Cowboy poetry is a form of poetry that grew from a tradition of cowboys telling stories.
Joy Harjo is a poet, musician, and author. She is also the first Native American United States Poet Laureate. She is an important figure in the second wave of the literary Native American Renaissance of the late twentieth century. She studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts, completed her undergraduate degree at University of New Mexico in 1976, and earned an M.F.A. at the University of Iowa in its Creative Writing Program.
Jim Weaver McKown Barnes, of Choctaw and Welsh descent, was born near Summerfield, Oklahoma. He received his BA from Southeastern State University and his MA and Ph.D. from the University of Arkansas. He taught at Truman State University from 1970 to 2003, where he was Professor of Comparative Literature and Writer-in-Residence. After retiring from Truman State, he was Distinguished Professor of English and Creative Writing at Brigham Young University until 2006. On January 15, 2009, Barnes was named Oklahoma Poet Laureate for 2009-2010.
KWHW-FM is an American radio station licensed to serve Altus, Oklahoma, United States. The station, established in 1974, is owned and operated by Monarch Broadcasting, Inc. It airs a full service mix of music, news, sports, and local programming. The station is simulcast on sister station KWHW.
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.
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.
Delbert Hugh Davis (1883-1965) was the seventh poet laureate of Oklahoma, appointed in 1963 by Governor Henry Bellmon. Davis was for a time associated with a notable group of writers based in Fallis, Oklahoma. Davis primarily earned his living through farming and ranching, and he self-published his only book, Pipe Dreams, in 1952.
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.
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.
