Wayne State College’s Language and Literature Department, the School of Arts and Humanities and the WSC Press are pleased to hold this spring’s Plains Writers Series on Thursday, March 3rd, 2016. The Plains Writers Series is held several times a year in an attempt to bring attention to the prose and poetry of local Great Plains writers through reading and interacting with area audiences.

This spring’s Plains Writers Series will highlight three authors: Laura Madeline Wiseman, Steve Langan, and Todd Robinson. The authors will share selected pieces of their recent works in the lounge on the second floor of the Humanities Building at Wayne State College at 1:00 pm and again at 2:00 pm.

• 1:00 pm – Todd Robinson & Laura Madeline Wiseman
• 2:00 pm – Steve Langan

Following the Plains Writers Series will be Poetry Slam XXXV. The poetry slam will be held at The Max Bar and Grill in downtown Wayne, NE starting at 7:00 pm, with registration starting at 6:00 pm. If anyone would like to participate in the slam they will need 4 original poems and $5 for registration at the door. All events are free and open to the public.

AUTHOR BIOS:

Steve Langan’s most recent collection of poems–published in fine arts letterpress and trade editions–is What It Looks Like, How It Flies, the debut publication of Gibraltar Editions. He teaches at the University of Nebraska at Omaha MFA in Writing program, and he’s the founder and director of the Seven Doctors Project, which is based in Omaha.

Todd Robinson has taught for the last decade in the Writer’s Workshop at the University of Nebraska-Omaha after stints at Creighton and UNL, where he somehow earned a Ph.D. in English in 2004. His poems have stained the pages of Arc Poetry Magazine, Main Street Rag, Natural Bridge, Midwest Quarterly, Margie, and these Reviews: Sugar House, Chiron, Potomac, and Southeast, among others. He introduced the rock band Cake to red beer, nearly hugged Helen Mirren in a Vienna elevator, helped launch the illustrious Seven Doctors Project, and has carried poetic water to the thirsty masses time and again through the auspices of the Nebraska Writers Collective. Lowlights of his career include teaching Sophocles to a Heisman Trophy winner and winning a gold medal for rap on a Beijing shuttle bus.

Laura Madeline Wiseman’s recent books are An Apparently Impossible Adventure (BlazeVOX [books]), Wake (Aldrich Press), and Leaves of Absence: An Illustrated Guide to Common Garden Affection (Red Dashboard). Her collaborative book Intimates and Fools with Sally Deskins is an Honor Book for the 2015 Nebraska Book Award. She holds a doctorate from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and has received an Academy of American Poets Award, a Mari Sandoz/Prairie Schooner Award, and the Wurlitzer Foundation Fellowship. She teaches at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and at 24PearlStreet, the Fine Arts Work Center’s online writing program.

WHEN: Thursday, March 3^rd, 2016

WHERE: Humanities Building 2nd Floor Lounge, Wayne State College / SLAM @ Max Bar & Grill

TIME: PWS @ 1:00 pm and 2:00 pm / SLAM @ 7:00 pm