Tag Archives: Ted Kooser

#BookFaceFriday “Regular Haunts” by Gerald Costanzo

Relax and read a verse this #BookFaceFriday.

April is National Poetry Month, and we wanted to highlight Nebraskan poets and our collection of poetry here at the Commission. This week’s #BookFace, “Regular Haunts: New and Previous Poems” by Gerald Costanzo (University of Nebraska Press, 2018), is a part of the Ted Kooser Contemporary Poetry series from the University of Nebraska Press, a collection of eight titles edited by Ted Kooser. This title is being featured in our lobby for National Poetry Month and is a part of the Nebraska Publications Clearinghouse, which receives documents every month from all Nebraska state agencies, including the University of Nebraska Press (UNP). UNP books, as well as all Nebraska state documents, are available for checkout by libraries and librarians for their patrons.

If you’re looking for ways to celebrate National Poetry Month, take a look at the poetry genre from the drop-down menu on our Book Club Kit page or peruse the large collection of poetry available on Nebraska Overdrive Libraries.

“There’s that delightful surface, sparkling with wit, with satire, with wordplay, and then there’s always that something else, that mystery maybe a fathom beneath the sun on the waves.”

from the introduction by Ted Kooser

Book Club Kits Rules for Use

  1. These kits can be checked out by the librarians of Nebraska libraries and media centers.
  2. Circulation times are flexible and will be based upon availability. There is no standard check-out time for book club kits.
  3. Please search the collection to select items you wish to borrow and use the REQUEST THIS KIT icon to borrow items.
  4. Contact the Information Desk at the Library Commission if you have any questions: by phone: 800/307-2665, or by email: Information Services Team

Find many more poetry titles through Nebraska OverDrive! Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 194 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 26,174 audiobooks, 36,611 ebooks, and 5,210 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!

Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!

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Discovering State Docs: “There Once Was a Man from Nebraska…”

An offset stack of books, all by the poet and author Ted Kooser

Happy National Poetry Month! When you hear “state government documents” do you immediately think of poetry? Me neither! The Nebraska Publications Clearinghouse receives documents every month from all Nebraska state agencies, including the University of Nebraska Press, which recently sent us Ted Kooser’s “The Windflower Home Almanac of Poetry.” It is a reprint of his original 1980 book, and one of many of his titles we have in this collection.

Cover of Ted Kooser's book The Windflower Home Almanac of Poetry

“The Windflower Home Almanac of Poetry is an anthology of poems originally selected by Ted Kooser in 1980 and published by his Windflower Press, a small, independent publisher that specialized in poetry from the Great Plains. The collection contains almost two hundred poems from dozens of poets and was designed to resemble a commonplace farmer’s almanac.

The Windflower Press was the sole operation of Kooser, who was later named the first U.S. poet laureate from the Great Plains. His press gained national recognition for highlighting the work of the region’s young poets, and its Windflower Home Almanac of Poetry earned notice from the Library Journal as one of its era’s best small press books.”

– – Book synopsis from University of Nebraska Press

In the Editor’s Note, Kooser talks about the process of typesetting and pasting the poems together with illustrations he’d collected from old almanacs, long before the advent of software to ease these tasks.

One of the most prestigious academic presses in the country, the University of Nebraska Press sends us around 75 select titles per year, which are added to the Nebraska Publications Clearinghouse, also known as the Nebraska State Documents Collection. This collection is comprised of publications issued by Nebraska state agencies, ensuring that state government information is available to a wide audience and that those valuable publications are preserved for future generations. University of Nebraska Press books, as well as all state documents, are available for checkout by libraries and librarians for their patrons.

Kooser, Ted (Ed.). The Windflower Home Almanac of Poetry. University of Nebraska Press, 2024.

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#BookFaceFriday “Red Stilts” by Ted Kooser

Relax and read a verse this #BookFaceFriday.

April is National Poetry Month, and we wanted to celebrate by highlighting Nebraskan poet Ted Kooser. Pulitzer Prize winner, 04-06 U.S. Poet Laureate, and winner of many awards including four Nebraska Book Awards and 2011’s One Book One Nebraska; Kooser’s poetry has touched the hearts of many. Each poem in this week’s #BookFace, “Red Stilts” (Copper Canyon Press, 2022), strives to reveal the complex beauties of the ordinary, of the world that’s right under our noses. It’s available for checkout as an ebook from Nebraska Overdrive Libraries, along with several other Ted Kooser titles.

If you’re looking for ways to celebrate National Poetry Month, take a look at the poetry genre from the drop-down menu on our Book Club Kit page. There are also a handful of Kooser’s titles available for request as well.

“Red Stilts” demonstrates that poets, like fine wines, continue to improve with age… Those familiar with Kooser’s work will recognize his skill at connecting the ordinary events of daily life to the sublime.”

Lincoln Journal Star

Book Club Kits Rules for Use

  1. These kits can be checked out by the librarians of Nebraska libraries and media centers.
  2. Circulation times are flexible and will be based upon availability. There is no standard check-out time for book club kits.
  3. Please search the collection to select items you wish to borrow and use the REQUEST THIS KIT icon to borrow items.
  4. Contact the Information Desk at the Library Commission if you have any questions: by phone: 800/307-2665, or by email: Information Services Team

Find this title and many more through Nebraska OverDrive! Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 194 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 26,174 audiobooks, 36,611 ebooks, and 5,210 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!

Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!

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#BookFaceFriday – “Cotton Candy” by Ted Kooser

That one looks like a…#BookFaceFriday!

There is something so sweet about this week’s #BookFaceFriday, “Cotton Candy: Poems Dipped Out of the Air” by Ted Kooser (‎University of Nebraska Press; 2022.) Kooser was the U.S. poet laureate from 2004-2006, and won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 2005. You can find this title and many more of his works in the Nebraska Library Commission’s permanent collection; the Nebraska Publications Clearinghouse receives documents every month from all Nebraska state agencies, including the University of Nebraska Press (UNP). UNP books, as well as all Nebraska state documents, are available for checkout by libraries and librarians for their patrons.

“That Kooser often sees things we do not would be delight enough, but more amazing is exactly what he sees. Nothing escapes him. Everything is illuminated. ―Library Journal

Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!

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