Kenneth Wayne Brewer (November 28, 1941 – March 15, 2006) was an American

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

and longtime scholar who resided in

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

, where he served as Poet Laureate. Born in

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

, he attended Butler University and

Western New Mexico University Western New Mexico University is a public university in Silver City, New Mexico, United States. It was founded in 1893. History Founded in the Territory of New Mexico on February 11, 1893 as the New Mexico Normal School, the school began to o ...

in the 1960s, then earned a master's degree in

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from the English-speaking world. The English language has developed over more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian languages, Anglo-Frisian d ...

from

New Mexico State University New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a public, land-grant, research university in Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1888, it is the state's oldest public institution of higher education, and was the original land-g ...

, followed by a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

from the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

, where he worked with

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

winner Henry Taylor, in 1973. Since that time he taught a wide variety of courses at

Utah State University Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public university, public land grant colleges, land-grant research university with its main campus in Logan, Utah, United States. Founded in 1888 under the Morrill Land-Grant Acts as Utah's federal ...

, concentrating on mentoring creative writers at the graduate level, while publishing prolifically and speaking extensively. He died after a nine-month battle with

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of ...

Publications

In over three decades at Utah State, Brewer published eight volumes of his

poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

as well as more than individual 300 poems, essays and reviews in literary journals. Collections of his poetry may be found in * ''The Place In Between'', Limberlost Press, 1998 * ''Lake's Edge'', Woodhedge Press, 1997 * ''Hoping for all, Dreading Nothing'', Slanting Rain Press, 1994 * ''A Fine Art Book of Poems with Woodcuts by Harry Taylor'' * ''To Remember What is Lost'', USU Press, 1982 (), 68pp. Re-issued in paperback, 1989 () * ''The Collected Poems of Mongrel'', Compost Press, 1981 * ''Round Again: A Cycle of Poems'', published under a grant from the Utah Institute of Fine Arts, 1980 * ''Sum of Accidents, Chapbook Series'', Alliance for the Varied Arts, 1977 * ''Places, Shadows, Dancing People'', USU Monograph Series, Vol. XVII, No. 1, 1969, pp. 31–47, with Tom Lyons, Joyce Wood and Robert Wood.

Reviews

* "His poems are direct, accessible and free of the arcane references or pretentious language that can make poetry feel elitist." — KUTV, Salt Lake Cit

* "achingly beautiful," composed of "spare and unimposing imagery and dialogue" — Starr Coulbrooke, quoted i
''Continuum''
* "Utah Poet Laureate Ken Brewer is known for his fine poetry and his wicked sense of humor" — Michael Sha

* "luminously gifted ... a man who writes of passion and earth-tending in a chunk of America in which it has begun to seem that the only passion burning for the earth is about profit" — Mary Sojourner, i
Mountain Gazette

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brewer, Ken Poets laureate of Utah Deaths from pancreatic cancer in the United States Butler University alumni Western New Mexico University alumni New Mexico State University alumni University of Utah alumni Utah State University faculty American academics of English literature 1941 births 2006 deaths Poets from Utah Writers from Indianapolis 20th-century American poets 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers Poets from Indiana Deaths from cancer in Utah