Skip to main content

Panel Discussion: Billy Collins and His Poetry


Wednesday, January 12, 7:30 p.m.
Jeffrey Mansion, 165 North Parkview Avenue, Bexley, Ohio

Join these poets and scholars as they discuss the life and work of 2011 Bexley Community Book Club Selected Author Billy Collins. A former US Poet Laureate, Collins is prolific, publishing eight collections of poetry, including Questions About Angels, The Art of Drowning, Picnic, Lightning, Taking Off Emily Dickinson’s Clothes, Sailing Alone Around the Room: New & Selected Poems, Nine Horses, The Trouble With Poetry and Other Poems, and Ballistics.

Panelists will examine various aspects of Billy Collins, so that the audience can walk away with a better understanding of his work as a whole. Those who are interested in poetry, in literary works in general, or in the work of Billy Collins are encouraged to attend.

The event is free and open to the public.
For information, call 614.338.2093


Andrew Hudgins (moderator) has published seven books of poetry: American Rendering: New and Selected Poems, Shut Up, You’re Fine!, Ecstatic in the Poison, Babylon in a Jar, The Glass Hammer, The Never-Ending, After the Lost War, and Saints and Stranger. Hudgins is also the author of a collection of literary essays, The Glass Anvil and editor of James Agee: Selected Poems. Saints and Strangers was one of three finalists for the 1985 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry; After the Lost War received the Poets’ Prize in 1989, and The Never-Ending was one of five finalists for the National Book Award in 1991.


David Macey hails from Lakeland, Florida: land of lightning and alligators. He studied poetry at both Boston University and Ohio State. His own work has recently appeared or is forthcoming in Third Coast, The Journal, and Mayday.


Alex Fabrizio grew up in Orlando and studied English and Religious Studies at the University of Florida. She is currently a first-year MFA student in poetry at The Ohio State University, where she is a University Fellow.


Ben Glass is a MFA candidate at Ohio State where he studies poetry. His poems, prose and reviews are published or forthcoming in Birmingham Poetry Review, Gulf Coast, Pleiades, Tar River Poetry, and 32 Poems.




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

CREATING POETRY CHAPBOOKS

Adapted from a workshop delivered for the AOCI W.R.I.T.E.R.S. Group by Chris Minton What is a chapbook? Chapbooks were originally known as "street literature" because they were primarily sold on the streets by traveling salesmen known as chapmen. These small, inexpensive booklets contained a variety of content like ballads, folk tales, and religious tracts, and were a popular form of reading material for the common people, particularly those with limited access to more expensive books (for example, in rural areas). Today, chapbooks are normally used by poets to accomplish a specific objective, which may include: To create a sample of their work for publishers or other parties To target a specific, interested audience To get their work into circulation quickly To make it more affordable (for both the author and reader) To create enough work over time to warrant a full-length collection To demonstrate their commitment to the craft To give as gifts to family and friends Features of...

Odes of October 2024 Contest Winners Announced

OPA is pleased to announce that our judge for 2024, Karen Scott, has chosen the three winners and three runners-up for the 2024 Odes of October contest. First prize is awarded for "Restless Peace," by Jo Anne Moser Gibbons. First prize includes an award of $65 and inclusion in the 2025 issue of Common Threads, as well being published below. Second prize goes to "Scarecrow," by Dr. Anna Cates. This prize includes an award of $25 and appears below. Third prize goes to "Fall," also by Jo Anne Moser Gibbons. This prize includes an award of $10 and appears below. Honorable mention poems were: "Rite of Passage," by Claire Scott Rubin "Alone in Silence," by Jonathan Smith "Assassination Attempt Haiku," by Susan Glassmeyer Karen said she found her task made more difficult by the high quality of submissions, so each participant should be congratulated for their work. We thank them for participating and being a member of the OPA. A spe...

OPA Ambassadors Report: NE Ohio with Ray McNiece

From the frozen tundra of the Firelands, through the rusty blast furnace of Cleveland, along the Crooked River’s ice chattering shallows of Kent, down to the worn rubber slushy tire churn of Akron, to the gritty grey clang of Youngstown there’s hot stove poetry cooking this winter all across the Northeast corner of Ohio. We boast a plethora of venues from bookstores, libraries, coffeehouses, cocktail bars and clubs where you can hear the varied carols of our poets should you dare venture out into our perpetually grey climes. Here’s a few highlights, some upcoming features and a reminder of ongoing workshops and reading series. In early December Billy Collins read at CWRU’s Maltz Center to a packed house. He often visits Cleveland thanks to George Bilgere of JCU. John Burroughs had a front row seat. The Tongue in Groove Poetry Music Jam (every third Sunday at the Millard Fillmore on Waterloo hosted by Ray McNiece) featured Mwatabu Okantah reading from his new book A Black Voice in t...