Badger born and bred, Dion Kempthorne was a linebacker on the 1963 Wisconsin Rose Bowl team. He earned a PhD in English from UW-Madison, and then taught English in the UW Colleges and served as CEO/Dean at UW-Richland. Now a professor emeritus, Kempthorne lives in the woods in Richland County and spend his days reading and writing and hiking and cutting firewood. His poems have appeared in Mature Years, Verbatim, Verse Wisconsin, Wisconsin People & Ideas, and the Wisconsin Poets' Calendar, among other places. In addition to writing poetry, Kempthorne is at work on essays on Emerson and Thoreau and on a memoir that explores the personal benefits of reading and writing poetry.
