Skip to main content

Storyteller and humorist Garrison Keillor will read three poems by Dr. Ken Hada, associate professor of English and languages at East Central University, on "The Writer's Almanac" radio show next week.

Keillor hosts the daily radio program produced by American Public Media. In each program he presents a list of cultural events and anniversaries, many associated with literature and literary figures, then ends with the poetry reading.

He will read Hada's "Old Men" on Monday [OCT. 25], "A Blessing" on Wednesday [OCT. 27] and "Mormon Missionaries Pay Me a Visit" on Oct. 30 [SATURDAY]. Keillor, who is best known for his "A Prairie Home Companion" radio show, will state the poem's title, Hada's name and the title of the poems' source, which is Hada's book "Spare Parts."

The program is distributed for broadcast to about 320 non-commercial public radio stations around the country. The audio is streamed and podcast from and archived on the APM website at http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org. It also may be streamed and archived on carrying station websites. The text of the poems will be included on the websites.

The closest radio station that carries "The Writer's Almanac" is KLCU-FM 90.3 in Ardmore (Sunday at 7:34 a.m., Monday through Friday at 9:01 a.m. and 7:01 p.m., and Saturday at 8:34 a.m.)

Other Oklahoma radio stations that air the program are KOCU-FM 90.1 in Altus, KYCU-FM 89.1 in Clinton, KCCU-FM 89.3 in Lawton, KOSU-FM 91.7 in Stillwater, and KSGS-FM 89.5 and KWGS-FM HDD1 in Tulsa.

Hada has published two books of poems, "Spare Parts" and "The Way of the Wind." His work has appeared in such publications as "The Explicator," "Southwestern American Literature," "Oklahoma English Journal," and "American Indian Culture and Research Journal."

More than 30 of his poems have appeared in "Travelin' Music: A Poetic Tribute to Woody Guthrie," "Crosstimbers: A Multicultural, Interdisciplinary Journal," "California Quarterly," "Desert Candle," "Night Whispers: A Poetry & Prose Anthology," "Oklahoma Today," "Poesia," "Kansas City Voices," "Red River Review," "Flint Hills Review" and other journals and reviews.

He has been the director of ECU's annual Scissortail Creative Writing Festival since 2006.

Several of Hada's poems can be read on his website, kenhadapoetry.com.

# # #

Share this post