EVENT: Utah Poet Laureate to Speak at Weber State University (2/25)

For immediate release               Alyssa Hickman Grove, 801.236.7548

14 February 2013                       Constituent Relations & Media, Utah Arts & Museums

Geoffrey Fattah, 801.245.7205

Communications Director, Utah Dept. of Heritage and Arts

Utah Poet Laureate to Speak at Weber State University

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Arts & Museums announces an appearance by Utah Poet Laureate Lance Larsen at Weber State University’s English Department. The public reading and book signing will be held at 4 p.m. on Monday, February 25, 2013, at the Elizabeth Hall Eccles Lecture Hall.

“Utah initiated its Poet Laureate program in 1997,” said Margaret Hunt, Director of Utah Arts & Museums. “The Poet Laureate is a Governor-appointed advocate for literature, conducting readings at public events and in venues including libraries, universities and schools. Utah is fortunate to have a writer of Lance Larsen’s caliber representing the literary arts around the state.”

Larsen’s fourth collection of poems, Genius Loci, was published in 2012 by University of Tampa Press. His earlier collections include Backyard Alchemy (2009), In All Their Animal Brilliance (2005), and Erasable Walls (1998). He holds a PhD from the University of Houston. His work appears widely in such venues as Georgia Review, Southern Review, Ploughshares, Poetry, River Styx, Orion, The Pushcart Prize Anthology, Best American Poetry 2009, Poetry Daily, and elsewhere. His nonfiction has twice made the Notable Essay list in Best American Essays. He is currently working on Seventeen Ways to Float, a collection of essays about place, family, and memory which won first place in the 2011 Utah Original Writing Competition. He grew up in Idaho and Colorado and lived in Chile for two years while serving an LDS mission. He collects antiques, plays basketball, occasionally walks on his hands, grows daylilies, hikes, and loves Indian and Thai food. He sometimes collaborates with his wife, Jacqui Biggs Larsen, a painter and multimedia artist. He has taught literature and creative writing at BYU since 1993, where he currently serves as associate chair. He and Jacqui recently directed a study-abroad program in Madrid. In 2012, he was named to a five-year term as Utah Poet Laureate.

Please click here for more information about Utah's Poet Laureate.

Photo: Utah Poet Laureate Lance Larsen

About Utah Arts & Museums

Utah Arts & Museums is a division of the Utah Department of Heritage and Arts with a goal to promote innovation in and the growth of Utah’s arts and culture community. The division provides funding, education, and technical services to individuals and organizations statewide so that all Utahns, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity or economic status, can access, understand, and receive the benefits of arts and culture. Additional information on the programs and services can be found at artsandmuseums.utah.gov or by calling 801.236.7555.