Skip Navigation
Get Involved
Overview
Grants & Programs About
Overview
Contact Donate
 

Get Involved

 
 

About

 
Background Image willow-leaf sunflowers

Wild Words

Copies of Wild Words are no longer available. Sign up for HK's e-news and follow HK on Facebook and Instagram for updates on upcoming poetry books.

About Wild Words

Through poetry, Wild Words celebrates the innate relationship Kansans have with the prairie. During the summer of 2023, Humanities Kansas partnered with Kansas cultural organizations to distribute free copies of this original poetry chapbook within their communities.

The chapbook features 11 poems inspired by Kansas native plants and wildflowers with original illustrations by Melissa Dehner, followed by questions to engage readers in humanities-themed conversations.

This collection of poems is an invitation to listen to the call of native plants in Kansas, to the specific places where we make our homes and live in community with many human and other-than-human co-inhabitants.

––Megan Kaminski, editor of Wild Words

Poetry by Gwendolyn Brooks, CAConrad, Gary Jackson, Canese Jarboe, Megan Kaminski, Aubrey Streit Krug, R.B. Lemberg, Huascar Medina, Janice Northerns, James Thomas Stevens, and Wyatt Townley. Edited by Megan Kaminski. Botanical advising by Courtney Masterson.

 

Wild Words is made possible by the Humanities Kansas Friends of the Humanities, the Sunflower Foundation, the Elizabeth Schultz Environmental Fund of the Douglas County Community FoundationKansas Tourism, and Native Lands Restoration Collaborative.  

 

 

Wild Words Statewide Partners

Our thanks to the following cultural partners for their distribution of the book in summer 2023. (Contact organizations directly to confirm copies are still available.)

Abilene Public Library

Baker Wetlands Discovery Center, Lawrence

Beach Museum of Art, Manhattan

Brewster Place Senior Living, Topeka

Brown County Historical Society, Hiawatha

Coffey County Library, Gridley Branch

Coffey County Library, LeRoy Branch

Coffeyville Community College

Coldwater-Wilmore Regional Library

Dorothy Bramlage Public Library, Junction City

Ellinwood Community Historical Society

Eudora Area Historical Society

Goddard Public Library

Grant County Library, Ulysses

Hays Public Library

Horace Greeley Museum, Tribune

Hutchinson Public Library

Inman Public Library

Jetmore Public Library

Kansas State Parks

Kansas State Historical Sites

Kauffman Museum, North Newton

Kinsley Public Library

Koester House, Marysville

Lawrence Meals on Wheels

Lawrence Public Library

Leavenworth Public Library

Legler Barn Museum, Lenexa

Manhattan Public Library

Marais de Cygne Education Center, Pleasanton

Medicine Lodge Historical Society

Mid America All Indian Museum, Wichita

Morton County Library, Elkhart

Moundridge Public Library

Native Lands Restoration Collaborative, Lawrence

Newton Public Library

Norton County Arts Council, Norton

Republic County Historical Society, Belleville

Richmond Public Library

Riley County Historical Society, Manhattan

Rossville Community Library

Salina Public Library

Savonburg Public Library

Schlagle Library, Kansas City

Sunrise Project, Lawrence

Topeka LULAC Senior Center

Volland Store, Alma

Wellington Public Library

Wilson County Old Iron Club, Fredonia

Winchester Public Library

Worlds Largest Things, Lucas

Zenda Public Library

 

Wild Words Final Report

Final Report is due November 1, 2023. (What is Cost Share? Click here to learn more)

For more information, contact Leslie VonHolten, Director of Grants & Outreach, LVH@humanitieskansas.org.


Please consider a donation to Humanities Kansas to support more programming that shares stories to spark conversations and inspire new insights.

Donate

 

 

Kansans Have
Joined the Movement