|
|
KEVIN STEIN
KEVIN STEIN
Kevin Stein is Illinois Poet Laureate, named in December 2003
to the position previously held by Carl Sandburg, Howard Austin, and Gwendolyn Brooks.
Stein came to Bradley in 1984 from Indiana University, where he received the Ph.D.
in American literature and the M. A. in Creative Writing. He currently serves as
Caterpillar Professor of English at Bradley University. Professor Stein teaches a range
of graduate/undergraduate courses in American literature, including Ecstatic Dialogics:
Poetry and Ecstasy; The Contemporary American Narrative Poem; Men, Women, and the Family
in American literature; James Wright and Philip Levine: The Poetry of Work, and the Work
of Poetry; and Public and Private History in Contemporary American Poetry.
Professor Stein also serves as director of Bradley's vital
Creative
Writing Program leading workshops ranging from the introductory level to
the capstone course, ENG 407/507, in which students write and design a chapbook of
their own poetry.
In December 2003, Governor Blagojevich named Kevin Stein Illinois
Poet Laureate, filling the position previously held by Gwendolyn Brooks, Carl Sandburg,
and Howard Austin. This title is one of many honors and accolades Kevin Stein has earned
during his career as poet, critic, editor, and teacher. Author of seven poetry collections,
two scholarly books, two poetry anthologies, numerous poems and essays published in journals
as well as anthologies, Stein has received wide acclaim from reviewers. His newest
collection, History's Bicep, is forthcoming in fall 2008 from University of Illinois Press.
In 2005 his collection American Ghost Roses (University of Illinois Press) was praised by
David Wojahn for its "impeccable craft" and by Edward Hirsch for its "particularly American .
. . way of fooling around to get at something deep and necessary." In addition, American
Ghost Roses garnered the Society of Midland Authors 2006 Poetry Award. Two other collections,
Chance Ransom (2000) and Bruised Paradise(1996), also appeared in the University of Illinois
Press Poetry Series. Earlier, his first poetry volume, A Circus of Want (University of
Missouri Press, 1992), earned the prestigious Devins Award for Poetry. Elsewhere, his poetry
has been honored with the Frederick Bock Prize awarded by Poetry, the 1998 Indiana Review
Poetry Prize, and four Illinois Arts Council Literary Awards - the most recent awarded in
2007 to his poem "In Human Hands." In addition, Stein has been the recipient of the National
Endowment for the Arts Poetry Fellowship and three such fellowships granted by the Illinois
Arts Council, as well as grant support from the National Endowment for the Humanities. In
2004 he was awarded the Vernon Louis Parrington Medal for Distinguished Writing. His poems
and essays have appeared widely in journals such as American Poetry Review, Boulevard, Colorado
Review, The Kenyon Review, Poetry, Southern Review, and TriQuarterly.
In addition to writing poetry, Stein has pursued a lively scholarly career as
literary critic. Stein's scholarly works enhance readers' appreciation for his fellow poets'
art. One such work, Private Poets, Worldly Acts (Ohio University Press, 1996; rpt. 1999),
examines the intersection of public and private history in the work of nine American poets,
including Robert Lowell, Adrienne Rich, Frank O'Hara, and Yusef Komunyakaa. This volume was
named a 1997 Recommended Book by Amazon.Com, the citation applauding how the book's "insightful
visions" lift readers "beyond just reading a poem - to reading between its lines." Also, Stein's
James Wright: The Poetry of a Grown Man (Ohio University Press, 1989) remains the benchmark
study of this important American poet.
What's more, Stein has extended his scholarly interests by editing two important
anthologies of Illinois poetry. In 2007 Stein edited Bread & Steel, the first-ever audio CD
poetry anthology of 24 Illinois poets reading from their works. Sales from this audio CD will
support Stein's Poetry Now! initiative; this Poet Laureate project donates funds to Illinois
libraries for the purchase of books by Illinois poets. Thus far, 22 Illinois libraries have
participated in this project. For detailed description of Bread & Steel and CD ordering information,
see www.bradley.edu/poet/breadandsteel. With poet
G. E. Murray, Stein also edited Illinois Voices:
An Anthology of Twentieth-Century Poetry (University of Illinois Press, 2001). This volume offers
the first comprehensive anthology of Illinois poetry's rich twentieth-century heritage. Following the
publication of Illinois Voices, Stein and Murray traveled throughout the state to lead discussions and
readings from the anthology at libraries in locales such as Chicago, Charleston, Peoria, Springfield,
and Urbana.
Stein's efforts as professor and creative writing program director at Bradley
have garnered the University's highest honors, including Bradley Faculty Member of the Year
and the Samuel Rothberg Award for Professional Excellence. In 2000, Stein was named Caterpillar
Professor of English, an honor recognizing his accomplishments as poet, critic, editor and
teacher. Married for nearly thirty years, Kevin Stein resides with his wife Deb and their two
children in Dunlap, Illinois.
|
|
Page Manager: Carolyn
Rosser
566
