English honors professor Dr. Jane S. Hoogestraat enjoyed the December release of her book, “Border States.” As winner of the John Ciardi Prize for Poetry, Hoogestraat’s earned a $1,000 award and publication of “Border States,” by BkMk Press, a University of Missouri-Kansas City press. It can be purchased on their website or on Amazon.
About ‘Border States’
According to the 72-page poetry collection’s Amazon description, “Hoogestraat’s meditations on rural life analyze the topography, history, folk music, religion, and vernacular of the heartland, offering crisp and gentle portraits of Americana.”
Luis J. Rodriguez, who selected “Border States” for the John Ciardi Prize, said of its content, “the people, the soil, the tumultuous skies are unforgettable, as are these poems, and that’s the most important aspect of language in verse—the way it makes you feel and think.”
About Hoogestraat
Hoogestraat specializes in 20th and 21st Century poetry and literary theory and has had work appear in publications such as The Southern Review, Crab Orchard Review, and Mars Hill Review. She has published two chapbooks and coedited “Time, Memory and the Verbal Arts: Essays on the Thought of Walter Ong.”