FARMINGTON – Wesley McNair, director of the creative writing program at the University of Maine at Farmington, was awarded his second honorary degree at Keene State College, Keene, N.H. The doctor of humane letters degree was conferred during graduation exercises.

McNair was awarded his first honorary doctor of humane letters degree at Colby-Sawyer College, New London, N.H., in May 2002. Both degrees are in recognition of his national distinction as a poet.

The author of five full-length collections of poetry and two limited editions, McNair published two books in 2002, “Fire,” a collection of poems, and “Mapping the Heart,” essays about poetry and place. He has also edited an anthology of contemporary literature in Maine, “The Quotable Moose.” Another anthology, “The Maine Poets,” is due from Down East Books in the fall.

McNair served on the jury for the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for 2002. The recipient of grants from the Rockefeller, Fulbright, and Guggenheim foundations, he has received a NEH Fellowship in literature, two NEA Fellowships in poetry and an Emmy Award. His awards for poetry include the Theodore Roethke Prize, the Robert Frost Prize and the Sarah Josepha Hale Medal for his “distinguished contribution to the world of letters.”

Featured on Garrison Keillor’s “Writers Almanac” and National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition with Scott Simon, his poetry has appeared in the Pushcart Prize annual, two editions of “The Best American Poetry” and more than 50 anthologies and textbooks.



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