Twyla Hansen – S3E06

Former Nebraska State Poet Twyla Hansen declares that "poetry can save you." In the show, Hansen talks about making sense of the world and of herself through poetry, her affinity for the sacred, wild, and wondrous places around us, and how poetry can be a salvation in the face of pain and grief.

Twyla Hansen was born and raised in northeast Nebraska on the farm her grandparents had purchased as immigrants from Denmark in the late 1880s. Hansen served as Nebraska’s State Poet for the term 2013-2018. Her newest book of poetry, Rock • Tree • Bird won the 2018 Willa Literary Award and the 2018 Nebraska Book Award for Poetry. She is the author of six other award-winning books of poetry and her writing has been published widely in numerous periodicals and anthologies.