Jonathan Holden

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Jonathan Holden was the first poet laureate of Kansas. Chosen in 2004, his two year term began July 1, 2005. He was succeeded by Denise Low on July 1, 2007.

Holden was born in 1941 in Morristown, New Jersey. He received a B.A. in English from Oberlin College in 1963. From 1963 to 1965, he was an editorial assistant for the Cambridge Book Company in Bronxville, New Jersey. He then taught math at a high school in West Orange, New Jersey till 1968. In 1970, he received an M.A. creative writing from San Francisco State College. He received a Ph D in English from the University of Colorado in 1974. From 1947 to 1978, he was " poet-in-residence at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri. He moved to Manhattan, Kansas in 1978 where he joined Kansas State University. There he became "poet in residence" and University Distinguished Professor of English. In 1991, he became Thursten P. Morton Professor at the University of Louisville. In 2000, he served on the Pulitzer Prize poetry selection committee. In 2004, the governor appointed him poet laureate, with his term beginning the following July 1, 2005. He has been married twice.