ROCK SPRINGS — Three writers and former faculty members of Western Wyoming Community College will return to give a reading from their various works Wednesday evening Oct. 29 at 7 p.m.
Writer, editor and publisher Rick Kempa will join memoirist Marcia Hensley and Wyoming Poet Laureate Barbara Smith for the reading.
“My colleagues and fellow writers are coming home, back to Sweetwater County, back to where much of our writing began,” Smith said. “We are looking forward to sharing those experiences and our stories.” The reading will be held in Room 1302 at the college where the three taught in the English department.
In addition to being colleagues, the three writers have had a writing connection for many years. Now living in Grand Junction, Colorado with his wife Fern, poet and essayist Kempa is also publisher and the founding editor of Deep Wild Press, which publishes the annual literary journal “Deep Wild: Writing from the Backcountry.” He has published Hensley’s memoir “Away from it All” and Smith’s poetry collection “Putting a Name on It.” Kempa has authored three collections of poems, “Keeping the Quiet” (2008), “Ten Thousand Voices” (2013), and “Too Vast for Sleep” (2020), and most recently a collection of short essays about the backpacking life, “Truths of the Trail.”
Hensley first came to Wyoming to work for the summer in Yellowstone Park and she fell in love with the state. When she had the opportunity to move to Rock Springs to teach at Western, she returned to the place which became her home. Hensley’s most recent book, “Away from it All,” chronicles her journey as she finds her way to Wyoming, the place and the people she comes to love. At Western, Hensley taught English and Western American Literature and directed the Western American Studies program. She has been widely published in a variety of collections, including “Eden Valley Voices: A Centennial Collection,” “Crazy Woman Creek: Women Rewrite the West,” “Hard Ground 2001: Writing in the Rockies,” and in the syndicated column, “Writers on the Range” to name a few. In 2024, Hensley was the recipient of the Willa Literary Award in creative non-fiction from the “Women Writing the West.” Additionally, her non-fiction book, “Staking Her Claim: Women Homesteading the West,” was a finalist in scholarly non-fiction from that organization in 2009. Marcia currently makes her home in Laramie.
Smith was appointed the Wyoming Poet Laureate by Gov. Mark Gordon in 2023. She is the ninth poet laureate in state history and the first writer selected from Sweetwater County. “Barbara’s poetry captures the essence of Wyoming and is instantly relatable,” Gordon said. “Her work speaks to the incredible changes that have taken place in the state and across the West since the arrival of the first pioneers.”
Smith taught at Western for 38 years, retiring in 2007. She has been published in a variety of collections. She was the recipient of the Governor’s Arts Award in 2006, the Neltje Blanchan award for Nature Writing, a Wyoming Arts Council Literary Fellowship and a writing residency at Ucross Foundation. Her poetry collection, “Putting a Name on It,” won the first place award for poetry from the Wyoming Historical Society in 2023. Smith still teaches a memoir writing class for the college and the community and continues to make her home in Rock Springs with her husband Leonard.
“Much of our writing comes from our experiences living in Sweetwater County, interacting with the landscape and the people over the years. I believe that the audience will really relate to our stories and our memories evident in the pieces we will share Wednesday evening,” Smith said. The reading is sponsored by BOCES and is open to the public.
