User:Sakoulas91/sandbox

W.E. (Will) Leathem
Born January 3rd 1962 in Kansas City.

Education
Shawnee Mission East High School class of 1980

University of Kansas where he studied english, history and music.

Family
Willam Riley Werner-Leathem (son)

Russell E. Leathem (1913 – 1991)

Dorothy M. Leathem (1926-2012)

Russ Leathem, Louisville (dates?)

David Leathem (dates?)

John Leathem deceased (dates?)

Music
Will spent several years touring with the Midwest alternative band, the Ryde, where he played Bass, Guitar and Keyboards before going abroad to live in London. From where he traveled extensively.

Politics
26 years active in Republican Politics: Early days volunteering for Kansas’s Bob Dole in 76 and Missouri’s kit bond. Introduced by his godfather, Kent Hodges, former doorman at the US Senate when hodges made a run for US Congress in Kansas. Leathem went on to work for Dole’s presidential race in 1986, served at Administrative Aid to then Missouri Secretary of State, Roy Blunt. Leathem work both in Senatorial campaigns and as official staff for US Senator’s John Ashcroft and Christopher ‘Kit” Bond, serving as deputy Campaign Manager for Ashcroft. He served as Missouri Director of Elections under Secretary of State, Matt Blunt and helped oversee one of the most comprehensive reforms of Missouri election law. In recent year’s, Leathem - paraphrasing Ronald Regan – has vociferously noted: “I didn’t leave the Republican Party, it left me…”  He volunteered for both of Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns and was active in Bernie Sanders Presidential bid, hosting a informal regional office for the Sanders for over a year.

Literature
Leathem was co-founder of Prospero’s Books with fellow republican staffer John Condra on Oct 18, 1997 (anniversary of Sylvia Beach opening Shakespeare & Co in Paris). He remains co-owner of Prospero’s Books, with Tom Wayne. Immediately after opening Prospero’s, Leathem set about hosting live music and poetry events at the store and organizing the 39th Street Art Walk, a monthly evening of art openings. In 1999 Leathem released a successful underground series of Poetry Chapbooks called “Prospero’s Pocket Poets”. The name was an omage to the famed City Light’s Pocket Poets series. Leathem, after contacting City Light’s Publisher, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, officially named the series “Prospero’s Pocket Poets” as an omage to Ferlinghetti’s famed City Light’s publications, the Pocket Poets. He founded Spartan Press, with Jason Ryberg, in 1999 and has gone on to help bring to print over 200 books of poetry, essay, memoir and short fiction featuring middle-American writers. Leathem was an organizer for the Plaza Literary festival, attracting over 20,000 attendees to KC’s premier shopping district. He served two years as Executive Director at Kansas City’s The Writers Place, and has served as assistant public relations for the City of Lawrence. He was one of the first Poets to be commissioned to produce original poetry by Kemper Museum of Modern Art to accompany exibits. It was an opportunity that allowed him to partner with KC Jazz saxophone Legend, Amhad Aladeen.