While the music of Oklahoma is relatively young, Oklahoma has been a state for just over 100 years, and it has a rich history and many fine and influential musicians.
The Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889 was the first land rush into the Unassigned Lands. The area that was opened to settlement included all or part of the Canadian, Cleveland, Kingfisher, Logan, Oklahoma, and Payne counties of the US state of Oklahoma. The land run started at high noon on April 22, 1889, with an estimated 50,000 people lined up for their piece of the available two million acres (8,000 km2).
World Literature Today is an American magazine of international literature and culture, published bimonthly at the University of Oklahoma, Norman. The magazine presents essays, poetry, fiction, and book reviews from all over the world in a format accessible to a broad audience. Its mission is to serve as an engaging, informative index to contemporary international literature. It was founded as Books Abroad in 1927 by Roy Temple House, chair of the Department of Modern Languages at the University of Oklahoma. In January 1977, the journal assumed its present name, World Literature Today.
Carol Hamilton was the Oklahoma Poet Laureate from 1995 to 1997.
Violet McDougal (1893–1989) was an American poet. She was the first poet laureate of the state of Oklahoma, serving from 1923 to 1931.
Jeanetta Calhoun Mish is an American poet and serves as Oklahoma's twenty-first poet laureate.
Jennie Harris Oliver was an American author.
Carl Braun Sennhenn served from 2001 until 2003 as the fourteenth poet laureate of the state of Oklahoma. Along with Francine Ringold, he is one of two poets to win the Oklahoma Book Award for Poetry twice, in 2007 and in 2013. He is a former professor at Rose State College, where he also served as a Dean of Humanities.
Francine Leffler Ringold is an American writer and editor who was the 15th poet laureate of the State of Oklahoma.
Betty Lou Shipley was the twelfth poet laureate of the state of Oklahoma. Shipley's term as laureate was cut short by her death. Along with authoring three books of poetry, Shipley was the poetry editor for Byline Magazine and operator of Full Count Press and, later, Broncho Press.
Joe Russel Kreger was the thirteenth poet laureate of the American state of Oklahoma, appointed in 1998 after the death of Betty Shipley. Kreger was the first poet laureate of the state to be considered primarily a "cowboy poet," and the only besides Eddie Wilcoxen, who was laureate 2011-2012. Born in Tonkawa, Oklahoma, Kreger has spent most of his life as a rancher.
Paul William Kroeger (1907-1977) was Oklahoma's second poet laureate, appointed in 1931 by Governor William H. Murray. Though his work appeared in periodicals and anthologies, Kroeger never published a volume of poems, and his work is rarely read today.
Della Iona Cann Young (1872-1948) was Oklahoma's fourth poet laureate, appointed in 1943 by Governor Robert S. Kerr. Young was born Della Iona Cann in Holton, Kansas and married Andrew Clyde Young in 1906. At the time of her appointment as poet laureate, Young had published only two poems, and she never published a volume of poetry. Most of her career was spent as an educator in western Oklahoma.
Rudolph Nelson Hill (1903-1980) was the eighth poet laureate of Oklahoma, appointed by Governor Henry Bellmon, in 1966. Born in Missouri, Hill was raised in central Oklahoma and lived most of his life in Wewoka. Hill was educated at The University of Oklahoma and worked as a lawyer. In 1970, Hill was a named a Poet Laureate Emeritus by Governor Dewey Bartlett.
Leslie A. McRill (1886-1982) was the ninth poet laureate of Oklahoma, appointed by Governor Dewey F. Bartlett in 1970. McRill was born in Kansas but lived much of his life in Oklahoma and graduated from the college which is now Oklahoma City University. He also earned a master's degree in French from the University of Southern California.
Maggie Culver Fry (1900-1998) was the tenth poet laureate of Oklahoma, appointed in 1977 by Governor David L. Boren. Fry's maternal grandfather, George Deerskin Waters, traveled to Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears and was a member of the Cherokee Senate. Fry lacked a high school education but nevertheless published three books of poetry, along with fiction and magazine articles. From 1955 to 1965, Fry served as personal secretary to Senator Clem McSpadden. Her book, The Umbilical Cord, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
Eddie D. Wilcoxen served as the eighteenth poet laureate of the state of Oklahoma, appointed by Governor Brad Henry. Previous to his appointment, Wilcoxen was well known as a broadcaster with KWHW (AM) in Altus, Oklahoma. Wilcoxen's poetry is best classified as "folk" poetry, with an emphasis on rural life and traditions.
Benjamin Myers is an American poet, essayist, educator, and musician. In 2015, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin appointed Myers the twentieth poet laureate of Oklahoma. He has written three books of poetry, and his poems have appeared in many nationally prominent periodicals.
