The Bouteloua LitART Fest

When literature and art meet on the prairie, the result is The Bouteloua LitART Fest; affectionately nicknamed “The Bou”. Now in its third year, the festival brings nationally recognized writers and local artists together at Glacier Creek Preserve and the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO), creating a space where creativity thrives in unexpected ways.

The festival was co-founded by biologist and philanthropist Barbi Hayes and UNO English professor John Price, director of the creative nonfiction writing program. The two began imagining collaborations years ago while sitting on a patio at Glacier Creek. Their shared vision grew into a two-day event celebrating storytelling, visual art, and the Nebraska landscape itself. In fact, the festival’s name honors Hayes’s favorite prairie grass, Bouteloua curtipendula, better known as sideoats grama.

The Bou opens at Glacier Creek Preserve with prose, art, and now pottery. For several years, Hayes’s Moonrise Gallery curated an annual art exhibit in The Barn’s biology lab. Since closing the gallery in 2024, she has brought in UNO ceramics faculty member Amelia Rosenberg, who will lead a collaborative clay project this year. Festivalgoers will be invited to add their own small clay pieces to a larger work Rosenberg is building. The finished piece will be installed permanently in Glacier Creek’s Art Walk area, leaving participants with both a memory and a mark on the preserve.

“Many equate Glacier Creek with only the sciences,” Hayes said, “But I see an interplay of energies from science, literature, and art all mingling about in the space of GCP. There is not one without the other, and they gain strength together.”

The second day of the festival shifts to UNO’s Dodge campus, where visiting authors participate in two events, a student talk in the afternoon and a reading/book signing in the evening. Past speakers have included Taylor Broby, Melissa Febos, and Aimee Nezhukumatathil. This year, the headliner is award-winning poet and essayist Ross Gay, whose work explores joy, community, and the natural world.

Authors for the festival are chosen by Price and UNO’s English Department, with Hayes providing input and covering the author’s honorarium. UNO supports the second day of programming, including travel and lodging expenses, while Hayes also donates funds for food, art programming, and local writer honorariums.

For Hayes, keeping the event free and open to the public is essential. “A student should not have to weigh the value of an opportunity by how much they can afford to pay,” she said. “The chance to be one-on-one with a renowned author should be open to everyone.”

Beyond giving back to UNO, Hayes sees The Bou as a model for how education and the arts can thrive through collaboration. She also hopes the festival underscores the importance of philanthropy, especially in a time when higher education faces financial challenges.

“Philanthropy, whether $10 or $10,000, keeps opportunities like this alive,” she said. “The humanities are being undermined to the detriment of students and society. Supporting them makes a difference.”

At its heart, The Bou is about connection: between science and art, students and authors, and a community and its prairie. As Hayes put it, “When literature, science, and art mingle together, we become more curious, more tolerant, and more kind. That’s what The Bou is all about.”