Ohio Poetry Association Blog

The Ohio Poetry Association (OPA) will again be hosting a virtual celebration of Ohio Poetry Day (OPD) this year, featuring the Ohio Poet of the Year and poetry contest winners. The event will be held on Zoom and broadcast live on the OPA Facebook page on Saturday, October 15 beginning at 12:30 PM. Full event details and registration info is available here . The 2022 Ohio Poet of the year is Erica Manto-Paulson, chosen for her collection, Hunger   (Finishing Line Press, 2021). Paulson’s poems have appeared in Thimble Literary Magazine, Sheila Na Gig, the Northern Appalachia Review, Slippery Elm, and elsewhere. She was a 2021 Pushcart Nominee, and her work has also been featured on NPR's "Conrad’s Corner" (WYSO).  An Ohio native, Erica is a doula and childbirth educator, which drives her ongoing obsession with birth in its many forms. She finds inspiration for her poetry in the fertile fields of her home state, drawing on a deep connection to the surrounding world. She

Recently, OPA was awarded a grant from The Columbus Foundation for general operating support in the final year of a three-year funding cycle. A total of $3,033 is provided to OPA from the Virginia D. Granat Fund with the assistance of the Ingram-White Castle Foundation. This grant marks the eleventh consecutive year that OPA has garnered assistance from The Columbus Foundation. “We cannot thank enough The Columbus Foundation and its leadership for its continuing confidence in OPA,” said OPA President Chuck Salmons. “The Foundation’s support affords us the ability to thrive and provide the poetry community and its members with fantastic opportunities to learn and grow as artists.” OPA has earned Foundation support annually since establishing a profile with the philanthropic organization in 2010 on The Columbus Foundation website and what is now called The Giving Store. Billed as “Your one-stop shop for charitable giving,” The Giving Store offers an extensive directory of nonprofit organ

The Ohio Poetry Association (OPA) is pleased to announce the winners and honorable mentions of the 2022 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, which will be distributed to the participating schools. 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. Voices from the Past Sponsor: Mark Hersman — Judge: Jessica Weyer Bentley 1 st     Brooke McCroskey (Jefferson Area High School)          2 nd    Becky Smith (Buckeye High School) 3 rd     Madison Palmer (Buckeye Local High School)   Ethos Sponsor and Judge: Chuck Salmons 1 st     Annie Johnson (Dublin Coffman High School) 2 nd   James Z

Attention Ohio poets! Don't miss the virtual  Lakefront Cleveland Poetry Festival  April 24-May 1 with Literary Cleveland, CSU Poetry Center, and Grieveland.  Over the course of one week, you will work with some of the best poets and editors in the country to draft new poems, share your work, and learn where and how to publish. Presenters and instructors include Kaveh Akbar, Mary Biddinger, Ariana Brown, Hayan Charara, Stephanie Ginese, Quartez Harris, Kamden Hilliard, Valerie Hsiung, Brendan Joyce, Kevin Latimer, Ephraim Nehemiah, Eric Odum, Drew Pham, Hilary Plum, and Rachel Wiley. You can register for individual events or sign up for the full festival and save. Get full details at: litcleveland.org/ events-programs/lakefront- cleveland-poetry-festival

The annual Ohio Poetry Day Association contests have been announced.  May 15, 2022, is the deadline (postmark) for more than twenty contests, including a “Welcome Aboard” category for first-time submitters and an art category to design the cover art for the 2022 Best of Ohio Poetry Day anthology, published later this year. Below is a copy of the submission form, which provides full contest information.  Ohio Poetry Day 2022 will take place in October. Stay up to date on OPD information, including the event date, location, and agenda, by getting your name and address on the OPD mailing list. To do so, contact: Amy Jo Zook 3520 State Route 56 Mechanicsburg, OH 43044 Checks for all contest fees and purchases should be made payable to: Ohio Poetry Day . For questions, call (937) 834-2666. Click and download the images below to view them at full size.

February 22, 202 2 – The Ohio Poetry Association is pleased to announce it will host a reading featuring the anthology I Thought I Heard A Cardinal Sing: Ohio’s Appalachian Voices, a one-of-a-kind collection of poetry focused specifically on the unique cultural experiences of Appalachian poets located in or connected to Ohio (Central) Appalachia. The event will be held Saturday, March 26, 2022, at 2:00 PM on the campus of Otterbein College, Towers Hall Room 112, 1 S. Grove Street, Westerville, OH 43081. The anthology was produced by Ohio Poet Laureate Kari Gunter-Seymour, who obtained a fellowship grant from the Academy of American Poets with funds from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Gunter-Seymour designed and edited the collection—a lavish mix of voices: Affrilachian, Indigenous non-binary and LGBTQ; from teens to those creatively aging; poets in recovery, some with disabilities or developmental differences; emerging and well established; some living in the state, others from