Bruce Dethlefsen, the 2011-2012 Wisconsin Poet Laureate, will give two readings in Door County in October. Hosted by the UU Fellowship Dickinson Poetry Series and by the Friends of the Door County Libraries, Dethlefsen will read at the Fellowship at 7 pm on October 19 and at the Miller Art Museum in the Sturgeon Bay Library at 7 pm on October 20. An open mic will follow the UUF reading while on Thursday evening the presentation will include readings by gifted high school students. That reading also commemorates National Library Week.

Dethlefsen is nationally renowned. His poetry has been featured on Garrison Keillor’s The Writer’s Almanac on NPR and Wisconsin Public Radio and also on the website, Your Daily Poem.  His full-length book, Breather, published by Fireweed Press, won an Outstanding Achievement Award in Poetry from the Wisconsin Library Association and received an Honorable Mention in the Posner Awards. He has published two chapbooks.

Dethlefsen performed in Door County earlier this year as a featured musician in the group, “Obvious Dog,” accompanying the poetry of Cathryn Cofell at the May Dickinson Poetry Series reading.

Dethlefsen is a retired educator and public library director. He resides in Westfield, Wisconsin.