Talk on Oklahoma Poets Laureate

The Oklahoma Territorial Museum will host a talk on Paul Kroeger, Oklahoma’s second poet laureate and a former citizen of Guthrie, and Jennie Harris Oliver, Oklahoma’s third poet laureate and a former citizen of Fallis, on Thursday, February 26, at 6:30 p.m. The event is made possible by a grant from the Oklahoma Humanities Council.

The talk will be given by Dr. Shawn Holliday, the associate dean of graduate studies at Northwestern Oklahoma State University, whose book on the Oklahoma poets laureate is forthcoming from Mongrel Empire Press. It is part of a series of talks Holliday is giving entitled “The Oklahoma Poets Laureate: Learning about the State Through Its Poetry.”

The presentation format will include a brief history of the Oklahoma poet laureate position, biographical information on Kroeger and Oliver, a discussion of their relationship to Guthrie and Fallis, and a brief reading of their work followed by a discussion of their poetry. Holliday’s talk on Kroeger and Oliver is the third in the series. Later talks will occur in Claremore and Wewoka.

For more information on the event, readers may contact Holliday at 580-327-8589 or at spholliday@nwosu.edu. The Oklahoma Territorial Museum is located at 406 E. Oklahoma Ave. in Guthrie.