Welcome Book Lovers!
Missouri Center for the Book
Commissions Poet Laureate Broadside
To commemorate the appointment of Missouri's first Poet Laureate by Governor Matt Blunt, the Missouri Center for the Book has commissioned a limited edition printing of Moon Walk Missouri, by Poet Laureate Walter Bargen.
To purchase your own copy of Moon Walk Missouri, visit:
Columbia Books
309 S Providence Rd
Columbia, MO 65203
(573) 449-7417
The 13th Celebration of the Book was held on the Stephens College campus, Saturday, November 8, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Panels and poetry readings were scheduled throughout the day, and an open midday plenary session featuring Missouri Poet Laureate, Walter Bargen, drew a crowd of poetry enthusiasts. Other poets featured at the event included Scott Cairns, Aliki Barnstone, Pamela McClure, Stanley Banks, Janet Banks, Emily Rosko, Wayne Miller, and Gabriel Fried.
A special panel on graphic fiction and memoir featured two authors of graphic novels, Cullen Bunn and Matt Kindt. Two Missouri Center for the Book board members participated in “Fact and Fiction”, a discussion of the unique challenges found in writing works ranging from science fiction to biography. Mark Tiedemann, MCB board president and author of numerous works of science fiction, including Peace And Memory (The Secantis Sequence, 3), discussed the challenge science fiction writers have in creating entire worlds, while board member Scott Phillips offered another perspective, that of writing a fictional story based upon an historical event, as he did in Cottonwood: A Novel . University of Missouri journalism professor, Steve Weinberg discussed the painstaking research involved in journalistic writing and nonfiction works, using Taking on the Trust: The Epic Battle of Ida Tarbell and John D. Rockefeller, his recently published dual biography of Tarbell and Rockefeller, as an example.
Three newcomers to the MCB board, Virginia Brackett, Pat Berge, and Mary Kay Northrup, presented excellent tips for beginning writers in “Getting Published” and offered a discussion of the future of the book in the digital age.
The Center for the Book would like to extend heartfelt thanks to all of the participants, board member Tom Dillingham and his wife Judith Clark for the work involved in putting this lovely event together, Stephens College for the use of their wonderful facility, and the Missouri Arts Council for their financial support.
Walter Bargen, Missouri's first state Poet Laureate.
Missouri's poet laureate highlights area writers in St. Louis Post Dispatch
Missouri's first poet laureate, Walter Bargen, begins a new feature for the Post-Dispatch this week. Every other week, he will choose a poem by a Missourian and write a short introduction to it....(read more)
Walter Bargen recently published an essay in the current issue of New Letters magazine, about some of his travels as Missouri's Poet Laureate. You can read the entire essay at www.newletters.org.
left to right, Ann Roberts, Coordinator, Governor Matt Blunt, and Poet Laureate, Walter Bargen
Presentation of Moon Walk Missouri to Governor Blunt
On Wednesday, December 10, 2008, Poet Laureate Walter Bargen and Missouri Center for the Book Coordinator Ann Roberts waited alongside one hundred or more caroling second graders from Mexico, Missouri, and a couple of prize-winning hunting dogs to present Governor Matt Blunt with a framed copy of Bargen's Moon Walk Missouri. Governor Blunt created the position of Poet Laureate for the state by executive order just a little over a year ago and Missouri's first Poet Laureate was chosen in December of last year. In honor of the end of Bargen's first successful year as the PL and in light of Governor Blunt's return to the private sector, the Center for the Book board wanted to honor Governor Blunt for his recognition of the importance of poetry and literature in the history of Missouri.
Since his appointment as PL, Walter Bargen has logged over 3,000 miles in travel, given over thirty presentations where he read his poetry to more than 2,000 people in schools, libraries, nursing homes and at literary events in Missouri and surrounding states. It has been the Center for the Book's great honor to have this fine Missouri poet as our Poet Laureate. Thank you, Governor Blunt, and thank you, Walter Bargen.