Poetry Reading with Gwen Westerman, April 3

Join the University of Minnesota Libraries for an afternoon of poetry with Gwen Westerman at the 15th annual Pankake Poetry event in Elmer L. Andersen Library on April 3, 2024. The program begins at 4 p.m. A reception will follow the program with a book signing by the author. Books will be available for purchase courtesy of the University of Minnesota Bookstores. This is an in-person event that will also be livestreamed. Please register if you plan to attend in person or online.

About the author
Dr. Gwen Nell Westerman is the author of two poetry collections Follow the Blackbirds (2013) and Songs, Blood Deep (2023), both written in Dakota and English. She is also the co-author of Mni Sota Makoce: The Land of the Dakota, which won a 2013 Minnesota Book Award and the 2014 Hognander Minnesota History Award. Westerman is the first indigenous person to serve as Poet Laureate of Minnesota. Her father's family is from the Heipa District of the Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota Oyate, and her mother's family is from the Flint District of the Cherokee Nation. Westerman teaches American and Native Nations literature, technical communication, humanities, and creative writing at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

About the series
The Pankake Poetry Series was named in honor of retired librarian Marcia Pankake, whose love of poetry was demonstrated in the countless readings and poetry events she hosted at the University of Minnesota Libraries.