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Kevin Stein

American poet

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 20, 2026
Entity authorityQ16885861
Source-derived summary

Kevin Stein (born January 1, 1954, in Anderson, Indiana) is a poet and professor of English at the Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. The fourth poet laureate of the State of Illinois, he held the post from 2003 to 2017. He started teaching at Bradley University in 1984, and then became the Caterpillar Professor of English and the Coordinator of the Creative Writing Program.

Biography

He received his Ph.D. in American literature and an M.A. in creative writing from Indiana University. Shortly after, he went to Bradley University (1984), where he has been a poet and professor of English at the Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois and currently has the title of the Caterpillar Professor of English and is the coordinator of the Creative Writing Program.

In December 2003, he was named the Illinois Poet Laureate. He stepped down from the role in December 2017.

Awards

Order of Lincoln (State's highest honor), 2017

Works

Wrestling Li Po for the Remote (Fifth Star Press, 2013)

Sufficiency of the Actual (University of Illinois Press, 2009)

American Ghost Roses (University of Illinois Press, 2005)

Chance Ransom (University of Illinois Press, 2000)

Bruised Paradise (University of Illinois Press, 1996)

A Circus of Want (University of Missouri Press)

The Figure Our Bodies Make (St.

Editorial summary

“Kevin Stein” enters the record as american poet. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Kevin, Stein and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1954, 2003, 2017, 1984—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1954-01-01. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Kevin, Stein and American.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Kevin Stein” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Kevin, Stein and American provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16885861. VIAF identifies the subject as 261049598. The Library of Congress control number is n85114872. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1954, 2003, 2017 and 1984.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Kevin Stein”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Kevin Stein primary sources, Kevin Stein archive and Kevin research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Kevin Stein”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Kevin Stein” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.