Kansas poet to read his works at PSU
Friday, October 14, 2016 2:00 AM
News
Pittsburg, KS
The most recent author in Pittsburg State University’s Distinguished Visiting Writers Series may seem more like an old friend and colleague than a visitor.
Poet Stephen Meats, chairperson emeritus and professor emeritus of English at PSU, read from his work on Thursday, Oct. 20, in the Governors Room of the Overman Student Center. The free public event is sponsored by The Midwest Quarterly, the Distinguished Visiting Writers Series and the Student Fee Council.
In conjunction with Meat’s presentation as part of the writers series, The Midwest Quarterly has announced that it is establishing the Stephen Meats Poetry Prize, which will award $500 to the author of the best poem published in the four issues (October, January, April, July) that make up each volume of Quarterly.
The competition will begin with the October 2016 issue, and the first winner will be announced in October 2017.
Meats joined the PSU English Department in 1979. He taught courses in both American Literature and creative writing, retiring from the department in 2014. He served as the poetry editor of The Midwest Quarterly from 1985 until 2016.
Meats is the author of two books, “Looking For the Pale Eagle” and “Dark Dove Descending.” His most recent book, “Dark Dove Descending,” a collection of poems and stories, creates new myths for the central plains region.
Meats’ poems have appeared in UT Review, Kansas Quarterly, Little Balkans Review, Albatross, The Quarterly, Laurel Review, Widener Review, Blue Unicorn, Flint Hills Review, Dos Passos Review, Prairie Poetry, and other journals, and in the anthologies “A White Voice Rides a Horse” (1979), “An Anthology of American Verse & Yearbook of American Poetry” (1985, 1986), “Begin Again: 150 Kansas Poems” (2011), and “To the Stars Through Difficulties: A Kansas Renga” (2012).
He has also published several works of short fiction as well as numerous scholarly articles, editions, and reviews, including nearly two dozen articles for the online reference work, “The Literary Encyclopedia,” on the lives and works of Faulkner, Whitman, and other American writers.
A native Kansan, Meats was born in LeRoy and grew up in Concordia. He attended Kansas State University for three years before transferring to the University of South Carolina where he earned bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in English and American literature. He now lives with his wife, Ann, in Florida.
For those who can't attend this ceremony will be Livestreamed beginning at 3:45pm CST. If you'd like to view the livestream simply visit pittstate.tv at the specified time.
Afterwards the full program will be uploaded to our YouTube channel.
