Denise Low

Denise Low (born 1949) is an American poet, honored as the second Kansas poet laureate (2007–2009).

A professor at Haskell Indian Nations University, Low taught literature, creative writing and American Indian studies courses at the university.

Low's other book New & Selected Poems: 1980-1999 was published by Penthe Press.

Thailand Journal was named a notable book of 2003 by the Kansas City Star.

In 2005, she edited the Lawrence Arts Center's Wakarusa Wetlands in Word & Image for Imagination.

She and her husband Thomas Weso co-wrote a biographical work on the poet Langston Hughes.

Low has published over 20 books of poetry and essays and has received awards from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Lannan Foundation, the Kansas Arts Commission, the Poetry Society of America and others.

Low is also on the National Board of Directors for the Associated Writers and Writing Programs.

She reads and lectures regionally as well as nationally.

She has published poetry, reviews, articles about poetry and American Indian Literature in Midwest Quarterly, Kansas City Star, American Indian Literature, American Indian Culture and Research Journal, American Indian Quarterly, New Letters, North American Review, Conjuries, Connecticut Review, Yellow Medicine Review and others.

Scholar Katie Wolf, in a review essay on Low's poetry and autobiography, describes it as containing "powerful messages about Native American identity and the influences ancestors can have on later generations of a family."

Words of a Prairie Alchemist was designated a 2007 Notable Book by the State Library of Kansas.

Individual members of the Associated Writers and Writing Programs elected Low to the national board of directors 2008–2013.

She was succeeded by Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg on July 1, 2009.

Low is the daughter of Francis Dotson and Dorothy (Bruner) Dotson.

A 5th generation Kansan of mixed German, Scots, Lenape (Delaware), English, French, and Cherokee heritage, she was born and grew up in Emporia, Kansas, where she began her writing career as a high school correspondent for the Emporia Gazette.

She attained her bachelor, masters and doctoral degrees in English from the University of Kansas, and an M.F.A. in creative writing from Wichita State University.

Although she is not an enrolled member of a Native Nation, she self-identifies as Native American and has extensively documented her Native heritage in her memoir, The Turtle's Beating Heart: One Family's Story of Lenape Survival (University of Nebraska Press).

As poet laureate of Kansas, Low continued the efforts of the state's first laureate, Jonathan Holden, by providing an open dialogue with Kansas poets.

Besides appearing at many venues across the state, she established the Ad Astra Poetry Project.

Personally contributing to the project bi-monthly via written releases, Low discusses specific notable poets.

The Ad Astra project poets are also featured on www.kansaspoets.com.

Ghost Stories was recognized by Circle of Minneapolis as one of the best Native books published in 2010.

She has served the board as conference chair and president (2011-2012).

She runs Mammoth Publications with her husband, Thomas Pecore Weso.

Her book of essays Natural Theologies: Essays about Literature of the New Middle West (The Backwaters Press 2011) is the first book of critical essays about contemporary grasslands-region literature.

Three books by Low earned recognition from the Kansas State Library and the Kansas Center for the Book as Kansas Notable Books: Northern Cheyenne Ledger Art by Fort Robinson Breakout Survivors (2021) ; Ghost Stories of the New West: Prose and Poems (2010); To the Stars: Kansas Poets of the Ad Astra Project (2009); and Words of a Prairie Alchemist: Essays (2007).

Low left Haskell Indian Nations University in 2012 after 27 years as an administrator and faculty member.

She now teaches classes for the School of Professional and Graduate Studies of Baker University as well as The Writers Place of Kansas City.

She writes a regular poetry column for the Kansas City Star, and she is review editor of Yukhika-latuhse ("She tells us stories"), published by the Oneida Nations Arts Program.