U.S. Poet Laureate, 2004-2006
Ted Kooser (1939- ) was born in Ames, Iowa, and received his bachelor’s degree from Iowa State and his master’s in English from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. He is the author of more than 10 collections of poetry, including Kindest Regards (2018) and Delights & Shadows (2004), which won the Pulitzer Prize. His other honors include two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, the Stanley Kunitz Prize, the James Boatwright Prize, the Independent Publisher’s Gold Medal Award for The Wheeling Year (2014), and a Merit Award from the Nebraska Arts Council. He is a professor in the English department at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.