Tues, Jan 20 @ 3:30pm: 2026 National Day of Racial Healing Keynote: Jewel Rodgers, Nebraska State Poet
Rodgers will share insights from her journey as the Nebraska State Poet, using spoken-word poetry to illuminate her experiences as an artist, former UNL student, and community builder. Through her talk, she will inspire connection, collaborative action, and the power of creativity to spark change and foster healing. Jewel Rodgers is the 2025–2029 Nebraska State Poet and a 2025 Academy of American Poets Fellowship recipient. A three-time Omaha Entertainment and Arts Award nominee for Best Performance Poet and a three-time TEDx speaker, she has toured nationally for over a decade, performing in schools, festivals, conferences, and public spaces. Her work has appeared in projects such as 100 Years | 100 Women (Park Avenue Armory – NY) and as a finalist in the 2024 Blackberry Peach Poetry Slam. An interdisciplinary performer and spatial practitioner, Jewel merges poetry, storytelling, and placemaking to inspire communities across Nebraska and beyond. Registration is preferred but not required. Register at go.unl.edu/2026jewelrodgersregistration (102 Love Library South)
Thurs, Jan 22 @ 3pm: “Virginia Faulkner: A Life in Two Acts,” Brad Bigelow
As part of UNL English’s Creative Writing series, Colophon: Conversations on Publishing, Brad Bigelow will discuss his new biography Virginia Faulkner: A Life in Two Acts (Bison Books), the story of the eccentric bestselling author (novels and a ghostwritten memoir of a NYC bordello madam) and amateur scholar who cocktailed with Greta Garbo, had an influential and complex approach to the sexuality of Willa Cather, and was editor in chief of University of Nebraska Press for two decades. Bigelow is the editor of the Recovered Books series for Boiler House Press, which is committed to reissuing forgotten but exceptional books; he has had a parallel mission as a writer for the Neglected Books website since 2006. With more than six hundred articles, the site celebrates the work of little-known, “lost” authors. (229 Andrews Hall, Bailey Library)