fairchild is the founding editor of the Nebraska Poets Calendar that is published by Black Star Press. In this program, Lincoln poet Sarah Fairchild discusses her process for editing the calendar and reads from her own work. Two contributors to the calendar, Lucy Adkins and Robert King, also read their poems. Adkins is originally from Palmer and now lives in Lincoln. Her poems have been published in many places, including Nebraska Territory and Plains Song Review. King, originally from Denver, Colorado, is a professor of English at the University of Nebraska and is the author of such chapbooks as A Circle of Land (1990) and Learning American (1998).

Jim Fargher reads from The Boy Who Had an Elephant For a Pet
Omaha
October 15, 1992
Total Running Time - 51 Minutes
Ames Reading #67

Jim Fargher is a trained psychotherapist who also has special training in interpersonal and group communication. An experienced counselor and teacher of psychology, Dr. Fargher conducts workshops, programs, and retreats on personal growth topics. He has published The Boy Who Had an Elephant as a Pet and Other Fables (1990), which he describes as a "spiritual autobiography," which, "clarifies aspects of life's journey through use of metaphysical tales." In this program, Fargher reads material included in the international edition of The Boy Who Had and Elephant as a Pet and Other Fables.

Charles Flowerday reads from his work
Lincoln
September 15, 1988
Total Running Time - 67 Minutes
Ames Reading #32

Flowerday is the editor of the Conservation and Survey Division of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He has earned a bachelor's degree in English and Creative Writing at Princeton University, a bachelor's degree in Journalism from UNL, and a master's degree in Education and Theology from Union Theological Seminary in New York City. His writing has appeared in the Prairie Schooner, and the Nassau Literary Review. In this program, Flowerday reads a selection of poems, and passages from his unpublished novel entitled, Impostors. He introduces the novel to the audience, by reading from and discussing three of its chapters: 'The Confident,' 'The Lover,' and 'The Seminary.'

Charles Fort reads his poetry
Kearney
September 19, 2005
Total Running Time - 42 minutes
Ames Reading #156

The recipient of many awards, Charles Fort currently holds the Paul W. and Clarice Kingston Reynolds Chair in Poetry at the University of Nebraska - Kearney. His books include As the Lilac Burned the Laurel Grew, Immortelles, and others; his work has been published in a variety of journals. During this program, he reads poetry that reflects the personal, family, and nature. He also talks about and demonstrates how he writes his work in various poetic forms - echo verse, prose poems, villanelle and sonnets.

Carlos Frey, Artist and Bill Kloefkorn, Author, share their book, Still Life Moving
Wayne and Lincoln
November 16, 2006
Total Running Time - 60 minutes
Ames Reading #165

Carlos Frey is an artist and a former faculty member at Wayne State College. Bill Kloefkorn, a professor emeritus at Nebraska Wesleyan University, is the Nebraska State Poet. They have collaborated on a book, Still Life Moving, in which Frey produced paintings based on photographs he had taken and Kloefkorn produced poems based on the connections he felt with the paintings. The photographs are primarily of Native American ceremonies and celebrations; the poems are not intended to interpret the paintings but to explore the poet's reaction to them.

David Gardiner reads his works on St. Patrick's Day, 2005
Omaha
March 17, 2005
Total Running Time - 75 minutes
Ames Reading #154

David Gardiner, Director of Irish Studies at Creighton University, is a poet and scholar. His work has appeared in Natural Bridge and other publications. Gardiner is the author of Befitting Emblems of Adversity: A Modern Irish View of Edmund Spenser from W. B. Yeats to the Present and The Maunsel Poets, 1905-1923: The Other Irish Renaissance. He reads selections from his work for this program.

Susanne George reads from The Adventures of the Woman Homesteader: The Life and Letters of Elinore Pruitt Stewart.
Kearney
February 18, 1993
Total Running Time - 49 Minutes
Ames Reading #71

George is a lifetime resident of Nebraska. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln specializing in American Literature and composition. Currently an Associate Professor at the University of Nebraska-Kearney, she received the Robinson Award for Scholarly Papers in 1986. Her works have appeared in Nebraska English and Language Arts Journal,Western American Literature, and Nebraska Humanist. She has recently published a book entitled The Adventures of the Woman Homesteader: The Life and Letters of Elinore Pruitt Stewart (1992). In this program, George reads passages from her book on Elinore Pruitt Stewart.

Virginia Gilbert reads her poetry
Lincoln
January 16, 1986
Total Running Time - 60 Minutes
Ames Reading #6

Gilbert is a graduate student, in the English department, at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She has a degree from the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa, and was a Creative Writing fellow at the University of Utah. Gilbert is the author of a poetry chapbook entitled, To Keep at Bay the Hounds (1985), and has contributed poems to New Voices in American Poetry, Beloit Poetry Journal, Southern Poetry Review and Prairie Schooner.

Irene Rose Gray reads her poetry
Lincoln
March 3, 1996
Total Running Time - 45 Minutes
Ames Reading #93

Irene Rose Gray is a native of Brunswick, Nebraska and currently lives in Lincoln. She is a member of the Lincoln and Nebraska Chaparral Poets and the author of a collection of poems entitled Season Sampler (1972). A life-long student with a zest for learning, Gray has received academic honors and degrees from colleges in Nebraska, Ohio, and Colorado. In this program Gray reads selections from her current poems.

Evelyn Haller reads her poetry
Lincoln
March 21, 1991
Total Running Time - 51 Minutes
Ames Reading #55

Haller teaches English and Composition, as well as Women's Studies and Plains Literature at Doane College in Crete, Nebraska. She is one of twelve contributing editors to The Feminist Companion to Literature in English: The Middle Ages to the Present (1990), and has two works in progress which discuss Virginia Wolf's and Willa Cather's use of iconography. In this program, Haller reads a variety of her poems, including "There is No Place in Nebraska," which appeared in Nebraska Humanities.

Twyla Hansen reads her poetry, 1988
Lincoln
April 21, 1988
Total Running Time - 47 Minutes
Ames Reading #29

Hansen describes herself as having "strong avocations to poetry and plains." She was born in Omaha and was raised on a farm in northeast Nebraska. Later she received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and has worked as the horticulturalist at Nebraska Wesleyan since 1982. She was the featured poet in the Elkhorn Review, Fall 1987, and winner of the Elkhorn Review Poetry Award, 1988. Hansen's poems have appeared in Prairie Schooner, Nebraska: The Individual Voice and Nebraska Review.

Twyla Hansen reads her poetry, 1993
Lincoln
May 20, 1993
Total Running Time - 48 Minutes
Ames Reading #74

A native of northeast Nebraska, Hansen has been the horticulturalist at Nebraska Wesleyan since 1982 and describes herself as having "strong avocations to poetry and plains." She was a finalist in the Woman Artist of the Year, 1990, sponsored by the Lincoln/Lancaster Commission on the Status of Women; and received the Poetry Prize from Elkhorn Review in 1988. Hansen's poetry can be found in numerous publications including, Nebraska Territory, Elkhorn Review, and the Prairie Schooner. She has recently published a collection of her works entitled How to Live in the Heartland (1992). This is her second appearance in the Ames Reading Series.

Twyla Hansen reads her poetry from the PlainSense of Things 2, 4/15/99
Lincoln
April 15, 1999
Total Running Time - 56 minutes
Ames Program # 114

In this program, four of the poets collected in PlainSense of Things 2: Eight Poets from Lincoln, Nebraska (1997), edited by Mark Sanders, read from their works. Twyla Hansen, horticulturalist at Nebraska Wesleyan University, is the author of How the Live in the Heartland (1992) and In Our Very Bones (1997). Ted Kooser has authored many collections of poetry, including Weather Central (1994). Marge Saiser has published poems in various journals and is author of the forthcoming Bones of a Very Fine Hand (1999). Roy Scheele's most recent publication is Keeping the Horses (1998), a narrative poem.

Twyla Hansen reads selections from several of her works
Lincoln
April 17, 2003
Total Running Time - 57 Minutes
Ames Reading #142

Twyla Hansen, poet and horticulturist, is a repeat performer in the Ames Reading Series, having previously read for the series in 1988 and 1993. Her poetry has appeared in a broad spectrum of respected anthologies and prestigious journals. Her work is regarded as exemplary by critics and fellow poets. She is also an award winning horticulturist and her poetry often reflects her keen perceptions of relationships in natural prairie communities. In this program she reads selections from several of her works.

Twyla Hansen and Paul Johnsgard share poetry and drawings from Prairie Suite: A Celebration.
Lincoln
September 20, 2007
Total Running Time - 65 minutes
Ames Reading #170

Among their many literary accomplishments, Twyla and Paul collaborated on a collection of 26 prairie poems and 28 associated drawings entitled Prairie Suite: A Celebration; the book was written to support Spring Creek Prairie and the Audubon Center, located twenty minutes southwest of Lincoln.

Neil Harrison reads from his poetry
Norfolk
March 18, 1999
Total Running Time - 42 minutes
Ames Program # 113

Neil Harrison, a poet born in Norfolk, teaches English at Wayne State College and Northeast Community College. His work has been published in many journals and he is included in The PlainSense of Things: Eight Poets from Outstate Nebraska (1997). His book Story was published by Logan House Press. In this program, he will read from his works of poetry and fiction.

Kent Haruf reads from his short story "Private debts, public holdings"
Lincoln
May 18, 1989
Total Running Time - 42 Minutes
Ames Reading #40

Haruf was born in Colorado, and was educated in Nebraska and Iowa, receiving his bachelor's degree from Nebraska Wesleyan and his master's degree from the University of Iowa. He returned to Wesleyan in 1986 as a visiting English instructor. He is the author of Ties That Bind (1984), which was awarded The Whitney Foundation Writer's Award and a Hemingway Foundation citation. In this program, Haruf reads his short story "Private Debts, Public Holdings," which is included in Best American Short Stories, (1987).

Nancy Peters Hastings reads her poetry
Lincoln
March 16, 1989
Total Running Time - 25 Minutes
Ames Reading #38

Hastings received her master's degree in Classical Greek from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and a master's degree in Creative Writing from New Mexico State University. She is currently a Latin Professor in the Department of Foreign Languages at NMSU-Los Cruces. She is the publisher and editor of Wholenotes, which has received the Leonard Randolph Small Press Award in 1986 and 1987; and is the editor of Daedalus Press, which publishes poetry chapbooks. Her own poetry has appeared in Prairie Schooner, Commonweal, The New Land Review, Plainsongs, Pebble and several anthologies. Hastings reads selections of her poetry in this program.

Hobe Hays reads from Take Two and Hit to Right
Lincoln
September 16, 1999
Total Running Time - 61 minutes
Ames Reading #115

Hobe Hays's book Take Two and Hit to Right: Golden Days on the Semi-Pro Diamond (1999) is an account of his experiences playing baseball in Nebraska. Hays, a native of Bethany, Nebraska, played semi-pro baseball and for the University of Nebraska. Trading baseball spikes for artist's pencils, Hays received his BFA from the University of Nebraska in 1950 and MFA from Wichita University in 1956. Hays, now a SUNY at Long Island Emeritus Professor in Production Design and Graphic Arts, has worked as an art director for KUON TV, production designer, graphic artist illustrator. Hays has illustrated several books and is the author of the 1966 children's book The Adventure. In this program Hays reads from Take Two and Hit to Right, illustrating his presentation with original drawings.

Sally Herrin reads from her fiction, 1987
Lincoln
September 17, 1987
Total Running Time - 43 Minutes
Ames Reading #22

Herrin is the senior poetry reader for the Prairie Schooner and has taught creative writing at Moorhead State College and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In this program, she will read from her first published work of fiction, Little Saigon, which appeared originally in Cresent (1987) and later in Best Short Stories for New Writers (1989).

Sally Herrin reads from her work, 1992
Lincoln
April 16, 1992
Total Running Time - 75 Minutes
Ames Reading #64

Herrin's writing ranges from poetry and fiction to editorials and curriculum. She is the recipient of the Vreeland Award for Poetry, and holds both an M.A. and Ph.D. from UNL. Herrin has taught in the UNL English department and worked for the Prairie Schooner. Her recent works can be found in Best Stories from New Writers (1989). In her second appearance in the Ames Reading Series, Herrin reads from her poetry and from her unpublished play "Dostoevski in Hell", which is a philosophical debate between Dostoevski's Grand Inquisitor and modern communist writers.

Charlotte Hogg reads from her book, From the Garden Club: Rural Women Writing Community.
Fort Worth, Texas
October 18, 2007
Total Running Time - 55 minutes
Ames Reading #171

While Charlotte now lives in Texas, she spent some of her growing up years in Paxton, Nebraska, where her grandmother lived as well. She recently published a book with the University of Nebraska Press, From the Garden Club: Rural Women Writing Community, featuring women, including her grandmother, and the writing they did in Paxton.

Art Homer reads his poetry, 1986
Omaha
March 27, 1986
Total Running Time - 43 Minutes
Ames Reading #8

Poet and short story author Art Homer is a native of the Missouri Ozarks. He received a bachelor's degree from Portland State University in Oregon and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Montana in Missoula before arriving at the UNO Writer's Workshop in 1982. His poetry has appeared in such publication as Poetry and Southern Poetry Review and one of his short stories was nominated for the prestigious Puschcart Prize. In this program, Homer reads selections from his chapbook What We Did After the Rain (1984), which features the poem "The Book on Tatoos."

Art Homer reads his poetry, 1998
Omaha
March 19, 1998
Total Running Time - 60 Minutes
Ames Reading #107

Chair of the Writer's Workshop at UNO and editor of the Nebraska Review, Art Homer is the author of poetry collections Tatoos (1986), Skies of Such Valuable Glass (1990) and What We Did After the Rain (1984). His memoir A Drownt Boy: An Ozark Tale (1994), probes his Missouri childhood. Homer's work has been published in many national literary magazines and he has received many awards for his writing. In this program, Homer reads from his prose and poetry, including several short pieces written for radio.

Timothy D. Houghton reads his poetry
Lincoln
April 19, 1990
Total Running Time - 55 Minutes
Ames Reading #47

Editor of the American poetry magazine Panoply, Houghton teaches Creative Writing at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He received his Ph.D. from Denver University in 1984, and has published a collection of his poems known as High Bridges (1989). In this program, Houghton reads selections from his poetry.

Herb Hyde reads from his weekly columns
Lincoln
November 15, 1990
Total Running Time - 58 Minutes
Ames Reading #51

Hyde joined the staff of the Lincoln Journal in October 1966 as the Focus "Book Page" editor and has written a column for the Book Page since 1979. Born in Oklahoma, he has been a professional manuscript editor for 33 years, and is currently doing free-lance editing for four university presses. A former president of the Nebraska Writers' Guild, Hyde currently serves as the Guild's Program Coordinator. He will read from his weekly columns.

Ronald Raygun's Rock-N-Roll Reformation by Chuck Jagoda
Lincoln
October 24, 1985
Total Running Time - 75 Minutes
Ames Reading #3

Ronald Raygun's Rock 'n' Roll Reformation, by Lincolnite Chuck Jagoda is "a comedy in the tradition of Aristophanes in the key of Groucho." This satricial play is a joint production of the Nebraska Playwrites' Project and Jagoda World Ministries. In its entirety, the play is approximately 2 hours in length but has been shortened for this presentation in the Heritage Room.

John Janovy reads from his fiction
Lincoln
October 16, 1997
Total Running Time - 64 Minutes
Ames Reading #103

John Janovy, the Varner Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences at UNL is the author of many books, including Keith County Journal (1978), Dunwoody Pond (1994), and Ten Minute Ecologist (1997). Janovy has received national attention for both his scientific research and literary achievements, prompting comparisons with Lincoln's Loren Eiseley. In this program, Janovy reads from his unpublished fiction.

Paul Johnsgard reads from This Fragile Land: A Natural History of the Nebraksa Sandhills
Lincoln
November 21, 1996
Total Running Time - 61 Minutes
Ames Reading #97

Johnsgard is the author of over thirty books about nature and birds, written for both popular and technical audiences. He is the most prolific of all ornithological writers and is also credited as the illustrator of many of his volumes. He has been a member of the Biology department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln since 1961 and has received numerous awards and recognitions for his contribution to ornithological research. In this program, Johnsgard discusses his writing career and in particular his most recent book, This Fragile Land: A Natural History of the Nebraska Sandhills (1995).

Paul Johnsgard reads excerpts from several of his books
Lincoln
March 18, 2004
Ames Reading #148

Paul Johnsgard, professor emeritus at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, is a prolific author, illustrator, and nature photographer. He is an internationally renowned ornithologist and is recognized as one of the world's foremost authorities on sandhills cranes. In this program Johnsgard comments on his evolution as a writer, noting that his current writing is more philosophical and poetic than his early writing. He intersperses his comments about writing with reading excerpts from several of his books.

Barbara Jones reads from three of her novels
September 21, 2000
Total Running Time - 45 minutes
Ames Reading #122

Barbara Jones, who writes under the pen name Barbara Leigh, was born in Lincoln but now makes her home in California. Her popular romance novels have been translated into many languages and she enjoys a world-wide audience. In this program she reads from three of her novels: Web of Loving Lies (1993), For Love of Rory (1995), and The Surrogate Wife (1999).

Julie Kaewert reads from her fiction.
Niwot, CO
April 28, 2005
Total Running Time - 59 minutes
Ames Reading #155

Julie Kaewert, born and raised in Omaha, earned a baccalaureate degree from Dartmouth and a master's degree from Harvard. She is a successful novelist who has written mysteries for booklovers. Some of her stories are set in England and are centered around book publishing, which is (in her words) "the most intriguing business she knows." Her books have ranked high on mystery best seller lists. For this program, she reads material from various books in her mystery series, "Booklover's Mystery," featuring Alex Plumtree.

Alex Kava reads from One False Move and A Necessary Evil
Omaha
October 19, 2006
Total Running Time - 59 minutes
Ames Reading #164

Alex Kava, a native Nebraskan, is a former public relations professional and owner of a graphics design company. She gave that up to devote her time to writing and has become a successful novelist. She focuses on the suspense thriller genre; her debut novel, A Perfect Evil, became a national bestseller. A subsequent novel, One False Move, was the 2006 One Book One Nebraska selection. Kava is also the author of Split Second, The Soul Catcher, At the Stroke of Madness, and A Necessary Evil. In this program she reads from One False Move and A Necessary Evil.

Catherine Kidwell reads from a work in progress, Charm is Not Enough
Lincoln
June 20, 1985
Total Running Time - 64 Minutes
Ames Reading #1

Kidwell, a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, received a bachelor's degree in Art and a master's degree in English. Her first novel, Dear Stranger (1982), began as a writing assignment in a short story course, and developed into her master's thesis. Kidwell has the distinction of being the first person at UNL to simultaneously publish her creative thesis in two countries: the U.S. and Great Britain. To date, this work has been published in nine different language versions. Kidwell labels herself a feminist writer, and has published another work entitled, The Woman I Am (1979). In this program she reads from a work in progress titled, Charm Is Not Enough.

Richard Kimbrough reads from Country Tales and Truths and The Outsiders
November 15, 2001
Total Running Time - 47 Minutes
Ames Reading #131

Richard Kimbrough, a native of Big Springs, Nebraska, has lived in many places throughout the world but returned to Nebraska in 1979. He has been a secondary teacher and coach and is currently an adjunct professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he teaches some senior level and graduate courses in management. He has been a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist, with his work appearing in more than 200 newspapers. He is also the author of several books, including Cross-Country Courage, which won the 1973 Friends of American Writers prize. In this program, he reads selections from two of his books: Country Tales and Truths and The Outsiders.

William Kloefkorn reads his poetry, 1985
Lincoln
December 19, 1985
Total Running Time - 31 Minutes
Ames Reading #5

William Kloefkorn, named Nebraska State Poet in 1982, was born in Attica, Kansas. He studied at Emporia State University receiving both a bachelor's and a master's degree. In 1962, Kloefkorn came to Lincoln where he began teaching English at Nebraska Wesleyan University. Some of Kloefkorn's works include: Alvin Turner as Farmer (1972); Uncertain the Final Run to Winter (1973); Not Such a Bad Place to Be (1980); and A Life Like Mine (1984).

William Kloefkorn reads his poetry, 1990
Lincoln
March 15, 1990
Total Running Time - 60 Minutes
Ames Reading #46

Kloefkorn, a native of Kansas, has been an English Professor at Nebraska Wesleyan University since 1962. In 1982, he was named the Poet Laureate of Nebraska. Kloefkorn is the author of many volumes of poetry including, Alvin Turner as Farmer (1972), Uncertain the Final Run to Winter (1973), and A Life Like Mine (1984). This is his second appearance in the Ames Reading Series.

Bill Kloefkorn
Lincoln
November 13, 2003
Total Running Time - 54 Minutes
Ames Reading #145

Bill Kloefkorn is the Nebraska State Poet and professor emeritus from Nebraska Wesleyan University. His poems have appeared in a variety of literary outlets, and he has read for the Ames Series on previous occasions. In this reading, Kloefkorn takes a novel approach in presenting a single incident from his youth - the near drowning of his brother - through three different perspectives. He reads first from Houses and Beyond and relates the incident in a poem. He next presents it as memoir by reading from This Death by Drowning and finally fictionalizes it in his Shadowboxing. Kloefkorn has been a master teacher for some of the poets in the Lincoln area.

Lisa Knopp reads essays from The Nature of Home
January 15, 2004
Ames Reading #146

Lisa Knopp is a perceptive observer and eloquent author who writes creative non-fiction. She has published three collections of essays: Field of Vision, Flight Dreams, and The Nature of Home. Her writing is characterized by an impressive breadth of knowledge and keen insight into natural and communal relationships. Knopp has taught creative writing at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and became a faculty member at Southern Illinois University, and Goucher College in Baltimore. In this program, she reads essays from The Nature of Home.

Ted Kooser reads his poetry, 1986
Lincoln
November 20, 1986
Total Running Time - 51 Minutes
Ames Reading #14

A native of Iowa, Kooser makes his home in Garland, Nebraska. He is the Vice-President of Marketing for a Lincoln life insurance company, as well as a poet. Kooser has twice been awarded poetry fellowships with the National Endowment for the Arts, and he is the author of Official Entry Blank (1969), Old Marriage and New (1978) and the award winning Sure Signs (1980). Kooser reads from his recent poetry in this program.

Ted Kooser reads his poetry from the PlainSense of Things 2, 4/15/99
Lincoln
April 15, 1999
Total Running Time - 56 minutes
Ames Program # 114

In this program, four of the poets collected in PlainSense of Things 2: Eight Poets from Lincoln, Nebraska (1997), edited by Mark Sanders, read from their works. Twyla Hansen, hortaculturalist at Nebraska Wesleyan University, is the author of How the Live in the Heartland (1992) and In Our Very Bones (1997). Ted Kooser has authored many collections of poetry, including Weather Central (1994). Marge Saiser has published poems in various journals and is author of the forthcoming Bones of a Very Fine Hand (1999). Roy Scheele's most recent publication is Keeping the Horses (1998), a narrative poem.

Ted Kooser reads a long poem he wrote about the Blackhawk War
Garland
March 20, 2008
Total Running Time - 53 minutes
Ames Reading #175

One of the original founders of the Nebraska Literary Heritage Association and supporters of the Jane Pope Geske Heritage Room of Nebraska Authors, Ted Kooser joins us again after his two year term as Poet Laureate of the United States, Oct. 2004 - May 2006.

Greg Kosmicki reads from his poetry
Omaha
March 15, 2001
Total Running Time - 61 minutes
Ames Reading #127

Greg Kosmicki is a widely published poet, editor, and publisher of Backwaters Press. He was born in Alliance and now lives in Omaha. He is the author of How Things Happen (1997), which noted poet Hayden Carruth called "strong, lucid, and original," and Nobody Lives Here Who Saw This Sky (1998). In 2000 Kosmicki received a merit award from the Nebraska Arts Council. In this program Kosmicki reads from his poetry.

Greg Kosmicki reads a sampling of his poetry written over the years.
Omaha
November 15, 2007
Total Running Time - 59 minutes
Ames Reading # 172

Greg, a poet and social worker from Omaha, has written a number of books including The Patron Saint of Lost and Found (2003), Some Hero of the Past (2006), and most recently, We Have Always Been Coming to This Morning (2007). He also coedited, with Mary K. Stillwell, a book that includes 82 poets with Nebraska connections, Nebraska Presence: An Anthology of Poetry (2007).

Steve Langan reads from Freezing
Omaha
September 19, 2002
Total Running Time - 48 Minutes
Ames Reading #136

Steve Langan grew up in Omaha. He earned a baccalaureate degree from the University of Nebraska at Omaha and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Iowa Writer's Workshop. He is currently the Director of the Muscular Dystrophy Association and a lecturer at Creighton University. His poems have been published in Double Take, The Kenyon Review, Chicago Review, Witness, and Columbia: A Journal of Literature and Art. His work has been praised by critics. In this program, Langan reads from Freezing, his first published book of poems.

Betty Levitov reads from her book, Africa on Six Wheels
Lincoln
March 15, 2007
Total Running Time - 45 minutes
Ames Reading #168

Betty Levitov is a professor of English at Doane College, Crete, where she specializes in African literature, African studies and holocaust literature. Her first experience in Africa occurred when she served as a Peace Corps volunteer with the Society of African Missionaries in Liberia. Levitov has led Doane College students on short-term (three week) learning experiences in several European and African countries. She has also led semester-long courses for Doane students in various countries on the African continent. In this program, she reads from her book Africa on Six Wheels: A Semester on Safari.

M. K. Lorens reads from her mystery, The Very Dead of Winter
Fremont
October 21, 1993
Total Running Time - 61 Minutes
Ames Reading #76

Lorens is a native of Fremont, Nebraska. She received her doctorate from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and has since taught writing and literature classes at several colleges throughout the United States. Creator of the Winston Sherman Series, she has also written for theater and network television, most notably an episode for the CBS series, "The Equalizer." Lorens recently published Sorrowheart (1993), her fifth Winston Sherman mystery, and another is expected soon. In this program, Lorens reads from her mystery The Very Dead of Winter.

Frederick C. Luebke reads from A Harmony of the Arts: The Nebraska State Capitol
Lincoln
March 19, 1992
Total Running Time - 50 Minutes
Ames Reading #63

Luebke is the Charles J. March Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. One of Luebke's many fields of expertise is Nebraska history and he has written and edited several books in the Great Plains Studies series. He is the recipient of numerous grants and awards including UNL's Outstanding Research and Creative Activity Award 1985 and the 1990 Nebraska Humanities Council's Biennial Sower Award. In this program, Luebke discusses the history and symbolism of Nebraska's state capitol, complimented by references from his book A Harmony of the Arts: The Nebraska State Capitol (1990).

Glenna Luschei reads her poetry
Lincoln
October 20, 1988
Total Running Time - 38 Minutes
Ames Reading #33

A native of Sioux City, Iowa, Luschei attended the University of Nebraska- Lincoln as an undergraduate student. She went on to receive a master's degree also at UNL after writing a thesis on Nebraska author Wright Morris. Later, she moved to the American Southwest and founded the literary magazine Cafe Solo. Luschei is the author of several books and chapbooks of poetry including Farewell to Winter (1988) and Pulitzer Prize nominee Unexpected Grace (1984), both from which she reads in this program.

Shirley Maly shares her book, A Love Affair with the Americas
Lincoln
January 19, 2006
Total Running Time - 55 minutes
Ames Reading #159

Shirley Maly has lived most of her life in Lincoln; she is a writer, but spent much of her time doing various forms of technical writing. At an age past the average volunteer, her desire to "see the world" convinced her to join the Peace Corps. Her travels and Peace Corps experiences inspired her to write and illustrate a book, A Love Affair with the Americas: A Picture Primer of Travel Memories.

Mordecai Marcus reads his poetry
Lincoln
July 18, 1985
Total Running Time - 60 Minutes
Ames Reading #2

Marcus, a Professor of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, received a bachelor's degree at Brooklyn College, a master's degree from New York University, and a doctorate from the University of Kansas. He taught at Rutgers University, the University of Kansas, and Purdue University before coming to Lincoln in 1965. Marcus' poetry has appeared in over 120 journals and he is the author of two published collections of poetry entitled Five Minutes to Noon (1971) and Return from the Desert (1977). In this program, Marcus reads several of his most recent works.

Dwight Marsh reads his poetry
Doniphan/Hastings
April 24, 1986
Total Running Time - 56 Minutes
Ames Reading #9

Marsh is a native of Doniphan, Nebraska, and a graduate of Hastings State College. He moved to Lincoln where he received a master's degree and a doctorate from the University of Nebraska. Marsh returned to Hastings State College as a Professor of English, and is the editor of Plainsongs. His scholarly writings and poetry have been published in many journals and periodicals. In this program, Marsh reads from a series of poems that he calls "Early Impressions."

Matt Mason reads selections from his poetry.
Omaha
January 17, 2008
Total Running Time - 55 minutes
Ames Reading #173

Omaha resident Matt Mason is the author of Things We Don't Know We Don't Know, winner of the 2007 Nebraska Book Award for Poetry. He is coeditor of Slamma Lamma Ding Dong: An Anthology of Nebraska's Slam Poets, winner of the 2006 Nebraska Book Award for Best Anthology.

The poetry of Claire Johnson Mattern as read by Carren Miller
January 20, 1993
Total Running Time - 50 Minutes
Ames Reading #70

Claire Johnson Mattern was a native of Wisconsin and a resident of Lincoln from 1951 until her death in 1985. She received a master's degree and a doctorate from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln during which time she also served as a graduate assistant and visiting professor in the UNL English department. Carren Miller is a graduate of the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, where she studied Communication Arts with a major in Oral Interpretation of Literature.

David McCleery reads his poetry
Lincoln
November 17, 1988
Total Running Time - 36 Minutes
Ames Reading #34

McCleery attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where he studied with the novelist Warren Fine and Nebraska poet Greg Kuzma. A former grocery store manager, McCleery made the choice to pursue writing as a full time career. His poetry has appeared in Forty Nebraska Poets, Kansas Quarterly and Whole Notes. Currently he is working on developing a series of short programs featuring Nebraska poets on KZUM radio as well as working on a novel entitled Ordinary Happiness. In this program he reads from his recent poetry.

David McCleery and Clay Walker present poetry and photography
Lincoln
January 18, 1990
Total Running Time - 36 Minutes
Ames Reading #44

McCleery attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and studied with Nebraska Poet Greg Kuzma and the Novelist Warren Fine. His poems have appeared in numerous periodicals and a chapbook of his poems, Visual Language, was published in 1989 by A Slow Tempo Press. In this program, McCleery reads and discusses his poetry, and speaks of the collaborative effort between his words and the images of Clay Walker.
Walker is a photographer living in Lincoln and a student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His prints have been displayed in the Coffee House, NBC Bank, and various private exhibits throughout Lincoln. His black and white photographs provide striking visual images in the chapbook Visual Language. During this program, Walker will show slides of his work, and discuss his photography.

Nancy McCleery reads her poetry, 1991
Lincoln
January 17, 1991
Total Running Time - 32 Minutes
Ames Reading #53

McCleery recently returned to Nebraska after having lived and worked as an English instructor in Alaska for the past 10 years. She is currently teaching poetry, literature and writing courses at Tarkio College in Missouri. Her poetry has been performed in collaboration with composers, visual artists, and dance choregraphers, and has appeared in such publications as Pebble, Saltillo, and Blue Moon News. Her published books of poetry include Night Muse (1981) and Staying the Winter (1987). In this program, McCleery reads selection from her recent poems.

Nancy McCleery reads her poetry, 1994
Lincoln
March 17, 1994
Total Running Time - 36 Minutes
Ames Reading #80

McCleery is an accomplished Nebraska poet and writer who has lived and worked throughout the United States, teaching both writing and poetry classes in the public schools, colleges and communities. She has been the recipient of several individual artist grants and received the Academy of American Poets Award in 1971. Her published books of poetry include Night Muse (1981), Staying the Winter (1987), and Polar Lights (1994). This is McCleery's second apperance in the Ames Reading Series.

Nancy McCleery reads from her recently published book, Girl Talk
Lincoln
November 14, 2002
Total Running Time - 75 Minutes
Ames Reading #138

Nancy McCleery has had a varied and interesting career in the world of letters. She has been an English instructor in Alaska, a college professor in Missouri, a mentor in the Lincoln Public Schools, a speaker for the Nebraska Humanities Council, and has participated in the Nebraska Arts Council Artist in Residency Program. Her poems have appeared in Alaska Quarterly Review, Harpoon, Light in the Trees, Whole Notes, The Windflower Almanac of Poetry and many other publications. In this program she reads from her recently published book entitled Girl Talk.

Robert McEwen reads his poetry, 1996
Chadron
September 19, 1996
Total Running Time - 60 Minutes
Ames Reading #96

Robert McEwen is the author of the collection of poetry Heartwood & Other Poems, which he reads selections from in this program. McEwen, who teaches English at Chadron State College, has also worked as a tree trimmer since the early 1960's. His love for trees and nature can be seen in his poetry, which has appeared in the Prairie Schooner, South Dakota Review and Kansas Quarterly.

Robert McEwen reads from his works
Chadron, NE
September 16, 2004
Total Running Time - about 60 minutes
Ames Reading #150

Robert McEwen has published his work in various journals and has received honors and awards. During this program, he reads excerpts from his Heartwood and Other Poems as well as a variety of published and unpublished selections.

John McNamara reads from his short stories, 1987
Omaha
June 18, 1987
Total Running Time - 49 Minutes
Ames Reading #20

McNamara is a free-lance writer from Omaha, Nebraska. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism from the University of Nebraska-Omaha, and is the Public Relations Officer for the Nebraska Arts Council. His works have appeared in Omaha Magazine, Old Hickory Review, Cross Currents, Piedmont Literary Review, and the Flatwater Arts Companion. In this program, McNamara reads from his selected short stories.

Constance Merritt reads from A Protocol for Touch and her new poetry
Lincoln
February 15, 2001
Total Running Time - 54 minutes
Ames Reading #126

Constance Merritt is a prize-winning and widely published poet who lives in Lincoln. She was born in Pine Bluffs, Arkansas and educated at the Arkansas School for the Blind in Little Rock. She also holds bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Utah, a MFA from Warren Wilson College, and a Ph.D. in creative writing from the University of Nebraska. She has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize twice. In 1999 Merritt won the Vassar Miller Prize from the University of North Texas Press, which resulted in the publication of her book, A Protocol for Touch. In this program Merritt reads from A Protocol for Touch as well as poems from her new manuscript.

Calvin Miller reads from his work
Omaha
January 21, 1988
Total Running Time - 43 Minutes
Ames Reading #26

Miller is the pastor of Omaha Westside Church in Omaha, Nebraska. He is the author of over 20 books, including works of poetry, fantasy, and popular theology. His first book, The Singer (1975), has sold over 400,000 copies. His latest work is Becoming: Your Self in the Making (1987). In this program, he and his wife, Barbara, read short selections from several of his books and he provides comments on each work.

Karen Mockler reads from her novel, Pride
Omaha/Lincoln
June 16, 1988
Total Running Time - 78 Minutes
Ames Reading #31

Mockler graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1987, and later received her master's degree from the University of Ohio-Miami. Her unpublished novel Pride received the Sinclair Award for Best Unpublished Work at the University of Ohio-Miami in 1988. She is currently a Creative Writing instructor at Creighton University. In this program, Mockler reads from her novel Pride.

Trish Murphy reads her poetry
Lincoln
March 19, 1987
Total Running Time - 45 Minutes
Ames Reading #18

Murphy is a stockbroker for a local brokerage firm in Lincoln who writes poetry and short stories. A native of Texas with degrees from North Texas State University and the University of Washington, Murphy has been a resident of Nebraska since 1979, and has since completed her doctorate at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. A former English instructor at UNL, she has also written the column "Money Talks with Trish" for Lifelines magazine. In this program, she will read selections from a work-in-progress, Paradise Tossed: A Yuppie Creation Myth, in which poems deal with the transformation of the American hippie into the American yuppie.

Fred Murray reads from God Loves Even Cowboys
Firth
April 20, 1995
Total Running Time - 50 Minutes
Ames Reading #88

Murray has been telling humorous and sentimental tales of cowboys and western life through his narratives for over 30 years. Born on a Cattle Ranch in Western Colorado, he is a long time resident of Nebraska. He has drawn upon childhood reminiscences, folktales, and cowboy traditions and his own experience as a cowhand in order to capture for his audience what life was like for cowboys and cowgirls. Many of these stories can be found in his book God Loves Even Cowboys (1994).

Charlene Neely reads her poetry
Lincoln
February 20, 1992
Total Running Time - 30 Minutes
Ames Reading #62

Neely works in advertising production at the Lincoln Journal-Star and she says she "writes for her sanity." A native of Lincoln, she has lived in several small towns in Nebraska and Iowa, which lend a real flavor of the Midwest to her writings. Her works have appeared in such publications as Up Against the Wall, Mother; Plainsong and Muse Magazine. Neely has also published a collection of her poetry entitled Putting Up Preserves (1988). In this program, Neely reads from her current poetry.

Judith Nelson reads from her work
North Platte/Lincoln
December 17, 1987
Total Running Time - 41 Minutes
Ames Reading #25

Nelson received her master's degree in Journalism from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She is currently the Senior Publications Promotion Specialist at the UNL Division of Continuing Studies. Nelson served as the President of the Nebraska Press Women and wrote a column entitled "Poor Judy's Almanac" for the North Platte Telegraph. She is the author of two Regency Romance books, The Merry Chase (1985) and Kidnapped Confusion (1987), from which she reads in this program.

Terry Oberst reads his poetry
Lincoln
February 15, 1990
Total Running Time - 54 Minutes
Ames Reading #45

Oberst studied at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he received his degree in English in 1988. His poems have appeared in P.A.N., Alternatives, and Laurus. His first book of poems, Returning, was a finalist in the 1982 University of Nebraska-Omaha Annex 21 writing contest. Oberst reads several selections of his poetry in this program.

John Phillips Palmer reads his poetry
Firth
December 14, 1989
Total Running Time - 42 Minutes
Ames Reading #43

A native of Lumberville, Pennsylvania, Palmer was educated in the Midwest. He is a graduate of Pershing College in Beatrice Nebraska and of Parsons College in Iowa. Palmer's poetry is self-described as "greatly influenced by folklore, alchemy, and the Qabbalistic tradition." His works have appeared in Ouroboros, Abraxas, and Gnostica; and he is the author of two volumes of poetry: Someone to Smile For (1967), and The Wizzard's Trade and Other Poems (1977). In this program, Palmer reads selections from his ten poem series The Poems of Rabi Ben Erza (1987), which was composed over 15 years.

Christine Pappas reads two of Dorothy Thomas' short stories
October 17, 2002
Total Running Time - 59 Minutes
Ames Reading #137

Christine Pappas has earned four degrees from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, including a Ph.D. in Political Science. Currently, she is a member of the faculty at East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma. She is the author of Fighting Statesman: Nebraska's Senator George Norris. She was a founding editor of Plains Song Review and also edited Dorothy Thomas: The Getaway and Other Stories. In this program Pappas presents a brief sketch of Thomas's life and reads two of her short stories: "The Pigeon Pair" and "The Getaway." The work she did on Dorothy Thomas stems from work she did at the Heritage Room when she was processing the Dorothy Thomas collection.

Carol Miles Petersen discusses Bess Streeter Aldrich
Omaha
February 20, 1997
Total Running Time - 59 Minutes
Ames Reading #99

Carol Miles Petersen taught English at the University of Nebraska-Omaha and is the author of a biography of Bess Streeter Aldrich. Petersen is also the editor of two volumes of Aldrich's short works. In this program, Petersen discusses how and why Aldrich began publishing her stories and her consistent focus on wholesome and family-related topics and themes. Aldrich lived in Elmwood and Lincoln and is the author of many books, including A Lantern in Her Hand (1928).

Ronald Piggee reads his poetry
Lincoln
November 18, 1993
Total Running Time - 43 Minutes
Ames Reading #77

Piggee was born and reared among the steel mills of Northwestern Indiana. Drafted shortly after leaving college, he served as a small unit commander in Vietnam at the height of the conflict in 1968-69 and settled in Nebraska in 1972 after leaving the military. He has studied poetry under Nebraska Poet Greg Kuzma, and has recently published his first book of poems, As Autumn Approaches: A Season of Life in Poetry (1993). In this program, Piggee reads from his current poetry.

Amil Quayle reads from his poetry
Lincoln/Sargent
September 16, 1993
Total Running Time - 56 Minutes
Ames Reading #75

Quayle, a native of Idaho, received a doctoral degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. An accomplished poet and fiction writer, Quayle has been the recipient of the Vreeland Award, The Mari Sandoz Award, and the American Poets Award. He has taught writing classes at UNL and Idaho State University and is currently professor of English at Utah State University in Logan. Quayle is the author of the recently published work, Pebble Creek (1993), published by A Slow Tempo Press. In this program, Quayle reads from his recent poems.

Ladette Randolph reads from This is not the Tropics
Lincoln and Martell, NE
April 20, 2006
Total Running Time - 55 minutes
Ames Reading #162

Ladette Randolph, associate director of the University of Nebraska Press, has deep rural Nebraska roots. She lived in several small Nebraska towns before completing her undergraduate and graduate degrees and entering the world of professional publishing. She is a successful editor and author. Her work has appeared in Prairie Schooner, Fourth Genre, and Connecticut Review. Randolph has written a collection of short stories entitled This is not the Tropics and has recently edited A Different Plain: Contemporary Nebraska Fiction Writers. For this program she reads a short story entitled "The Girls" from This is Not the Tropics.

Ladette Randolph, Lisa Knopp, John Price, Joe Starita and The Big Empty: Contemporary Nebraska Nonfiction Writers
Lincoln
April 19, 2007
Total Running Time - 90 minutes
Ames Reading #169

Ladette Randolph, associate director and editor-in-chief of the University of Nebraska Press, recently edited The Big Empty: Contemporary Nebraska Nonfiction Writers. Several contributors joined Randolph for this Ames Reading: Lisa Knopp, an essayist who uses nature themes to delve into philosophy, history, and personal remembrances; John Price, a professor of English at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, who has written a memoir entitled Not Just Any Land: A Personal and Literary Journey into the American Grasslands; Joe Starita, a former investigative reporter for the Miami Herald and author of The Dull Knifes of Pine Ridge - which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. In this program Knopp reads portions of her essay, "Far Brought," Price reads his work, "Nuts," and Starita reads from his manuscript about Chief Standing Bear, his historic trial and its impact on our nation's culture and society.

Hilda Raz reads from her poetry, 1998
Lincoln
September 18, 1997
Total Running Time - 57 Minutes
Ames Reading #102

Hilda Raz has been the editor-in-chief of the Prairie Schooner since 1987. She is a professor of English at the University of Nebraska and the recipient of numerous awards and honors. Her poetry, collected in The Bone Dish (1989) and What is Good (1988), is described as intensely personal, intelligent, and filled with compelling images. Raz will read from her new collection of poetry Divine Honors (1997), which explores her personal experience with breast cancer.

Hilda Raz reads from several of her works, including Trans
February 20, 2003
Total Running Time - 55 Minutes
Ames Reading #140

Hilda Raz is a full-time professor of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, editor-in-chief of Prairie Schooner, and an honored and accomplished poet. She has won the Outstanding Research and Creative Activity Award from UNL, which recognizes work of national and international significance. Her poetry has appeared in a multitude of publications. Her most recent work includes Divine Honors (poems influenced by her experience with breast cancer), Living on the Margins: Women Writers on Breast Cancer, and Trans, influenced by her experience as the mother of a trans-gendered son. In this program, Raz reads from several of her works, including Trans.

James Reed reads from his short story "Mr. Tesla's Thunder"
Omaha
January 19, 1995
Total Running Time - 58 Minutes
Ames Reading #85

Reed, a long time resident of Omaha, writes primarily short stories and is currently the Fiction Editor for Nebraska Review. His stories have appeared in Apalachee Quarterly, The Tennessee Quarterly, The William and Mary Review, The Nebraska Review and Smackwarm. In this program, Reed reads from his unpublished short story about Nikola Tesla, the inventor of the induction engine and experimentor with high voltage and high frequency currents. This fictionalized tale is an account of what life was like in a quiet Colorado town when the real-life Tesla came and "set the mountains on fire."

Robert Reed reads from his short story, "Pipes"
Lincoln
March 18, 1993
Total Running Time - 37 Minutes
Ames Reading #72

Reed, a native of Omaha, graduated with a degree in Biology from Nebraska Wesleyan University and currently lives in Lincoln. He is a science fiction writer who has published both short stories and novels. Reed was nominated for the 1991 Hugo Award and was the first annual winner of the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future contest for his short story, "Mudpuppies." His works include The Leeshore (1987), Hormone Jungle (1987), and Black Milk (1989). In this program, Reed reads a Nebraska-based story entitled "Pipes," which was first published in Fantasy Science Fiction and has subsequently won awards.

Robert Reed reads from his short fiction stories
Lincoln
November 18, 1999
Total Running Time - 40 minutes
Ames Reading #117

Robert Reed, a native of Omaha and a resident of Lincoln, graduated from Nebraska Wesleyan University in 1978 with a BS in Biology. He received the L. Ron Hubbard Gold Award in 1986 for the short story "Mudpuppies." He has received four Hugo Award nominations, the most recent for The Dragons of Springplace, a collection of short stories, and a Nebula Award nomination for best new Science Fiction writer in 1987. His novels include Black Milk (1989), Beyond the Veil of Stars (1994), and Beneath the Gated Sky (1997). In this program, Reed reads from his short stories.

Robert Reed reads several of his stories
Lincoln
February 16, 2006
Total Running Time - 56 minutes
Ames Reading #160

Robert Reed continues his successful career as a writer of science fiction. In this program, he reads one story, "The New Deity," which was inspired by local Lincoln events. He also reads some of a second story entitled "Good Mountain," published as part the Science Fiction Book Club.

Jim Reese reads from his poetry and fiction.
Lincoln
February 17, 2000
Total Running Time - 47 minutes
Ames Reading #119

Jim Reese is originally from Omaha, received his education at Wayne State College, and now lives in Lincoln where he is an editor for Logan House Press. Reese writes both fiction and poetry and has seen his work published in Nebraska Territory, Judas Goat Literary Magazine, Plains Song Review and elsewhere. Cacthouse Publishing published his book Worthless as Tits on a Boar (1995). In this program, Reese reads from his poetry and fiction, including his work in progress, The Jive.

Frances Grace Reinehr reads from and discusses Bloody Mary: Gentle Woman.
Lincoln
October 18, 1990
Total Running Time - 37 Minutes
Ames Reading #50

Reinehr, an elementary school teacher with the Lincoln Public Schools, was the recipient of the Nebraska Cooper Award for Excellence in Education, and has twice been elected president of the Nebraska Council of English Teachers. Her book, Bloody Mary, Gentle Woman (1989), was inspired by and co-researched by her 5th and 6th grade storytelling and composition students at Lincoln's Elliot School (1985). Reinehr reads from this work, and discusses some of the events behind the Lincoln legend of Mary Ann Partington, also known as "Bloody Mary."

Georgia Robertson reads from her work
Lincoln
March 10, 1988
Total Running Time - 43 Minutes
Ames Reading #28

Robertson is a student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She received the Vreeland Award for Creative Writing in 1985, and the American Academy of Poets University Award in 1987. Her writing has appeared in Plainsongs as well as other literary journals. For the past seven years, Robertson has been an administrator for the Southeast Library System of Nebraska. In this program, Roberston reads a selection of her poetry.

Ella Robinson reads her poetry
Lincoln
February 16, 1989
Total Running Time - 52 Minutes
Ames Reading #37

Robinson received a bachelor's degree from Alabama State University and both a master's degree and a doctorate from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She is an Assistant Professor of English at UNL, specializing in Afro-American Literature. Her poetry is greatly influenced by poet T.S. Eliot and has been included in many anthologies and journals such as Best New Poets and WholeNotes. Robinson is a member of the Lincoln Chapparal Poets, and in this program she reads a selection of her poems.

Otto Rosfeld reads his poetry
Valentine
September 15, 1994
Total Running Time - 60 Minutes
Ames Reading #82

A Sandhills cowboy poet, storyteller, folklorist, and songwriter, Rosfeld has taught music for thirty years. In 1978, he was named Outstanding Teacher at Valentine Public Schools, and in 1983 and 1984, he was named Entertainer of the Year at the Country Music Festival held in Ainsworth, Nebraska. Rosfeld is the President of Old West Days, Inc. which sponsors the Nebraska Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Valentine, Nebraska each year. His published works include Sandhill Song (1985) and Rusty Bits and Pieces (1993). In this program, Rosfeld performs his Sanhills-influenced songs and poems, including the song "Rusty Bits and Pieces."

Susan Rosowski reads from her book, Birthing a Nation
Lincoln
November 16, 2000
Total Running Time - 63 minutes
Ames Reading #124

Susan Rosowski is the Adele Hall Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Nebraska and is one of the world's leading scholars on the works of Willa Cather. Rosowski is the author of The Voyage Perilous (1986), a major book on Cather, as well as being the general editor of the Cather Scholarly Edition Project. In this program Rosowski reads from her book Birthing a Nation: Gender, Creativity, and the West in American Literature (1999), which won the Western Literature Association's prestigious Thomas J. Lyon Book Award.

CarolAnn Russell reads her poetry
Lincoln
February 13, 1986
Total Running Time - 40 Minutes
Ames Reading #7

Russell, a native of North Dakota, grew up in Minnesota and Montana. She completed her undergraduate studies at St. Cloud University, and received a master's degree from the University of Montana. She later studied with Richard Hugo at the University of Montana Writers' Workshop earning a Master of Fine Arts degree. In 1985 she moved to Lincoln and is currently a doctoral student at the Uni-versity of Nebraska. In this program, Russell reads selections from her poetry collection entitled, Red Envelope (1985), as well as from her work-in-progress tentatively titled, The Kindred Fireworks.

Cheryl St. John reads from her romance fiction.
Omaha
February 16, 1995
Total Running Time - 53 Minutes
Ames Reading #86

St. John is an Omaha native who writes romance novels for Harlequin Historicals which intermingle romance with the Wild West and Frontier Nebraska. In 1993, her novel, Rain Shadow (1994), was nominated for Romantic Times' Reviewer's Choice Award for Best Western Historical of the Year. She has written two other Harlequin Historicals, Heaven Can Wait (1994) and Land Of Dreams (1995). St. John is the President of Romance Authors of the Heartland, and a member of the Nebraska Writers' Guild. In this program, St. John reads from the first chapters of her books and describes her experience of writing romances for Harlequin.

Marge Saiser reads her poetry
Lincoln
December 17, 1992 Total Running Time - 42 Minutes
Ames Reading #69

Saiser was born in El Paso, Texas, and grew up in Boyd County, Nebraska. She was educated at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where she earned a master's degree with an emphasis in Creative Writing. Saiser was the recipient of the Outstanding Educator Award, 1992; the Vreeland Award, UNL, 1980; and was a member of the Academy of American Poets. She has contributed to various literary magazines and is published in a collection of poems entitled Adjoining Rooms (1985). Saiser is a teacher with the Lincoln Public Schools and in this program she reads several of her current poems.

Marge Saiser reads her poetry from the PlainSense of Things 2, 4/15/99
Lincoln
April 15, 1999
Total Running Time - 56 minutes
Ames Program # 114

In this program, four of the poets collected in PlainSense of Things 2: Eight Poets from Lincoln, Nebraska (1997), edited by Mark Sanders, read from their works. Twyla Hansen, hortaculturalist at Nebraska Wesleyan University, is the author of How the Live in the Heartland (1992) and In Our Very Bones (1997). Ted Kooser has authored many collections of poetry, including Weather Central (1994). Marge Saiser has published poems in various journals and is author of the forthcoming Bones of a Very Fine Hand (1999). Roy Scheele's most recent publication is Keeping the Horses (1998), a narrative poem.

Marjorie Saiser reads from Bones of a Very Fine Hand.
Lincoln
October 21, 1999
Total Running Time - 45 minutes
Ames Reading #116

Marjorie Saiser's poetry has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including Prairie Schooner and Leaning into the Wind: Women Write from the Heart of the West (1997). Saiser received degrees in English and creative writing from the University of Nebraska and has taught elementary school in Lincoln. Bones of a Very Fine Hand (1999), from which she reads in this program, is her first book length publication.

Marjorie Saiser reads selections from several of her works
Lincoln
September 18, 2003
Total Running Time - 59 Minutes
Ames Reading #143

Marjorie Saiser is an award-winning Nebraska poet. Her poems have been published in a variety of distinguished journals and she has made significant contributions to several anthologies, including Times of Sorrow Times of Grace. Her latest publication is Road Trip: Conversations with Writers. She has been a presenter in previous Ames Series readings. Her work is often laced with humor. In this program she reads selections from several of her works.

Mark Sanders reads his poetry
Creighton/Ord
November 19, 1987
Total Running Time - 38 Minutes
Ames Reading #24

Sanders was born in Creighton and grew up in Ord, Nebraska. He received both a bachelor's and master's degrees at Kearney State College and is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His poems have appeared in Prairie Schooner, Kansas Quarterly, North Dakota Quarterly, Antigonist Review and Tar River Poetry. He is the author of two chapbooks, First Hunt (1979) and Gone Fishing (1981). Publisher of the Sandhills Press, Sanders has published many poetry anthologies and has collaborated with Nebraska poets William Kloefkorn, Ted Kooser, and Greg Kuzma. In this program, Sanders reads a selection of his current poems.

Timothy Schaffert reads from The Phantom Limbs of the Rollow Sisters
Omaha
March 20, 2003
Total Running Time - 29 Minutes
Ames Reading #141

Timothy Schaffert, who grew up on a farm near Aurora, NE, relies on his rural background to describe many scenes in his published work. His first novel, The Phantom Limbs of the Rollow Sisters, is set in rural Nebraska and received critical acclaim in a New York Times Book Review. His short stories have appeared in Prairie Schooner, The Greensboro Review, Natural Bridge, and other literary journals. Schaffert is the recipient of the Henfield/Transatlantic Review Award, the Mary Roberts Rinehart Award and two awards from the Nebraska Arts Council. In this program he reads from The Phantom Limbs of the Rollow Sisters.

Roy Scheele reads his poetry, 1991
Lincoln
November 21, 1991
Total Running Time - 57 Minutes
Ames Reading #60

Scheele is a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and holds a bachelor's degree in Classical Greek and a master's degree in English. He has taught both Classics and English at Creighton University, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and the University of Tennessee at Martin. He currently teaches at Doane College in Crete where he is also Poet in Residence. Scheele has published extensively including the poetry volumes Grams and Epigrams (1973), Pointing Out the Sky (1985), and The Voice We Call Human (1991). In this program Scheele reads a selection of his recent poems.

Roy Scheele reads his poetry, 1998
October 15, 1998
Total Running Time - 57 Minutes
Ames Reading #110

Native Lincolnite Roy Scheele is poet-in-residence and Professor of English at Doane College in Crete. His recent chapbooks include The Voice We Call Human (1991), To See How It Tallies (1995) and Short Suite (1997). In this program, Scheele reads from his narrative poem Keeping the Horses (1998) which was published by Windflower Press with original illustrations by Richard Farley. The poem is a wisful contemplation of responsibility in the context of a man's relationship with his young son.

Roy Scheele reads his poetry from the PlainSense of Things 2, 4/15/99
Lincoln
April 15, 1999
Total Running Time - 56 minutes
Ames Program # 114

In this program, four of the poets collected in PlainSense of Things 2: Eight Poets from Lincoln, Nebraska (1997), edited by Mark Sanders, read from their works. Twyla Hansen, hortaculturalist at Nebraska Wesleyan University, is the author of How the Live in the Heartland (1992) and In Our Very Bones (1997). Ted Kooser has authored many collections of poetry, including Weather Central (1994). Marge Saiser has published poems in various journals and is author of the forthcoming Bones of a Very Fine Hand (1999). Roy Scheele's most recent publication is Keeping the Horses (1998), a narrative poem.

Roy Scheele reads from several of his works
February 21, 2002
Total Running Time - 70 Minutes
Ames Reading #133

Roy Scheele is a professor of English and poet-in-residence at Doane College in Crete, NE. A native Nebraskan, his poems have appeared in such prestigious literary journals as Prairie Schooner, The North American Review, Poetry Northwest, and The Sewanee Review. His poem "Up River" won a John G. Neihardt nationwide poetry competition. In this program, Scheele reads two of his most recent poems, selected sonnets from his collection From the Ground Up, and closes with several pieces of his children's poetry.

Robert Schenck reads from his work
Omaha
September 19, 1991
Total Running Time - 36 Minutes
Ames Reading #58

Schenck is a native of Red Oak, Iowa. He has taught at Upper Iowa College and has been at Metro Community College in Omaha since 1980, where he teaches English. Schenck has published a collection of poems entitled Pyschograms (1988) and is at work on an unpublished novel titled, The Archeobiopsy de Mark Twang, from which he reads selections in this program.

Barbara Schmitz reads her poetry, 1986
Omaha/Norfolk
February 19, 1987
Total Running Time - 60 Minutes
Ames Reading #17

Schmitz was born and raised in Plattsmouth, Nebraska. She received a bachelor's degree from Wayne State College and a master's degree from the University of Nebraska-Omaha. She also studied at the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado, with the eminent Beat poet Allen Ginsberg. Her poetry has appeared in several periodicals including, Poetry Now, Nebraska Review, Wind, and the anthology All My Grandmothers Could Sing (1984). Schmitz has published two poetry chapbooks, Moonstone (1982) and Making Tracks (1985) and is currently Co-Editor of Elkhorn Review. In this program Schmitz reads a selection of her published poetry.

Barbara Schmitz reads her poetry, 1998
Norfolk
November 19, 1998
Total Running Time - 57 Minutes
Ames Reading #111

Barbara Schmitz, a native of Omaha and graduate of Wayne State College, is an English and creative writing instructor at Northeast Community College in Norfolk. She is a former editor of Elkhorn Review, and she has had poems published in many journals. Schmitz is the author of Moonstone (1982) and Making Tracks (1985) and her work is included in The Plain Sense of Things (1997). In this program, Schmitz pays tribute to Allen Ginsberg and reads from her newest chapbook Lives of the Saints (1996).

Lela Knox Shanks discusses her book Your Name is Hughes Hannibal Shanks: A Caregiver's Guide to Alzheimer's
Lincoln
April 17, 1997
Total Running Time - 59 Minutes
Ames Reading #101

In this program, Lela Knox Shanks discusses her book Your Name is Hughes Hannibal Shanks: A Caregiver's Guide to Alzheimer's. This book is a personal narrative of Shanks' experience in learning to care for her husband who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 1986. She explains a few of her keys to successful care giving and also reads excerpts from some of Hughes' own personal writing. Shanks holds a journalism degree from Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri and frequently lectures on the Civil Rights Movement.

Peg Sheldrick reads from her plays
Lincoln
December 18, 1986
Total Running Time - 30 Minutes
Ames Reading #15

Sheldrick is a playwright and free-lance writer who lives and works in Lincoln. Her play, Something Blue, was performed at the Nebraska Director's Theatre in June, 1985, and was also produced by The New Playwrights Theatre in Washington D.C. in 1986. She is the author of several plays including Loose End (1983) and The Second Quarterly Unemployment Calendar (1983). In this program Sheldrick reads selections from several of her plays.

Rajean Luebs Shepherd reads C is for Cornhusker - A Nebraska Alphabet
North Platte
February 15, 2007
Total Running Time - 65 minutes
Ames Reading #167

Rajean Shepherd grew up in Michigan and now resides in North Platte, NE. She is a professional educator and is particularly interested in children's literature. Her background includes 10 years of performing with Up With People, an international educational, musical organization. In this program, Shepherd reads her first children's book, C is for Cornhusker - A Nebraska Alphabet, which is part of the Discover America State by State series.

Rajean Luebs Shepherd reads from her children's book Husker Numbers
North Platte
February 21, 2008
Total Running Time - 61 minutes
Ames Reading #174

Rajean Shepherd, who lives in North Platte, is the author of Husker Numbers: A Nebraska Number Book, a companion volume to her popular alphabet book for all ages, C is for Cornhusker: A Nebraska Alphabet.

Karen Shoemaker reads from her fiction.
Lincoln
April 20, 2000
Total Running Time - 40 minutes
Ames Reading #121

Karen Shoemaker is a poet and fiction writer who received her Ph.D. in creative writing from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She has taught creative writing and led workshops for all ages. Her work has been published in South Dakota Review, Heartlands Today, Laurus and elsewhere. Shoemaker is the recipient of the Vreeland Award, two Mari Sandoz Prairie Schooner Prizes and a Nebraska Press Association Award for Best Feature Article for her nonfiction. In this program, she reads from her fiction, a story that is forthcoming in Prairie Schooner.

Karen Shoemaker reads a short story
Lincoln
January 20, 2005
Total Running Time - 50 minutes
Ames Reading #153

Karen Shoemaker, a native of O'Neill, NE, is an author who specializes in fiction but also works in poetry and non-fiction articles and essays. Her work has been published in Prairie Schooner, The Nebraska Review, Laurus, Heartlands Today and other literary journals. Shoemaker has won several awards and honors for her writing, including the Vreeland Award for Fiction Writing, a Nebraska Press Association Award for Feature Writing, and two Mari Sandoz Prairie Schooner Prizes. Her 2002 book, Night Sounds and Other Stories, won the Nebraska Center for the Book Award for Short Fiction. In this program, she reads a new short story entitled "Cain's Sister."

Judith Slater reads from her short stories
Lincoln
October 19, 2000
Total Running Time - 48 minutes
Ames Reading #123

In this program Judith Slater reads from her prize-winning collection of short stories, The Baby Can Sing and Other Stories (1999), which was published by Saraband Books. Slater is currently a professor of English at the University of Nebraska and she holds degrees from the University of Oregon, San Francisco State, and the University of Massachusetts. Her writing has appeared in many literary reviews, such as Greensboro Review and Beloit Fiction Journal.

James Solheim reads poetry and excerpts from his children's books
Omaha
November 17, 2005
Total Running Time - 62 minutes
Ames Reading #158

James Solheim's work has appeared in many literary magazines; he is a writer who is especially interested in the long poem. Solheim is also the author of several children's books with long titles, It's Disgusting - and We Ate It! True Food Facts from Around the World and Throughout History! and Santa's Secrets Revealed: All Your Questions Answered about Santa's Super Sleigh, His Flying Reindeer, and Other Wonders. He talks about and reads extensively from Santa's Secrets Revealed in this program.

Marcia Southwick reads her poetry, 1986
Lincoln
October 16, 1986
Total Running Time - 45 Minutes
Ames Reading #13

Southwick was born and educated in Boston, Massachusetts. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Emerson College and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa. She is currently an English professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her poems hav

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