The Hays Public Library will host an event with Eric McHenry, Poet Laureate of Kansas, at 7 p.m. Friday in the library’s Schmidt Gallery. Members of the community are invited to attend the free program. Contact the Hays Public Library at (785) 625-9014 for more information. The program is made possible by the Kansas Humanities Council.

In addition to the poetry presentation at 7 p.m., Mr. McHenry will also be leading a poetry workshop at 4 p.m. in the library’s Schmidt Gallery. This workshop is free and open to teens and adults.

McHenry is a nationally known poet and associate professor of English at Washburn University in Topeka. His work has been featured in publications such as Poetry International, Slate, Yale Review, and Topeka magazine, among many others. He also contributes poetry reviews for the New York Times and Columbia magazine. Odd Evening, his third book of poems, will be published by Waywiser Press in 2016.

A fifth-generation Topeka native, McHenry has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize for poetry seven times and received the Theodore Roethke Prize in 2011. His first book of poems, Potscrubber Lullabies, earned him the prestigious Kate Tufts Discovery Award in 2007, the largest American prize for a first book of poetry.

McHenry will be presenting his own poetry.

“There’s a popular perception that contemporary poetry is obscure and hard to understand,” said McHenry. “I’d like to share some poems that defy that stereotype, and to talk about how poetry can achieve a special kind of clarity not found in any other kind of writing.”

As Poet Laureate of Kansas, McHenry promotes the humanities as a public resource for all Kansans through public readings, presentations, and discussions about poetry in communities across the state.

The Kansas Humanities Council conducts and supports community-based programs, serves as a financial resource through an active grant-making program, and encourages Kansans to engage in the civic and cultural life of their communities.  For more information about KHC programs contact the Kansas Humanities Council at 785/357-0359 or visit online at www.kansashumanities.org.

For more information about Eric McHenry’s visit in Hays contact the Hays Public Library at 785-625-9014 or visit hayspubliclibrary.org