Across the Generations: Celebrating the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering
Banner graphic courtesy of the Western Folklife Center. Picture Show by Eric Bowman; design by Rob Story.
By Staff of Nevada Humanities
Once again, The Western Folklife Center in Elko keeps traditions alive and will host the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering on January 30 - February 4, 2023. This will be the first in-person Gathering since 2020. Nevada Humanities has proudly supported the Gathering every year—now in its 38th season.
If you have never been, you are in for an experience. The Gathering is a weeklong festival of poetry, music, and cultural arts, with workshops beginning on Sunday, January 30, and a wide range of events happening night and day throughout the week at the Western Folklife Center, the Elko Convention Center, and other sites in Elko.
“We’re excited to be back in person!” said Brad McMullen, Programs & National Cowboy Poetry Gathering Manager at the Western Folklife Center. “The National Cowboy Poetry Gathering is all about community, and it’s great to be able to gather again with all our friends, whether they’ve been coming for 38 years or this is their first time to Elko. It’ll be jam-packed full of rural creativity and cleverness as we look across the generations to celebrate those who came before and those who are carrying cowboy poetry forward into the future.”
The Gathering hosts Western poets, songwriters, artists, artisans, and land stewards as they come together, bringing new and old stories to light.
For the past 38 years, Nevada Humanities has supported the event’s Keynote Address and other humanities components with a Major Project Grant. The keynote address sets the tone for the Gathering. This year’s Keynote features Joy Harjo, the first Native American U.S. Poet Laureate who served a remarkable three terms, speaking about a journey celebrating creativity through acknowledgement of the ancestors of poetry and music through story. Don’t miss this Keynote Address on Thursday, February 2, 2023, at 9:30-10:30 am at the Elko Convention Center Auditorium.
We are excited to catch this conversation: Importance of Your Voice: A Conversation with Joy Harjo and Living Nations, Living Words Poets. This event features former U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo with poets Henry Real Bird, M.L. Smoker, and nila northsun from Harjo’s Living Nations, Living Words project and promises an intimate, lively conversation. You can listen to engaging poetry by these outstanding contemporary Native poets from across the nation. This event will be held at the Great Basin College in Elko on Thursday, February 2, at 4-5:30 pm PST.
Photo of Joy Harjo by Matika Wilbur.
Nevada Humanities is also supporting a key program featuring Dee Davis, president and founder of the Center for Rural Strategies, as part of its A More Perfect Union initiative. Small Towns, Big Ideas & Knowing the Value of What You’ve Got Before It’s Gone will explore the big ideas and big conversations happening across the nation in rural communities. This event will be held at the G Three Bar Theater at the Western Folklife Center on Friday, February 3, at 3:15 pm.
What events are you hoping to catch? We hope to see you at the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko. Click here for a schedule of the Gathering events.
These programs are sponsored by Nevada Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Photo courtesy of Dee Davis.