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

Casting a Line for Susan Glassmeyer's 'Invisible Fish'

by Chuck Salmons If you haven’t heard by now, OPA member and Cincinnati poet Susan Glassmeyer is the winner the Ohio Poetry Day Association’s 2018 Poet of the Year award, for her first full-length collection, Invisible Fish  (Dos Madres Press, 2018). On the heels of her winning, I corresponded with her to find out more about the collection and her writing process.  CS: First of all, congratulations on the award! Having read Invisible Fish, I know this is an honor that is well-deserved. How does it feel to have your name among past winners such as Mary Oliver, David Baker, and David Citino? SG: I was truly surprised to win this award, Chuck. I did some research after the fact and learned about the history of the award. What an honor to be part of this venerable Ohio poet lineage! I already own a few of the books on the list, not realizing the authors had previously won the award. And although I have many of Mary Oliver’s books, Twelve Moons (winner in 1980) was not among

Ohio Poetry Day Association names 2021 Poet of the Year and Contest Winners

The Ohio Poetry Day Association (OPDA) has selected Quartez Harris as its Ohio Poet of the Year for 2021. Harris was selected for his book of poems, We Made It to School Alive (Twelve Arts Press, 2020). Residing in Cleveland, Ohio, Harris is a second-grade teacher at Michael R. White Elementary School. We Made It to School Alive, his second collection of poetry, was inspired by his work as a teacher and gives voice to the experiences of the children he works with every day who deal with issues of gun violence, poverty, educational challenges, and more. Harris’ first book, N othing, But Skin,  was published in 2014 by Writing Knights Press. He is the first recipient of the Barbara Smith Writer-In-Resident at Twelve Literary Arts and a 2020 Baldwin House Fellow. He has been featured in the Plain Dealer, IdeaStream, and City Club of Cleveland, and recently signed on to be represented by Mckinnon Literary Agency. His works in progress are a young-adult novel and picture book biography. 

OPA 2023 Student Contest Winners

The Ohio Poetry Association (OPA) is pleased to announce the winners and honorable mentions of the 2023 High School Poetry Contests. Eligible poems were sent to the National Federation of State Poetry Societies, Inc. Manningham Trust Student Poetry Contest. All winning poems receive monetary awards and publication in an OPA chapbook. The grand prize-winning poem will be published in the 2024 issue of Common Threads ,  OPA's annual anthology. We sincerely thank each contest sponsor and judge and congratulate the teachers from each school with student winning poems and honorable mentions. Special thanks to contest coordinator Jessica Weyer-Bentley for all her hard work to coordinate this year’s contests. GRAND PRIZE WINNER "Dementia" - Austin Blake, Buckeye Local H.S. Teacher: Stephanie Crust Category 1. Ethos  Sponsor and Judge: Chuck Salmons  1st: "I Set Myself to Sound" - Diana Zhang (The Seven Hills School) 2nd: "Dora" - Anna Kunkel (The Seven Hills