Welcome to
The Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature
SSML encourages the study of Midwestern literature and culture in whatever directions the insight, imagination and curiosity of its members may lead.
2025 SSML Symposium
We look forward to the 2025 SSML Symposium, which will take place May 29-30, 2025, at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center in East Lansing, Michigan. A call for papers and a registration form are available on the symposium page.
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2026 MARK TWAIN
THE 2026 MARK TWAIN AWARD GOES TO MARGARET ROZGA
Throughout her career as a poet, essayist, editor, teacher, and social activist, Margaret (Peggy) Rozga has challenged the national conscience on civil rights and civic duty. Her five full-length books of poetry have been praised for their ability to inspire and provide hope while honestly portraying the realities of racial discrimination, the lives of soldiers and their families, and environmental change and loss. Her first poetry book, 200 Nights and One Day (Benu Press 2009), relates the story of the fair housing marches in Milwaukee in 1967-1968 that led to the passage of a fair housing law. It received a bronze medal in poetry from the Independent Publishers Book Awards and was named an outstanding achievement by the Wisconsin Library Association. In 2019-2020 Margaret served as Wisconsin poet laureate. She has been an ambassador for poetry and social justice as a frequent reader of her own work and as a leader of numerous poetry workshops.
A Wisconsin native and resident of Milwaukee, Margaret Rozga was educated at Alverno College (BA) and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (MA and PhD). She taught writing and literature at the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha as Professor of English and earned emeritus status upon retirement. Her most recent book of poetry is Restoring Prairie (Cornerstone Press 2024).
Margaret Rozga is the forty-eighth winner of the Mark Twain Award for distinguished contributions to Midwestern literature, given annually by The Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature since 1980. Past winners include Gwendolyn Brooks, Herbert Martin, Jonis Agee, Sandra Seaton, Ted Kooser, Tim O’Brien, Rebecca Makkai, and our 2025 recipient, Ana Castillo.
2026 MidAmerica Award
ROGER BRESNAHAN IS THE 2026 MIDAMERICA AWARD WINNER
Dr. Roger Bresnahan is a highly deserving fifty-fourth recipient of the Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature’s MidAmerica Award, which honors “someone who has made distinguished contributions to the scholarship and/or study of Midwestern literature.” Emeritus professor of writing, Roger taught with distinction at Michigan State University for forty-three years, from 1978 to 2021. For more than four decades, Roger has pursued a laudatory career in the fields of writing, cultural studies, Midwestern studies, and anti-imperialism, with a focus on the Philippines and Filipino writers. The Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature has been integral to Roger’s professional life, and in turn, he has been vital to the life of SSML.
Most of us know Roger as SSML’s secretary-treasurer for thirty-five years, from April 1990 to the present, and a member of the Board of Directors for the past ten years, since 2015. Like key SSML members and distinguished MidAmerica Award winners—Robert Beasecker (1984), Phillip Greasley (1999), Marcia Noe (2003), Marilyn Atlas (2004), Mary DeJong Obuchowski (2005), and William Barillas (2013)—Roger remains part of the stalwart formative core of SSML. Roger was there in the early days with David D. Anderson, a founding member of the society. Throughout the preceding decades, Roger has warmly welcomed new SSML members and sustained deep friendships with long-term contributors—all while keeping the accounts and paying the bills, figuratively and literally. His scholarship in the society’s peer-reviewed journal, MidAmerica, is especially evident throughout SSML’s critical early years. Organizations like SSML exist due to the steady dedication and leadership of people like Roger. A man of grace, humor, and humility, Roger Bresnahan is a role model.
Among his service accolades, Roger served as MSU’s Fulbright Program Director from 2010 to 2015 and later as a program advisor. A Fulbright scholar himself from 1976 to 1977 at the University of the Philippines, Roger believes in the transformative power of the Fulbright Program. His efforts helped establish MSU as a perennial leader in producing US Fulbright students and scholars. Because of the efforts of people who share Roger’s vision and values, the Midwest is not only central to a vibrant, dynamic US culture and society but a cosmopolitan region of cross-cultural exchange and goodwill.
