Wilber Stevens (1921-1996) is considered one of Nevada's finest and most influential poets. His poetry goes to places even the most unfamiliar reader understands: the late-night desperation seen in city faces and long laments on the slowly disappearing western landscape. He was respected as a poet, editor, scholar and professor of English at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He served as Executive Director of the Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association in 1972. He was the founding editor of Interim, a poetry and fiction journal, and a long-time drama critic for the Las Vegas Review-Journal.