Future Ames Readings Available On Demand

Bill Luxford, operations manager for 5 City TV,5 City TV, has informed us that new Ames Readings will be available via Video on Demand, as of this fall.

Poet James Cihlar will present Ames Reading on Sunday, April 17th

Poet and writer James Cihlar is the author of the chapbook Metaphysical Bailout (Pudding House Press, 2010) and the poetry book, Undoing (Little Pear Press, 2008). Cihlar's poems have also appeared in Prairie Schooner, Bloom, Minnesota Monthly, Northeast, The James White Review, Water-Stone Review, Mankato Poetry Review, Plain Songs, and many other magazines and reviews. His work has been included in the anthologies Aunties (Ballentine, 2004), Regrets Only (Little Pear Press, 2006), and Nebraska Presence (Backwaters Press, 2007). Cihlar is also the former editor of Nebraska Humanities. He is the recipient of a Glenna Luschei Award from Prairie Schooner and a Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship for Poetry. He lives in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The program begins at 2:00 PM Sunday, April 17th in the Heritage Room on the 3rd floor of Bennett Martin Public Library in downtown Lincoln. Please join us. We look forward to an interesting reading.

The John H. Ames Reading Series Presents John Janovy, Jr. at Sunday, February 20th Reading

John Janovy Jr. has lived in Nebraska since 1966. He holds the Paula and D.B. Varner Distinguished Professorship in Biological Sciences at UNL. He has been Director of UNL's Cedar Point Biological Station, Interim Director of the Nebraska State Museum and secretary-treasurer of the American Society of Parasitologists. He is a distinguished scientist, with a research interest in parasitology, and the author of over 90 scientific papers and book chapters.

In addition to his scientific career, Janovy has also pursued a literary career writing natural history and social and cultural commentary informed by the practice of the scientist. Janovy's 1978 Keith County Journal put him in the front rank of America's natural history writers, with reviewers comparing his work to writing by Loren Eiseley and by the pioneer ecologist Aldo Leopold.
Janovy's publications span a wide range of topics, and include, besides natural history titles, Fields of Friendly Strife: The Relationship of a Father, Daughter, and Sport, and Conversations between God and Satan: Held during October, 2004 at the Crescent Moon Coffee House in Lincoln, Nebraska, USA, Earth, Milky Way, a work of science fiction.

Janovy's literary career spans enormous changes in publishing. Janovy endured rejections by 22 publishers before St. Martin's took Keith County Journal, and a newspaper reviewer noted that a later book garnered 42 rejection slips before reaching a more perceptive editor. A local publisher who knew the writer and wanted him to write freely on Nebraska related themes solicited the manuscript for Janovy's 2009 Pieces of the Plains: Memories and Predictions from the Heart of America. Janovy has used CreateSpace.com and Amazon's Kindle to self-publish his novel, The Ginkgo, in both paper and electronic formats. Janovy is a writer who is interested in his audience, especially young people, and is willing to take chances and say what he wants.

Heritage Room collections, by the way, include Janovy's artwork as well as his books.

The program begins at 2:00 PM Sunday, February 20th in the Heritage Room on the 3rd floor of Bennett Martin Public Library in downtown Lincoln. Please join us. We look forward to a fascinating program.

2011 Nebraska Poet's Calendar will be introduced by Sarah Fairchild at Sunday, January 16th Ames Reading

Sarah Fairchild grew up in Norfolk, Nebraska, and studied English at Doane College and the University of Nebraska. Her Poetry has appeared in many publications, including Plainsongs. Sarah runs Black Star Press, which is once again publishing a Nebraska Poet's Calendar. At our Sunday, January 16th Ames Reading, Sarah and her friends, poets John Johnson, Mary K. Stillwell and Rex Walton will present an exiting program of poetry to celebrate the publication of the Calendar.

The original artwork used in the 2011 Nebraska Poets Calendar is being shown in displays at the entrance to Bennett Martin Public Library and on the library's second floor. Artists Connie Backus-Yoder, Sally Cox, Su Harvey, Sue Kouma Johnson, Tom Meyers, Max Miller, Marilyn Reynolds, Gene Roncka, Donna Schimonitz, Melissa L. R. Sinner, and Richard Terrell contributed to the Calendar and the displays.

The program begins at 2:00 PM Sunday, January 16, 2011 in the Heritage Room on the 3rd floor of Bennett Martin Public Library in downtown Lincoln. Come see the displays and join us for a stimulating reading and discussion.

Joseph Wydeven will explore the work of Wright Morris at our Ames Reading on Sunday, November 21

Joseph Wydeven, Professor emeritus of English and Humanities and former dean of Arts and Sciences at Bellevue University, has had an enduring interest in writer and photographer Wright Morris. Wydeven began to read Morris and study his photographs in the early 1970s. He wrote his Purdue University dissertation on Morris, and has since published numerous articles and book chapters on Morris, as well as the 1998 biography Wright Morris Revisted. He first met Morris and his wife Jo in California in 1979 and had at least six visits there with Morris before the writer's death in 1998. He presented a special program on Morris in the Heritage Room in 1985.

Wydeven has sought to give us a deeper appreciation of Morris, who is surely one of the most independent, original, and complex writers to come from our state. Morris was the most productive writer of his generation. He was one of the few who can claim the invention, in the photo-text, of a new literary form. Morris won great critical acclaim, but far less popular success. His works chronicled disquieting aspects of the American experience, and a post-Depression world in which anchors of history and place, seemingly renewed in the 1930s, were once again drifting away. Since Morris' book, The Home Place, has been the 2010 One Book One Nebraska selection, it seemed appropriate to invite Joe Wydeven back to talk about one of his favorite topics.

The program begins at 2:00 PM Sunday, November 21st in the Heritage Room on the 3rd floor of Bennett Martin Public Library in downtown Lincoln. Please join us.

Glenna Luschei to present October 17th Ames Reading

Glenna Luschei is a poet, publisher, editor, translator and (!) successful avocado rancher. Glenna grew up in Beaver City and Lincoln, Nebraska, and now lives in California. She studied at the Iowa Writers' Workshop, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and the University of California at Santa Barbara. A well-published poet, see her book list here, she also founded the "ground-breaking" (Hilda Raz) poetry magazines Café Solo and Solo. In an appreciation of Glenna, Nebraska poet Ted Kooser recalls that his real success as a poet began with the publication of A Local Habitation & A Name by Solo Press in 1974. Glenna Luschei has been recognized as a pioneer in the small press movement, and in its effort to bring vital new work to the attention of readers. She has served as the Poet Laureate of San Luis Obispo, as a national panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, and as a member of the San Luis Obispo County Commission on the Status of Women, among other positions. She has pursued and interwoven an amazingly wide array of creative, critical, and social commitment and influence.

The program begins at 2:00 PM Sunday, October 17th in the Heritage Room on the 3rd floor of Bennett Martin Public Library in downtown Lincoln. Please join us to hear Glenna Luschei read.

Rick Cypert presents September 19th Ames Reading

Rick Cypert was our 191st Ames Reader on September 19th. He presented a lively program about Nebraska mystery writer Mignon Eberhart and answered audience questions afterward. Cypert hails from Throckmorton, Texas and teaches at Nebraska Wesleyan (since 1987). He is interested in mystery and and suspense writers. His interest in Eberhart led him to write her biography, America's Agatha Christie: Mignon Good Eberhart, Her Life and Works, (2005) and put together a new collection of her short stories, Dead Yesterday and Other Stories by Mignon G. Eberhart, edited by Rick Cypert and Kirby McCauley (2007).

Cypert's most recent book is The Virtue of Suspense: The Life and Works of Charlotte Armstrong, (2008).

Sunday April 18th Ames Reader will be Hilda Raz

Hilda Raz is a native of Rochester, New York. She has lived in Nebraska since 1963. She has been editor of Prairie Schooner since 1987. In 1993 she was named the first Luschei Professor and Editor in the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She teaches English and womens' and gender studies. She has published poems, essays, articles and reviews. Her recent books include: What Happens (2009), All Odd and Splendid (2008), and, with Aaron Raz Link, What Becomes You.

The program begins as 2:00 P.M. Sunday April 18th, in the Heritage Room on the third floor of Bennett Martin Public Library in downtown Lincoln. All Ames Readings are taped for later broadcast on 5 City TV, Time Warner Cable Channel 5. Please join us.

Sunday, March 21 Ames Reading with Dominique Garay and Oscar Rios

Dominique Garay was born and raised in Lincoln. He is interested in writing and performing poetry, especially slam poetry, and in writing plays. Oscar, originally from Mexico, performs music with traditional South American instruments. Working together, Dominique and Oscar will bring us an exciting performance that combines poetry and music.

We welcome the dynamic duo as our Ames Readers, Sunday, March 21 at 2:00 P.M. in the Jane Pope Geske Heritage Room on the third floor of Bennett Martin Public Library in downtown Lincoln.

Sunday, January 17th Ames Reading with Michael Forsberg

Nebraska native Michael Forsberg is a professional photographer whose work has appeared in National Wildlife, National Geographic, Audubon, and Natural History and in National Geographic and Smithsonian books. He is a charter member of the North American Nature Photographers Association and Fellow, International League of Conservation Photographers. His 2004 book, On Ancient Wings: The Sandhill Cranes of North America has been called “the finest body of work on Sandhill cranes ever published.” His 2009 Great Plains: America’s Lingering Wild, with additional text contributions from Ted Kooser, Dan O’Brien, and David Wishart is receiving rave reviews in the national press.

We welcome Michael Forsberg as our January, 2010 Ames Reader on Sunday, January 17 at 2:00 PM in the Heritage Room on the third floor of Bennett Martin Public Library.

Sunday, November 15th Ames Reading with Jeff Barnes

The Heritage Room welcomes Jeff Barnes as its November Ames Reader. Barnes has recently published his first book, Forts of the Northern Plains. In preparing this guide to the historic military posts of the Plains Indian wars, Barnes traveled some 13,000 miles to visit 51 historic sites making photographs, doing research and interviewing informants about the forts and their history. A freelance writer and fifth-generation Nebraskan Barnes has worked as a newspaper reporter and editor. He is the past chairman of the Nebraska Hall of Fame Commission and former marketing director of the Durham Western Heritage Museum. We look forward to hearing about his adventures. The Reading will take place Sunday, November 15th at 2:00 PM in the Jane Pope Geske Heritage Room of Nebraska Authors on the third floor of Bennett Martin Public Library in downtown Lincoln.

Sunday, October 18th Ames Reading by Amil Quayle

Amil Quayle was born and raised near Henry's Fork on the Snake River in Idaho. He earned a degree in sociology from the University of Utah, ranched in Nebraska for seven years, and then got his M.A. and Ph.D. in English from the University of Nebraska. He is a poet with a deep appreciation for the land and the natural world gained from years of working on the farm and ranching. Grand Canyon and Other Selected Poems is his latest work. We welcome him as our October Ames Reader on Sunday, October 18 at 2:00 P.M. in the Heritage Room on the third floor of Bennett Martin Public Library

Sunday, September 20th Ames Reading by Amelia Maria de la Luz Montes

The Heritage Room welcomes Amelia Montes to begin our 25th year of Ames Readings. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Montes has been a professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for a decade. She writes fiction, critical literary theory, non-fiction and criticism. Most recently, she introduced and edited a critical edition of Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton's 1872 novel, Who Would Have Thought It? Burton was the first Mexican-American woman to write novels in English.

The program will begin at 2:00 P.M., Sunday, September 20th.

Sunday, May 17th Ames Reading by Harley Jane Kozak

Former Lincoln resident Harley Jane Kozak is an actress whose film credits include Parenthood, The Favor, and Arachnophobia. She is also the author of a popular comic/mystery series featuring greeting card artist and amateur detective Wollie Shelley. Kozak's book titles include Dating Dead Men, Dating is Murder, Dead Ex, and most recently, A Date You Can't Refuse (2009). She will present the Ames Reading at 2:00 PM on Sunday, May 17th.

Joe Starita will present the Ames Reading on Sunday April 19, 2009

Joe Starita was born in Lincoln and studied English and Journalism at the University of Nebraska. He went on to become an investigative reporter for the Miami Herald and the Herald's New York City Bureau Chief. He is also a former City Editor of the Lincoln Journal Star. He has been a Pulitzer Prize finalist for his reporting at the Miami Herald, and his earlier book, The Dull Knifes of Pine Ridge (1995) won him critical acclaim, local and regional awards, and another Pulitzer Prize nomination. His new book, I am a Man: Chief Standing Bear's Journey for Justice published just this year, is gathering the same kind of attention and critical interest as his earlier work. We look forward to hearing from him at 2 P.M. Sunday, April 19 in the Heritage Room on the third floor of Bennett Martin library.

Stephanie Grace Whitson to be February 2009 Ames Reader

Born and raised in Illinois, Stephanie Grace Whitson has lived in Nebraska since 1975. Much of her historical fiction has a Nebraska setting.

A writer who loves story-telling and character, she has a strong following of devoted fans among readers of Christian historical romance. Her novels include a number of Christy award finalists, and ECPA best sellers. Though fictional, her characters reflect careful research into their historical settings. Many of her books focus on pioneer women and on life on the frontier. Well known titles include Walks the Fire (Prairie Winds Series), one of her first books, the more recent Unbridled Dreams, and her personal favorite, Karyn's Memory Box.

Check out her own Website at www.stephaniegracewhitson.com.

Stephanie is a lively presenter who gave us a wonderful talk on writing in our 2007 Lunch at the Library brownbag series. The reading will take place Sunday, February 15th at 2:00 PM in the Heritage Room. Channel 5 will record the Reading for later public broadcast.

Robert McEwen to be January 2009 Ames Reader

Chadron State College English Professor and professional arborist Robert McEwen will be our 180th Ames Reader on Sunday, January 18th, 2009 at 2:00 PM. The reading will take place in the Heritage Room on the third floor of Bennett Martin Public Library at 136 S. 14th Street in Lincoln.

Robert McEwen was born in Chicago, Illinois, but has lived in Nebraska since 1978. He earned a Ph.D. in English from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1984. His 1995 Slow Tempo Press book, Heartwood and Other Poems, was published to rave reviews. Ted Kooser, reviewing "Heartwood," wrote that that poem "is remarkable not only for its ability to catch us up and keep us flying with him," but also "for the immense distance McEwen establishes between this compelling, vital, third-person narrative and the narcissistic I-whining of his contemporaries." "This is, I feel, a very important work of art," Kooser concluded.

McEwen will read from his upcoming book (in press) From Corcaigh to Broken Bow. He has read for us before and we expect him to do a memorable job of bringing his poems to life.