Ted Kooser

Ted Kooser (born 25 April 1939) is an American poet. He served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004 to 2006. Kooser was one of the first poet laureates selected from the Great Plains, and is known for his conversational style of poetry.

Ted Kooser was born in Ames, Iowa, on April 25, 1939. Kooser is the author of twelve collections of poetry. He is former vice-president of Lincoln Bankers Life, an insurance company, and lives on land near the village of Garland, Nebraska. He wrote for an hour and a half before work every morning, and by the time he retired, Kooser had published seven books of poetry. Kooser owned a book publishing company, Windflower. Currently, Kooser teaches as a Presidential Professor in the English department of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Kooser has lived most of his life in the Midwest, preferring a more rural lifestyle, as he's chosen to live on an acreage in Nebraska. Kooser is married to Kathleen Rutledge, former editor of the Lincoln Journal Star. Ted and Kathleen have one son, Jeff. Jeff's two kids, Ted's grandchildren, are named Margaret and Penelope .

Education

Growing up, Kooser attended Ames Public Schools for elementary and middle school. When Kooser arrived at Ames High School, his interest diverted from the library and went to cars. He joined the Nightcrawlers Car Club and became secretary of the group in 1956. His motivation for writing in high school can be in part credited to one of his teachers, Mary McNally, who encouraged him to continue writing essays and poems that reflected his life. Kooser decided as a teenager that he was going to be a famous poet for three reasons: glory, immortally and to leave the bohemian lifestyle behind.

Kooser graduated from Ames High School with a class of 175 students and enrolled at Iowa State University, the alma mater of his uncles. He began writing short nonfiction stories for the Iowa State student literary magazine. He also joined the Iowa State Writer’s Round Table, which he credits for fine-tuning his writing skills; Iowa Senator Tom Harkin was also apart of the group. In 1961, Kooser moved to Marshalltown, Iowa, to student teach English classes. The following year he graduated with a BS in English education from Iowa State University and moved to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to live with his parents. He was offered a graduate readership opportunity at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and in 1963, he and his wife moved to Lincoln, Nebraska. After winning the Vreeland Award for poetry in 1964, he soon after lost his graduate readership from the University for his poor GPA. In 1967, he received his MA from Nebraska.

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