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Award-winning poet and 2022 Kentucky Teacher of the Year Willie Carver Jr. to read at WKU

  • English Department
  • Tuesday, February 4th, 2025

On February 6 at 7 p.m., the WKU English Department and Gender and Women’s Studies program will host poet, advocate and educator Willie Carver Jr., who will read from his award-winning poetry collection Gay Poems for Red States (University Press of Kentucky, 2023).

Working at the intersection of Queer identity and Appalachian culture, Gay Poems for Red States insists upon the right to “a life full of beauty and pride” for all, even in the face of injustice. The collection has received numerous accolades, including the 2024 Whippoorwill Book Award Honor Book, the 2024 Judy Gaines Young Honor Book Award, and the 2024 Stonewall Book Award – Barbara Gittings Literature Honor Book, among others.

Named the 2022 Kentucky Teacher of the Year, Carver is now director of the KY120 United AFT LGBTQ+ Taskforce, which is fighting against anti-LGBTQ+ legislation that specifically targets children and is collaborating with the Kentucky Youth Law Project and Kentucky Humanities to help teachers and schools navigate anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. Carver believes that everyone deserves to feel that they matter, and so do their stories.

Please join us Thursday at 7:00 in Cherry 125!

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 Last Modified 5/30/18