As part of a fellowship from the Academy of American Poets (AAP) with help from Humanities Nebraska (HN) and the Mellon Foundation, State Poet Matt Mason will launch the Nebraska Poetry Pen Pal Program next week. The first five events will be held in western Nebraska at Valentine High School and the Valentine Public Library (November 7), Gordon-Rushville High School and the Gordon Theatre (November 8), and Chadron State College (November 9).
Matt Mason, who was named Nebraska State Poet in 2019, will lead the tour, accompanied by other poets from Omaha and Lincoln. At the first five events, Mason will be joined by poets Zedeka Poindexter and joe fromLongIsland as the group reads poetry, discusses writing, and establishes ongoing communication with audience members.
“We hope to start conversations between poets from different parts of the state and different backgrounds,” Mason said. “I’ll have all three poets on the tour read poems about our lives and our experiences and, hopefully, teachers, students, and other writers invited will also read with us. Then there will be discussion about our poems and writing, with communication encouraged afterward.”
Long term, Mason hopes the program encourages published and non-published writers to “…trade poems and keep talking.”
He intends to set up more three-community tours in February and March 2023, and possibly next autumn. Interested community leaders that would like to bring the Nebraska Poetry Pen Pal Program to their local libraries, schools, correctional facilities, and other community centers should contact Mason at mtmason@gmail.com.
AAP recently awarded a combined total of $1.1 million to Poet Laureate Fellows to support their respective 2023 public poetry programs, including Mason. Through its Poets Laureate Fellowship program, AAP is the largest financial supporter of poets in the nation, awarding a total of $4.35 million in fellowships to 81 poets laureate since 2019, plus $250,000+ to local 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations that have supported the Fellows’ projects. Learn more about AAP at poets.org.
The Mellon Foundation is the nation’s largest supporter of the arts and humanities. Since 1969, the Foundation has been guided by its core belief that the humanities and arts are essential to human understanding. The Foundation believes that the arts and humanities are where we express our complex humanity, and that everyone deserves the beauty, transcendence, and freedom that can be found there. Through grants, the Mellon Foundation seek to build just communities enriched by meaning and empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive. Learn more at mellon.org.
The Nebraska State Poet is a partnership between Humanities Nebraska, the Nebraska Arts Council, the Nebraska Library Commission, and the Governor of Nebraska. Humanities Nebraska is a state-wide 501c3 non-profit organization that helps Nebraskans explore what connects us and makes us human. HN is funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities, an appropriation from the Nebraska Legislature, private donations, and the Nebraska Cultural Endowment, a public-private partnership with state dollars matching private dollars to benefit the arts and humanities in Nebraska. More information about HN, State Poet Matt Mason, and the Nebraska Poetry Pen Pal program is available at humanitiesnebraska.org.