Wayne State College will be hosting the Plains Writers Series at 2 p.m. April 14 in the student lounge of Humanities.  

The event’s keynote speaker will be Christine Stewart-Nuñez, South Dakota’s poet laureate from 2019-2021. Nuñez has written and edited several books, including “The Poet and The Architect” and “Bluewords Greening,” which earned the 2018 Whirling Prize.  

Nuñez emphasizes different perspectives in her poetry, exploring how different forms of art can relate to different relationships and aspects of life.  

“As a writer, I make things with words: stories, arguments, scenes, lines,” Nuñez said. “Writing in the genre of poetry allows me to play with music and imagery; I use the constraints of form to liberate my imagination and see things–even everyday objects–in a new way. The themes of my work can be rather heavy, and I think that is what draws a lot of readers and writers to artful genres. I explore love and love lost, life becoming and life-changing. In my newest book, ‘The Poet & The Architect,’ I use architectural motifs to think about my relationship to my husband, a professor of architecture, as well as the ways we’ve built our relationship, our family, and our parallel arts. In my other books, I focus on place and family dynamics. I also use works of art as springboards in my poems.”  

She also says that she wants to inspire listeners to create works and pieces of their own and how they view things, whether it is through words or other materials.  

“Of course, I hope to shift the way listeners perceive something in their world, since that is the purpose of most creative work,” Nuñez said.
Chad Christensen, a professor at WSC and the event’s director, emphasizes that the event’s purpose is to highlight regional writers and give them a platform to be heard.  

“Not only does it give the regional writers a venue and platform to read their work, but it also helps the community to see and meet the authors,” he said.  

He encourages audience members to take the opportunity to talk to Nuñez one-on-one after the reading and even purchase a book if able.  

“This event is a really great opportunity for students and members of the community to engage with the writers, which is both exciting for me to see and for the writers and community to experience,” Christensen said.  

The event will be free to those who wish to attend, along with being livestreamed on Facebook, according to Christensen.