Colen H. Sweeten Jr.

Colen Sweeten has been called "Western America's Will Rogers," and truly deserves the compliment. He is a "been-there-done-that" poet/philosopher who was raised on a ranch in southern Idaho eighty some years ago. Colen was writing Cowboy Poetry long before the genre ever became popular and known by that name. He has performed in hundreds of Cowboy Poetry gatherings and programs across the U.S. and has received many honors for his work. Over the past fifty years he has had many short articles and poems published in various magazines and newspapers, ranging from the hometown paper to the Reader1 s Digest. One of his latest publications is a poem titled
"It''s Hard To Go Back To the Ranch" in Michael Martin Murphey''s The American West magazine.

Colen often performs as an opening act for Michael Martin Murphey's show. He has attended the Elko, Nevada National Cowboy Poetry Gathering every year but one since its inception, making it to 18 of 19 Gatherings. Colen has appeared on local and national radio and was a guest on the NBC Tonight Show with Johnny Carson in 1991.

Colen received a Fellowship in Literature from The Idaho Commission on the Arts. He is a charter member of the Cowboy Poets of Idaho and has been entered into that organization1s Hall of Fame. In 2000, he was awarded the Idaho Governors Millennial Award for Excellence in the Arts. He has written and published four books of Cowboy poetry.

He is now retired and presently lives in Springville, Utah with his wife, Ruth.