Crown Rock Media

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“The Elk in the Glade” author and Nebraska native sets Nebraska Book Tour

Kearney native Bruce E. Whitacre will embark on a Nebraska book tour in April for The Elk in the Glade: The World of Pioneer and Painter Jennie Hicks, a poetry collection celebrating his great-grandmother, a pioneer girl who went on to become an accomplished landscape painter in 20th century rural Nebraska.

The tour coincides with “Jennie Fitch Hicks: Paintings and Poetry” a special exhibit of Hicks’ work at the Dawson County Historical Society and Museum in Lexington from Feb. 10 through Aug. 3. More than 20 paintings from the collections of Hick’s descendants will be on display, marking her first museum show.

Jennie Fitch Hicks was born in 1879 in Cleveland, Ohio, and moved with her family to Nebraska in the 1880’s. After marriage, childrearing and the untimely death of her husband, she moved to Farnam in the late 1930’s and painted more than 1,500 landscapes in oil with 1,000 sold to patrons across the United States, Canada and Britain. She died in 1977.

Acclaim for Whitacre’s book has come from both the East Coast publishing world, as well as publications and individuals with Nebraska ties. Publisher’s Weekly BookLife editors noted of their pick, “Side by side with the paintings, Whitacre’s book serves as a deeply personal yet relatable account of one woman’s life and turn-of-the-century lifestyle—and clearly demonstrates why this talented painter and pioneer stands as someone to remember.”

"Bruce E. Whitacre's collection, The Elk in the Glade, is a lovely and loving celebration of his remarkable great grandmother, Jennie Hicks's, life and art, and an inspiring example of how a woman's artistic discipline gave her the courage and insight to transcend the hardships of the Nebraska frontier," said Ladette Randolph, Editor in Chief, Ploughshares

“It’s one family’s story, an intimate portrait full of channeled memories merging into myth, set against a backdrop provided by the self-taught painter whom Whitacre takes as his muse - his own great-grandmother, the prairie matriarch whose dreamy works focused exclusively on an imagined elsewhere,” said Thomas Reese Gallagher, managing editor of the Willa Cather Review.

While Whitacre notes the tour schedule is still being finalized, readings and presentations have been scheduled for Kearney, Lexington, Lincoln, McCook and Red Cloud.

Dates, times and locations include:

·      April 4: Kearney Public Library, 2020 1st Avenue, Kearney. Noon workshop: “Exploring narrative and poetry in The Elk in the Glade.” ($15 workshop fee, see website for more info). Reading and Book Signing at 7pm, free of charge. https://cityofkearney.org/1475/Library

·      April 6, 5pm: Francie and Finch Bookshop, 130 South 13th Street, Lincoln. Reading and Book Signing. https://francieandfinch.com/events-page/

·      April 13, 7pm: Dawson County Historical Society Museum, 805 N. Taft Street, Lexington. Reading and Book Signing  http://dchsmuseum.com/upcoming-events/

·      April 17, 1pm: Red Cloud Opera House Gallery, 413 N Webster Street, Red Cloud, Reading and Book Signing, https://www.willacather.org/events/free-author-talk-bruce-whitacre

·      April 20, 7pm: Museum of the High Plains, 421 Norris Ave, McCook, Reading and Book Signing  Museum of The High Plains | McCook NE | Facebook

·      April 22, 2pm: South Pointe Barnes & Noble, Lincoln. Reading and Book Signing  https://stores.barnesandnoble.com/store/2939

·      April 23, 1pm: The Bookworm, 2501 So. 90th St., Ste. 111, Omaha. Reading and signing https://www.bookwormomaha.com/event/bruce-whitacre-will-sign

More information is available at www.crownrockmedia.com.

Whitacre will be available for interviews, podcasts and other opportunities pertaining to the book and the Jennie Fitch Hicks show. Inquiries should be addressed to crownrockmedia@gmail.com.

Bruce E. Whitacre, Author

His debut collection, The Elk in the Glade: The World of Pioneer and Painter Jennie Hicks, from Crown Rock Media, is a 2022 Publishers Weekly Editors Pick. Poets Wear Prada will publish his second collection, Good Housekeeping, in 2023. His poems have appeared in Big City Lit, RFD, North of Oxford, Poets Wear Prada’s The Rainbow Project (nominated for Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net), and World Literature Today among others, and are included in the anthologies American Graveyard, Best International Haiku 2022, Brownstone Poets 2021 and 2022, I Wanna be Loved by You: Poems on Marilyn Monroe, and The Wonders of Winter, as well as the craft book, The Strategic Poet. Prior to devoting full time to writing, he was an arts manager for over 30 years in the New York and national nonprofit theatre, where he helped craft award-winning theatre seasons, and created and funded programs in arts education and equity, diversity and inclusion for major regional theatres. His career began in management, including the World Food Programme in Rome, Italy during the 1980’s as it transitioned into the independent, emergency-focused agency that was awarded the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize. He graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he was a member of FarmHouse Fraternity and was inducted into the Innocents Society. He holds an MFA from New York Univeristy’s Tisch School of the Arts. He is a native of Kearney, Nebraska and lives in New York. More at www.brucewhitacre.com.

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Photo Credits: Bruce E. Whitacre, Federico Pestilli

                        Jennie Fitch Hicks, ca 1955, North Platte Telegraph