Longtime CLU professor to read poems
J.T. Ledbetter to share works on Midwest childhood
J.T. Ledbetter
J.T. Ledbetter

THOUSAND OAKS, CA. - A longtime California Lutheran University professor will read from his latest book of poetry at 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 7, in Lundring Events Center.

J.T. Ledbetter will share pieces from “Underlying Premises” during the free presentation.

Published in 2010, the collection of poems is set among the farms and small towns he knows from growing up in the Midwest. In his review of the book, Kevin Prufer, former editor of Pleiades Press, wrote, “Ledbetter’s uneasily graceful poems describe, through the eyes of a child and the lens of memory, the complexities of sex, death, and rural family life … These subtle, finely crafted, unerringly lovely poems surprise me at every turning.”

A CLU professor emeritus, Ledbetter taught English at the university for more than 30 years and continues to teach classes as an adjunct faculty member. His numerous publications include poetry, anthologies, magazine articles, works of fiction and music. In 2007, he and E. John Solem, CLU art professor emeritus, published “Blue Galaxy Iris: Connecting with Beauty and Nature’s Rhythm.” The book juxtaposes Ledbetter’s poems with Solem’s artwork.

Lundring Events Center is located in the Gilbert Sports and Fitness Center, which is north of Olsen Road near Campus Drive on the Thousand Oaks campus.

For more information, e-mail Jack Ledbetter at ledbette@callutheran.edu.