By SALINA POST
The next installment of A Prairie Conversation with Wes Jackson and Friends will feature a poetic twist. Renowned poets Robert Hass and Jesse Nathan will join Jackson for an evening exploring ecology, history, literature, and visions of a sustainable future.
The event is scheduled for 6–8 p.m. on Tuesday, April 30, in Room 201 of Peters Science Hall on the Kansas Wesleyan University campus. Admission is free.
Jackson, a 1958 KWU graduate, professor emeritus of biology, and co-founder of The Land Institute, will moderate the discussion and an audience Q&A following the presentations.
Hass, a former U.S. Poet Laureate (1995–1997), is the author of Time and Materials, which won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. His other acclaimed works include Sun Under Wood, Summer Snow, and Poet in the New World, a 2024 release of translated works by Czeslaw Milosz. Hass is professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley.
Joining the conversation is Jesse Nathan, a Kansas-raised poet whose debut collection, Eggtooth, was published in 2023 and received the Great Lakes Colleges Association's New Writers Award and the Housatonic Book Prize. A Bethel College graduate, Nathan’s poetry has appeared in The Paris Review, Best American Poetry, The New Republic, and the I-70 Review. He teaches English at UC Berkeley and frequently returns to his family farm near Turkey Creek in McPherson County.
Books by both poets will be available for purchase at Red Fern Booksellers in downtown Salina.
In the days leading up to the poetry conversation, Kansas Wesleyan and The Land Institute will host a weekend of events celebrating Kernza—a perennial grain developed under the guidance of Dr. Wes Jackson that has the potential to revolutionize sustainable farming.
The celebration begins Friday, April 25, with free public tours of the Heartland RIFT farms and The Land Institute, followed by lunch and a spring plant identification walk. That evening, guests are invited to The Farm and Odd Fellows in Minneapolis for a beer tasting featuring Kernza-based brews, dinner, and screenings of the documentary Beer Saves the World.
The weekend concludes Saturday, April 26, with the red carpet world premiere of Prairie Prophecy, a new feature-length documentary about Jackson’s life and legacy, at the Stiefel Theatre in downtown Salina. Registration is required for most events and can be completed at www.prairieprophecy.com.
The event is presented by KWU’s Community Resilience Hub, the Resilience Studies Consortium, and The Land Institute. A recording will be available afterward at www.kwu.edu/crh and www.resiliencestudiesconsortium.com.
For more information, visit www.kwu.edu/news.