William Wallis

Born FL (USA)

While a faculty member at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, he co-conceived, co-authored, and performed a supporting role in a grand opera titled Napoleon. He also wrote a drama titled The Vision based on a Lakota (Sioux) myth. The story was set to music and performed as a part of the bicentennial celebration of Lincoln. He worked then and later with Charles Leonard Thiessen, artist and promoter of arts. The lure of opera took him to Germany in 1978, and for the next seven years he worked as a stage director, then performed as a tenor in the European opera houses.

Places Lived

Florida
Arkansas
Carbondale, IL
Lincoln, NE
California

Author Of

Music and Audio
Play/Screenplay
Poetry
Fiction

Keywords

Poetry; Opera; Fiction; Drama

Education

Bachelor's Degree, 1969, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, Carbondale, IL
Master's Degree, 1971, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE
Ph.D., 1972, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE
Post-doctoral Studies, University of California- Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA

Occupation

Teacher
Poet
Performer
Professor

Places Worked

University of Nebraska - Lincoln
University of California-Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA
Los Angeles Valley College, Los Angeles, CA

Honors

His poetry brought three nominations for the Pulitzer Prize in poetry: in 1995 for Joshua, his seventh book of verse, in 1979 for Twins and in 2000 for Selected Poems 1969-1999.
2006 Benjamin Franklin Award in Fiction for novel Hawk

Bibliography

Napoleon.
Joshua.
Twins.
Selected Poems 1969-1999.
Hawk. 2006.
Prairie Symphony: The Story of Charles Leonard Thiessen. 2010.

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