Nebraskan Ted Kooser Named Poet Laureate

Great Plains poet Ted Kooser of Nebraska will be the next poet laureate of the United States.

Librarian of Congress James H. Billington will officially announce the appointment Thursday.

"Ted Kooser is a major poetic voice for rural and small town America. Ted is the first poet laureate chosen from the Great Plains," Billington said. "His verse reaches beyond his native region to touch on universal themes in accessible ways."

The poet laureate's job carries with it few specific duties, to allow the writer to work on their own projects. The post includes an office at the Library of Congress, a $35,000 salary and an obligation to deliver and organize readings. Previous poets laureate include Robert Frost, Gwendolyn Brooks and Rita Dove.

"I really want to throw myself into this and do what I can to further people's interest in poetry," Kooser said Wednesday. "I see part of my job as being a promoter of poetry of all kinds."

Ted has written 10 collections of poetry, most recently "Delights & Shadows," published this year.

Of his work, 1980 collection, "Sure Signs," received the Society of Midland Authors Prize for the best book of poetry by a Midwestern writer published in that year. His 2000 collection, "Winter Morning Walks: One Hundred Postcards to Jim Harrison," won the 2001 Nebraska Book Award for Poetry.

A native of Iowa, Ted, a poet at age 18, graduated from Iowa State University in 1962 and earned his master's in English from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1968. He is a visiting professor and teaches writing in the university's English Department.

"What I think poetry can do is give people fresh ways to look at the world. I attempt in my poems to take ordinary things and look at them in a new light. I am dedicated to writing poetry that people can understand."

Kooser, 65, will replace Pulitzer Prize winner Louise Gluck in the one-year position.

Ted is married to Lincoln Journal Star Editor Kathleen Rutledge, begins his duties in the fall.

Previous Poet Laureate:

Library of Congress Poetry and Literature Center: http://www.loc.gov/poetry/