Kansas Matters: Twenty-First-Century Writers on the Sunflower State

An anthology of poetry and prose from thirty-five of today’s leading literary voices from the Sunflower State, brought together to explore how Kansas makes us feel and why we’re proud to call it home. Kansas Matters gathers thirty-five of the state’s leading literary voices to offer profound insights into the feelings that Kansas evokes. This living map of personal geographies and histories draws on the rich emotions and memories that bind Kansans to the Sunflower State. Brought together in a new anthology of thirty-five poems, essays, and short fiction, these writers reflect on twenty-first-century Kansas: on the beauty of the land and the fight for its preservation; the divisions of identity and the belonging of home; the context of our history and our hopes for the future. These contemporary voices show us Kansas as we know it to be and Kansas as we want it to be—a complex, emotional, and inspiring assertion of why Kansas matters.

• Publication date: 9 September 2025
• Page count: 304
• Dimensions: Height 227 mm; Width 151 mm; Thickness 21 mm
• Publisher: University Press of Kansas
• Format: Hardback
• ISBN-13: 9780700640508