Don Welch has long been an esteemed poet and advocate of poetry in the Great Plains. The author of numerous poetry collections, Welch was Reynolds Poetry Chair at the University of Nebraska-Kearney until his retirement; among his awards for poetry is the Pablo Neruda Prize, and he has won life-time achievement awards from a number of Nebraska agencies. "When Memory Gives Dust a Face" is perhaps his most personal and more closely autobiographical work to date.