Don Welch

Don Welch (born June 3, 1932) is a poet and an educator who was born in Hastings, Nebraska. The author of several published poetry collections and regular contributor to literary magazines, Welch was an English professor at the University of Nebraska at Kearney from 1959 to 1997. While there he was awarded the Distinguished Paul W. Reynolds and Clarice Kingston Reynolds Endowed Chair in English, Poetry & Creative Writing. In June 2001 a bronze sculpture of Welch was finished and dedicated to him on the campus.

Born in Hastings, Nebraska, Welch spent his early years in the towns of Gothenburg as well as Columbus. After graduating from Kearney Senior High School in Kearney, Nebraska he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from University of Nebraska at Kearney; a Master of Arts degree from the University of Northern Colorado, and; a Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Welch and his wife Marcia recently celebrated their fifty-fifth wedding anniversary, and have five children.

Career

Welch's early career was spent teaching English at Fort Morgan High School in Fort Morgan, Colorado, Gothenburg High School in Gothenburg, Nebraska, and at Hastings College in Hastings, Nebraska. After retiring from full-time teaching Welch has continued to teach various poetry, Literature and philosophy classes and continues to be an avid reader and writer of poetry. His newest book of poetry, When Memory Gives Dust a Face, is scheduled to be released in the fall of 2008. It is an autobiographical collection of new poems that will span nearly five decades.

Fellow Nebraska Poet William Kloefkorn has been quoted as saying, "Don Welch moves among the poor like a modern day Whitman who has mastered the fine art of pruning…With a minimum of words he evokes a maximum of feelings and sympathies. The rest of us need the poet's words to bring us those places we have neither the time nor the courage to explore."[1]

Bibliography

Awards and honors

References

  1. "What the Critics Say About Don Welch" Nebraska Center for Writers at Creighton University. Retrieved 7/8/08.
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