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March 15, 2013
2013 Tallgrass Writing Workshop
Registration is now open for the 2013 Tallgrass Writing Workshop to be held June 1 & 2 on the ESU campus. Workshop faculty include film journalist and screenwriter, Courtney Joyner; poet and recipient of Great Plains Alliance’s Great Books of the Great Plains, William Sheldon; suspense novelist and former FBI Agent, Mark Bouton; Kansas Notable book author, Jim Hoy; ESU Creative Writing Program director,Amy Sage Webb;radio, television, and print journalist, Patsy Terrell; fiction writer, essayist, and author of Wildwordsrightnow online blog Jeremy Wild; and novelist and creator of The Velvet Podcast, Caleb Ross. Rounding out the list is ESU faculty member and three-time SPUR Award winning writer,Max McCoy.
2013 TWW Brochure and Registration
January 16, 2013
2013 Annual Friends of the Plains Dinner
April 5, 2013
6:00 p.m.
The annual Friends of the Plains dinner will be held Friday, April 5, 2013. We will begin at 6:00 p.m. with
a hosted reception in the newly remodeled Colonial Ballroom of the Memorial Union on the Emporia
State University Campus followed by dinner at 6:45 p.m. and a conversation with author, Robert Day.
Robert Day was born in Shawnee, a suburb of Kansas City, in 1941. He grew up there
before it was all one big suburb. He finished his B.A. and M.A. degrees (the M.A. in 1965) at the
University of Kansas, and then went to teach at Fort Hays State University. From there he took
a Master of Fine Arts degree at the University Arkansas and began working in the English
Department at Washington College, where he is currently writer in residence. He returns
to Kansas for the summers, living in Ludell, a small town in Rawlins County. Kansas remains
the setting of much of his fiction. Day’s works include The Last Cattle Drive, Speaking French
in Kansas, and The Committee to Save the World.
His forthcoming collection of stories will be published spring 2013
Reservations for the Annual Friends Dinner can be made by calling the center (620)341-5574, emailing sbrinkma@emporia.edu or downloading the online form returning to the Center by April 1, 2013.
September 24, 2012
April 23, 2012
2012 Tallgrass Writing Workshop
Registration is now open for the 2012 Tallgrass Writing Workshop to be held June 2 & 3 on the ESU campus. Workshop faculty include author and Kansas Public Radio commentator, Thomas Fox Averill; writer and researcher, Dr. James Kearney; motivational speaker and inspirational writer, Linda Apple; Kansas Notable book author, Jim Hoy; ESU Creative Writing Program director,Amy Sage Webb;essayist and weekly columnist, Cheryl Unruh; and novelist and creator of The Velvet Podcast, Caleb Ross. Rounding out the list is ESU faculty member and three-time SPUR Award winning writer,Max McCoy.
2012 TWW Registration Materials
February 28, 2012
Friends of the Plains Dinner
April 13, 2011
The annual Friends of the Plains dinner will be held Friday, April 13, 2012. The event will kick-off at 6:00pm with a hosted reception at the Emporia Granada Theater followed by a buffet dinner from the Flying W Ranch, and guest speaker, Erika Nelson. Nelson is an independent artist, educator, and director of World’s Largest Things, Inc. Erika explores the back roads of the United States in search of the odd and unique in her mobile museum, The World’s Largest Collection of the World’s Smallest Version of the World’s Largest Things. According to Nelson, “I gather stories of people who build outsider art environments, as well as vernacular architecture…the connection to community and visual explorations combine in this presentation, Folk Art in Kansas.” For additional information or to make dinner reservations please email Susan Brinkman on or before April 3, 2012.
April 5, 2011
2011 TALLGRASS WRITING WORKSHOP
Registration is now open for the 2011 Tallgrass Writing Workshop to be held June 4 - 5 on the ESU campus. Workshop faculty include senior agent with Andrea Hurst Literary Management, Gordon Warnock; author of more than 60 books, W.C. Jameson; poet, memoirist, and novelist, Laurie Wagner Buyer; Kansas Notable book author, Jim Hoy; and Amy Sage Webb, director of the ESU Creative Writing Program and professor of American literature. Rounding out the list is ESU faculty member and three-time SPUR Award winning writer,Max McCoy.
March 3, 2011
Friends of the Plains Dinner
April 1, 2011
The annual Friends of the Plains dinner will be held Friday, April 1, 2011. The event will kick-off with a hosted reception in the Memorial Union Ballroom on the ESU campus at 6:00 P.M. followed by a buffet dinner, entertainment, and door prizes. Jennifer Haugh, editor of Kansas! Magazine( www.kansasmag.com/ ) is our guest speaker for the evening. Ms. Haugh will share the history of the magazine and discuss the roll of the magazine for the future. For additional information or to make dinner reservations, please email sbrinkma@emporia.edu
November 9, 2010
Center Celebrates 150th with Inaugural Exhibit
The inaugural exhibit in the Emporia Arts Center gallery will feature the works of seventeen Plains Photo Project artists. The show, Iconic Kansas, was curated by National Geographic photographer, Jim Richardson and is a celebration of the 150th anniversary of Kansas statehood. The images examine culture, wildlife, landscape, weather, and life in the Great Plains. Iconic Kansas is a joint venture between the Center for Great Plains Studies and the Emporia Arts Council with funding from the Katherine K. White Foundation.
The exhibit will open January 18, 2011 and run through March 2, 2011. A reception will be held at 7pm on Wednesday, January 19. Mr. Richardson will be on hand to comment on his selections for the show. Jim Richardson is a photographer for National Geographic Magazine and a contributing editor of its sister publication, TRAVELER Magazine. Richardson has photographed more than 25 stories for National Geographic. In addition to his color photography, Richardson has built a distinguished body of black-and-white documentary work about rural Kansas life..
The Plains Photo Project began in 2007 as an online gallery for images related to all aspects of the Great Plains. The gallery is a repository for scholarship of the life and culture of the Great Plains region. It is maintained by the Center for Great Plains Studies. The variety of images whether historic, scientific, nostalgic, or simply beautiful, reflect the breadth of Great Plains life and culture. Amateur and professional photographers, researchers, scholars, dwellers and visitors are always welcome to submit photographs to the Center for inclusion in the online gallery. The wide range of individuals represented on the site give a unique depth to the flavor of life in Kansas and the Great Plains.
Around this same time in 2007, the Emporia Arts Council began the enormous undertaking of a capitol campaign to build a new multi-million dollar arts center. Four short years later, the EAC dream of a new center is now a reality. Again, the breadth and depth of community members coming together to create such a grand space in which to celebrate the arts gives the casual passerby a marvelous glimpse of the flavor of life in this Kansas community.
September 17, 2010
Introducing the Hobbs Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve Collection
Please join us on Friday, October 22, 2010 at 1pm in william Allen White Library for a reception honoring Julia and the late Edward Hobbs for their donation of remarkable research materials to the Center. Mr. and Mrs. Hobbs spent over 10 years researching the land that is now the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. The Hobbs Collection contains over 150 books, 120 reels of micro-film, and numerous primary source materials. Selected items from the collection will be on display and refreshments will be served. Remarks and introductions to begin at 1:20pm.
April 26, 2010
2010 TALLGRASS WRITING WORKSHOP
Registration is now open for the 2010 Tallgrass Writing Workshop to be held June 25 - 27 on the ESU campus. Workshop faculty include distinguished writer and former Doubleday editor, Greg Tobin; author of 14 books, the latest of which is the novel Devil's Keep, Phil Finch; singer-song writer Annie Wilson; Kansas Notable book author, Steven Hind; and former FBI agent and suspense novelist, Mark Bouton.
Rounding out the list are ESU faculty members Max McCoy, his latest novel is Canyon Diablo and Jim Hoy whose forthcoming book is Cowboy's Lament: A Life on the Open Range.
April 15, 2010
ANNUAL FRIENDS OF THE PLAINS DINNER
EMPORIA, Kan - The annual Friends of the Plains dinner will be held April 23 at 6:30 p.m. in the Ballroom of the ESU Memorial Union. The Friends organization supports the mission and yearly activities of the Center for Great Plains Studies. Membership to the Friends organization is $50 and includes dinner for two and yearly subscriptions to Tales Out of School, Heritage of the Great Plains, and the Great Plains Newsletter.For dinner reservations call 620.341.5574 or email cgps@emporia.edu 
The dinner speaker this year is Bob Gress. Bob Gress has photographed wildlife for publications for over 30 years. Over 3,000 of his photos have appeared in books, magazines, posters, postcards, interpretive signs, and educational screensavers. He has coauthored The Guide to Kansas Birds and Birding Hot Spots, Faces of the Great Plains: Prairie Wildlife, Watching Kansas Wildlife: A Guide to 101 Sites, Kansas Wetlands: A Wildlife Treasury, and Kansas Wildlife. Bob is director of the Great Plains Nature Center (GPNC) in Wichita Kansas. The GPNC is a cooperative project between the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Kansas Department of Wildlife & Parks, and the City of Wichita Park Department.
February 5, 2010
TALLGRASS WORKSHOP TO OFFER
HIGH SCHOOL WRITERS COMPETITION
EMPORIA, Kan. -The Tallgrass Writing Workshop is pleased to announce the Don Coldsmith Young Writers Award for Kansas high school juniors and seniors. The award honors the life-long achievements of western writer and columnist, Don Coldsmith, by encouraging young writers in their craft. Awards will be presented during the 25th Annual Tallgrass Writing Workshop to be held June 25 – 27 on the ESU Campus.
All Kansas high school juniors and seniors are eligible to enter the competition. A minimum of five double-spaced typed pages of prose, poetry, or fiction will be juried by the workshop faculty. Winning students will receive individual instruction and critique from members of the esteemed workshop faculty and complimentary access to all workshop events during the weekend. Students should send works to Max McCoy, Tallgrass Workshop Coordinator, Box 4019, Emporia State University, 1200 Commercial, Emporia, KS 66801. Deadline for receipt of submissions is May 15 and entries cannot be returned.
Don Coldsmith, a founder of the workshop, was a prolific writer with more than 40 books, 150 magazine articles, and 1,800 newspaper pieces. His syndicated column Horsin’ Around was a weekly staple of good humor, common sense, and the most interesting and often over looked details of life.
Don was the 1990 winner of the Spur Award for best novel, given by the Western Writers of America. He was also a recipient of the Owen Wister Award for lifetime achievement, named a Distinguished Kansan by Native Sons and Daughters of Kansas, and received the Edgar Wolfe Award for his contribution to literature.
Coldsmith died June 25, 2009. He was 83.
The Tallgrass Writing Workshop has a long history of excellence in serving writers at all stages of career development. Participants include teachers, novelists, poets, journalists, historians, and those writing family histories. The workshop is offered by the ESU Center for Great Plains Studies and the Department of English, Modern Languages, and Journalism.
August 15, 2009
A Window on Flint HIlls Folklife:
The Mardin Ranch Diaries 1862 1863
Rarely are detailed glimpses of 19th century life in the Flint Hills available to the 21st century reader. The recently published book, “A Window on Flint Hills Folklife: The Mardin Ranch Diaries 1862-1863,” gives readers just that glimpse on early life in Chase and Lyon counties.
Published by The Center for Great Plains Studies at Emporia State University and edited and introduced by Jim Hoy, Professor, ESU Department of English, the book allows readers to travel back to the days of farming and stock raising, pasture burning, and daily customs during the early settling of the Flint Hills.