Iraq war veteran to speak at Prairie Schooner winter launch event

Released on 01/07/2014, at 2:00 AM
Office of University Communications
University of Nebraska–Lincoln

WHEN: Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2014

WHERE: Great Plains Art Museum, 1155 Q St., Hewit Place

Lincoln, Neb., January 7th, 2014 —
Brian Turner
Brian Turner

            Poet and Iraq war veteran Brian Turner will speak at a Feb. 4 event at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln celebrating the launch of Prairie Schooner's winter issue, with readings by contributors Ted Genoways, Eduardo Halfon and Mihaela Moscaliuc.

            The event centers on the issue's theme of "War and Conflict" and will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Great Plains Art Museum at 1155 Q St. This event is free and open to the public.

            The event will also feature a multimedia and photography exhibit, "Assignment Afghanistan," by writer/photographer Elliott D. Woods, an introduction by Prairie Schooner editor-in-chief Kwame Dawes, and several UNL students sharing their experiences in actual world combat zones. A book signing and reception will follow. A screening of a war film chosen by Turner will be 7 p.m. Feb. 3 at UNL's Mary Riepma Ross Media Center, 313 N. 13th St.

            Turner is the author of two poetry collections, "Phantom Noise" and "Here, Bullet." He served for seven years in the U.S. Army, including one year in Iraq and one year in Bosnia-Herzegovina. He is a winner of the Beatrice Hawley Award, the Pen Center USA "Best in the West" award and the 2007 Poets Prize.

            Genoways is a poet, translator and author of several books, including "Walt Whitman and the Civil War," named a Best Academic Book of 2010 by the American Library Association. His book "Canned: The Great Recession and America's Strange Love Affair with Spam" is forthcoming from HarperCollins.

            Halfon was named one of the best young Latin American writers by the Hay Festival of Bogota. He is the recipient of the prestigious Jose Maria de Pereda Prize for the Short Novel, and author of "The Polish Boxer," the first of his nine novels to be published in English.

            Moscaliuc is the author of "Father Dirt," recipient of the 2010 Kinereth Gensler Award, and translator of Carmelia Leonte's forthcoming "The Hiss of the Viper." Her poems, reviews, translations and articles have appeared in the Georgia Review, TriQuarterly, New Letters, Poetry International and elsewhere.

            Woods is a writer, photographer and contributing editor at the Virginia Quarterly Review. His multimedia project, "Assignment Afghanistan," brings together articles, stories, pictures and video about the experiences of soldiers in Afghanistan, and is available at http://assignmentafghanistan.org.

            For more information, visit http://prairieschooner.unl.edu or follow Prairie Schooner on Facebook and Twitter.

Writer: Ian Rogers, Prairie Schooner

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