Dinner in the Stacks

Cowboy poet John Pelham takes center stage for the annual Friends of the Dick Smith Library Dinner in the Stacks. The evening’s entertainment, “Life Through the Eyes and Rhymes of a Cowboy and Country Poet…” features the works of Pelham, who has written and published four volumes of poems with a western flair. Hosted by the Friends of the Dick Smith Library, this year’s event begins with appetizers at 6:30 p.m. in the library’s foyer followed by dinner in the stacks at 7 and Pelham’s presentation.

Pelham grew up on a farm in North Central Texas, served a stint in the U.S. Army and worked for most of his adult life as a county extension agent. “I discovered a love of cowboy poetry in 2002 and started writing,” he says on his website. “After approximately 200 poems, many miles traveling to cowboy poetry gatherings around the country, I’m still at it. I have written and compiled four books of poems and ‘rememberances.’”

Established in 1990, the Friends of the Dick Smith Library is a volunteer organization dedicated to the support of the university’s library. The organization funds the acquisition of educational amenities that lie outside the library budget; sponsors discussions, lectures, book talks and other scholarly activities; and helps with endowments, bequests and other gifts to the library.