Karen Kovacik Chosen Indiana Poet Laureate

The Indiana Arts Commission (IAC) has announced selection of Karen Kovacik, whose work has appeared in Valparaiso Poetry Review, as the next Indiana State Poet Laureate. Kovacik will serve a two-year term beginning in January of 2012. Under the guidance of Lewis Ricci, the executive director of the Indiana Arts Commission, a panel of seven members, who represent state supported and private institutions of higher education, chose the Indiana State Poet Laureate.

Therefore, the VPR Poem of the Week is Karen Kovacik’s “Flooding the House,” which appeared in the Spring/Summer 2010 issue (Volume XI, Number 2) of Valparaiso Poetry Review.

Karen Kovacik is the author of Metropolis Burning (Cleveland State University Press, 2005), which won the 2006 Best Book of Indiana award in poetry, Beyond the Velvet Curtain (Kent State University Press, 1999), and Nixon and I (Kent State University Press, 1998). Her work also has appeared in a number of journals, such as Glimmer Train, Massachusetts Review, Salmagundi, and West Branch. She has received a translation Fulbright to Warsaw, Poland. Kovacik is director of creative writing and an adjunct professor of women’s studies at IUPUI.

Tuesday of each week One Poet’s Notes highlights an excellent work by a poet selected from the issues of Valparaiso Poetry Review, except when other posts with news or updates preempt the usual appearance of this item, with the recommendation that readers revisit it.