The Ohio Poetry Day Association has selected Barbara Sabol and Erica Reid as our 2024 Ohio Poets of the Year. Congratulations to these two amazing writers! Barbara Sabol was selected for her book of poems, WATERMARK: Poems of the Great Johnstown Flood of 1889 (Alternating Current Press, 2023) . The poems in WATERMARK follow the path of the “great flood,” from the time prior to the perfect storm of events resulting in the disaster to the devastating aftermath and the reclamation of a bustling industrial city. The book is a poetic testimony of the great flood story through voices of the unidentified victims; their circumstances and lives imagined from morgue entries. The narrative also paints the backdrop of recovery and renewal, in the voices of survivors, telegraphers, aid workers, and historical figures such as Clara Barton. Watermark is a lyric narrative of this country’s largest and most dramatic flood of the 19th century, told from the perspective of those whose lives it clai
OHIO POETRY ASSOCIATION INC., in conjunction with POETS AGAINST RACISM & HATE USA, Awarded the Trillium Local Activity Grant for Program Commemorating America’s 250th Anniversary The project is one of 61 community-based projects funded through the America 250-Ohio Commission’s second round of grants, totaling $600,000 In the lead up to America’s 250th anniversary, Ohio Poetry Association Inc., in conjunction with Poets Against Racism & Hate USA, announced today that it received a Trillium Local Activity Grant from the America 250-Ohio Commission for its project titled “ Ohio Underground RailroadWhistle-Stop Poetry Tour .” This series of events takes place at Underground Railroad–related sites around Ohio and features poetry readings, social justice writing workshops, and cultural programming. The purpose of the project is to acknowledge that all of us, knowingly or not, share a history of racism that has informed art and vice versa so that we may return to our homes, office