Dear Poetry Friends:
On this historic day, as we finish celebrating Martin Luther King Day and turn to the inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama, please join me in celebrating one of the most outstanding of the young generation of poets to be educated by Kansas public schools, Kevin Young.
He received an excellent background in Topeka schools, attended Harvard, and then received an MFA from one of the leading creative writing programs at Brown University. He still has family in Kansas—William Tuttle, the Kansas University historian, is his father-in-law. Every time I see Bill, he updates me on the perfect grandchild and Kevin’s family’s news. I have had the pleasure of watching Kevin develop as a poet since he was in junior high. I have a poem of his from those junior high days, which I’ve promised not to reprint. I see Kevin at creative writing conferences, and he is a fine performer of poetry.
Oh yes, do look for a commemoration article I wrote for the Kansas City Star to comment upon the importance of arts in Obama’s administrative priorities.
Enjoy!
Denise Low 2007-2009 Kansas Poet Laureate
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KEVIN YOUNG (1970 - )
