Goddard MFA alum Kevin Rabas has been named Kansas Poet Laureate.  He will serve in this position for two years.

Kevin Rabas teaches at Emporia State University, where he leads the poetry and playwriting tracks and chairs the Department of English, Modern Languages, and Journalism. He has seven books, including Lisa’s Flying Electric Piano, a Kansas Notable Book and Nelson Poetry Book Award winner. He is the winner of the Langston Hughes Award for Poetry, the Victor Contoski Poetry Award, the Jerome Johanning Playwriting Award, and the Salina New Voice Award.
The theme for his laureateship will be “finding the extraordinary in the ordinary.”  In the Kansas City Star, Rabas says this is “about reminding us to observe, acknowledge the beauty in our lives and how every little moment in our lives can be meaningful.  Observe and cherish the world and our lives in it.”  Also a jazz drummer, he plans “to combine poetry and music to draw new and seasoned readers” to poetry.