This is Tracy Million Simmons, owner of Meadowlark Press in Emporia, Kansas, for High Plains Public Radio Reader’s Summer Reading List. As a regional press specializing in stories from the Midwest, I’d like to take this moment to introduce you to Heaven in a Wildflower, historical fiction set on the Kansas prairie of the early 20th century.

In most people’s minds, the image of a diner is usually associated with shiny stainless steel structures straight out of the 1940s and 50s. These imagined eateries are also linked to the East Coast, with their counter stools occupied by guys from Jersey or Brooklyn having serious encounters with a piece of pie and a mug of coffee.

At the time of this recording, it is July. It's hot - 100-degree temperatures, severe weather. 
But this time of July, we now start thinking about August in the fall sports season. It won't be long, and kids will be at the football field practicing, and they'll be on the volleyball court. It's going to be in full session. 


Tune in to Classical Music Amarillo this week to hear works by two French composers of the twentieth century!

It may feel like a good time to relax for a bit, with your garden now in for the summer, but in fact, time flies, and it’s already time to plant items you plan to harvest in the fall! This week, we’ll talk about how now is the time to get in your last batch of plants, in order to get the best fruits of your labor!

My name is Charles Roamer, and I'm the author of 83 Odyssey---An Adventure Down the Spine of America on U.S. Highway 83. I'm an old road warrior who wrote a book for travel story enthusiasts, and those from the High Plains region where U.S. 83 courses through would, I think, be especially interested in my story.

Hello friends, I’m Huascar Medina, Former Poet Laureate of Kansas, here for Poets on the Plains. I’m pleased to meet you and look forward to sharing the wonderful poetry from Kansas poets. Today, I will be sharing one of my poems, “on the Range,” but first, allow me a moment to introduce myself.

If you are looking for high adventure this book is not for you. But if you are craving a beautifully written, heartwarming alternative to the negativity, noise and drama filling the news Theo of Golden could be a good choice. An elderly gentleman, obviously well off, shows up in the small Carolina town of Golden. We soon find out that he is Portuguese, but learn very little else about him until the end of the book.

Some researchers suggested that the Great Influenza Pandemic derived from illnesses recorded in China and in France.  A writer named John Barry suggests it may have had its origins in southwest Kansas.

Hey, Radio Readers. I’m Jane Holwerda in Dodge City Ks. Earlier this summer I promised my book shelves would be dusted by now. I made it only as far as the Americana section when I surrendered to my more natural state of sitting with cat on lap and book in hand. So be it. What better way to commemorate the 250th year of our nation than by reading about it?