Nevada Humanities Presents Poet and Storyteller Waddie Mitchell

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 30, 2014
Contact: Bobbie Ann Howell
Nevada Humanities Program Gallery
1017 S. First Street, #190 Las Vegas, NV 89101
702-800-4670 / [email protected]
nevadahumanities.org
Nevada Humanities Presents Poet and Storyteller Waddie Mitchell at the
Vegas Valley Book Festival on October 18, 2014
Las Vegas, NV – Nevada Humanities presents internationally acclaimed poet and storyteller Waddie
Mitchell at the Vegas Valley Book Festival, Saturday, October 18, at 3:00 p.m. at the Historic Fifth
Street School Auditorium, 401 S. Fourth Street, in downtown Las Vegas. Mitchell’s performance will be
followed by a conversation with the audience, moderated by Christina Barr, Nevada Humanities
Executive Director. This event is free and open to the public.
Renowned cowboy poet Waddie Mitchell is a master of spinning tales in rhyme and meter. Within his
stories are the common bonds we all share, moments both grand and commonplace, the humorous and
the tragic, the life and death struggles and triumphs that we each recognize. In 1984, he helped organize
the first Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, NV, and gave his first public performance. Since then he has
been performing internationally for audiences from Los Angeles to Zurich, and all points in between.
Mitchell founded the Working Ranch Cowboys Association with a mission to create scholarships and
crisis funds for working cowboys and their families. His books and recordings, including his new album,
Sweat Equity, have received critical acclaim. In 2011, he received The National Storytelling Network
Circle of Excellence Award, as well as being inducted into the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame. He is also
the recipient of the prestigious Nevada Heritage Award. In 2014, Mitchell was named Nevada’s
Sesquicentennial Honorary Poet. Waddie Mitchell announces his new book, One Hundred Poems that
will debut at the Vegas Valley Book Festival.
The Vegas Valley Book Festival, scheduled Oct. 16-18, is the largest literary event in Las Vegas. Now
in its 13th year, the festival is free and open to the public thanks to support from the producing partners:
the city of Las Vegas; Las Vegas-Clark County Library District; the Beverly Rogers, Carol C. Harter
Black Mountain Institute at UNLV; the local chapter of AIGA, the professional association for design;
Las Vegas Review-Journal; Nevada Humanities; and Barnes & Noble. For more information, visit
vegasvalleybookfestival.org.
The Nevada Humanities Program Gallery is located at 1017 S. First Street, #190, Las Vegas, in the Art
Square Garden Courtyard downtown within the 18b Arts District. The Program Gallery is open Monday
through Thursday, from 1:00 – 5:00 p.m., and open late until 9:00 p.m. on Preview Thursdays and the
first Friday of each month for First Friday events. For more information about Nevada Humanities visit
nevadahumanities.org.
Nevada Humanities is one of 56 state and territorial humanities councils affiliated with the National
Endowment for the Humanities. With offices in Reno and Las Vegas, Nevada Humanities creates public
programs and supports public projects statewide that define the Nevada experience and facilitate the
exploration of issues that matter to Nevadans and their communities.
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