Humanities Professor to Launch ‘Literary Landscapes’ Audio Storytelling Project

Dr. Andy Oler, associate professor and chair of the Humanities and Communication Department at the Daytona Beach Campus, is working on a new writing and radio project, which is a collaboration between High Plains Public Radio (HPPR) and The New Territory magazine.

Oler is the founder and editor of Literary Landscapes, an online series that publishes short personal essays about contributors’ experiences at the places of Midwestern literature. It is published under the banner of The New Territory magazine.

Andy Oler

Now, thanks to a $9,436 Humanities Kansas grant, a new project has been launched to feature audio versions of the Literary Landscapes essays on HPPR.

“We would like to thank Humanities Kansas for funding this project and High Plains Public Radio for bringing it to life over the airways,” said Oler.

The project, titled “Literary Landscapes in Kansas: From the Ground to the Airwaves,” aims to elevate the history of Kansas stories and writers. A selection of essays will be produced in audio formats and broadcast on HPPR and then hosted on HPPR’s website.

Since Oler launched Literary Landscapes in 2020, 14 issues have been published with 70 contributors.

“The goal is to show how literature is all around us — the stories we tell about our region and about ourselves are in our backyards as well as our historical sites,” he said. “They are as relevant to our experiences today as they were for the times they were written.”

Oler has also compiled many of the Literary Landscapes essays into a book, which will be titled “Middle Ground: Personal Stories About the Places of Midwestern Literature.” It will include an introduction by Oler and a foreword by Chicago poet José Olivarez. Oler said the manuscript is under review at a university press in the Midwest and should appear sometime next year.

Posted In: Institutional News