When Heidi Czerwiec searched around for an anthology of North Dakota poetry, she couldn't find one.
Although she could find similar books on nearly every other state in the country, a North Dakota anthology couldn't be found.
The new book, "North Dakota Is Everywhere: An Anthology of Contemporary North Dakota Poets," was edited by Czerwiec and features works from 17 poets that met her parameters. Czerwiec searched for poets who were still living and writing, who had done so for more than 10 years and who had published a book of poetry of at least 25 pages.
"I think it's important for our state that literature is important and still relevant to their everyday lives," she said about the book. "And poetry is a big part of that. poetry is all about singing the culture's stories back to itself and elevating them. And I think this book shows people that their experiences, their background, their culture are important."
Czerwiec, who is a UND English professor, said this book fills a specific need that hadn't existed before this one.
ADVERTISEMENT
"This has really been a dream project," she said. "No such anthology existed before this one, and I think this is an anthology that a lot of people have found interesting.
The work has had quite a bit of commercial success in the area, selling out twice at the UND Bookstore and at Zandbroz in Fargo.
"People who grew up in North Dakota carry that pride with them for the rest of their lives," she said about the book. "I wanted people to see that we have a culture worth writing about."
The book is published by the Institute for Regional Studies Press at North Dakota State University and is available at the UND bookstore, Ferguson Books and More and online.
