Ohio Poetry Association Blog

As another calendar year winds down, it’s time to reflect on how OPA spent 2017 and to thank those who made it so successful. Perhaps at the top of our list of accomplishments is the release of another anthology, A Rustling and Waking Within . This beautiful collection of ekphrastic poems was made possible by a dedicated team of volunteers and poets. First and foremost, thanks to editor Sharon Fish Mooney, who spent countless hours handling submissions, revisions, and layout and design with her husband, OPA newsletter editor Scott Mooney. The result is an inspiring collection for the most discerning reader. We are also grateful to Anna Soter, who coordinated the book launch at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus with the invaluable help of Center staff, Alana Ryder. Finally, we appreciate the art museums and centers in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Coshocton, and Toledo who hosted our ekphrastic workshops and readings, and the poets who led those events and turned this proj...

The Big Give is back! Sponsored by The Columbus Foundation (TCF), The Big Give is a 24-hour opportunity to support your favorite non-profit organizations. And OPA is asking you to help us continue our efforts to support poets and the art of poetry across the state. This year’s event is bigger than ever with a pool of matching funds totaling more than $1.3 million. And unlike years past, all credit card fees are covered by TCF, which means 100% of donated funds will go to OPA. Thanks to previous The Big Give events and OPA supporters, we’ve been able to use money raised to improve programming and events and produce special publications. As our members know, OPA is managed entirely by volunteers and has no paid staff. So, all donations go into things like readings, anthologies, such as Common Threads and the 2017 ekphrastic collection, A Rustling and Waking Within , contests, and workshops. We’ll be posting more information prior to the event so keep watching! Meanwhile...

The Ohio Poetry Day Association has asked that we make sure Ohio Poetry Association members receive a copy of the registration form for Ohio Poetry Day which will be held on October 6 and 7 at the Troy Hayner Cultural Center in Troy Ohio. Winners of the annual poetry contests will be honored and the 2017 Ohio Poet of the Year, Kathy Fagan will do a reading from her latest book, Sycamore . It's a wonderful time of fellowship in the celebration of poetry. If you did not receive an invitation by mail, you can print out this registration form and mail it to Amy Jo Zook, 3520 State Route 56, Mechanicsburg, Ohio 43044 by October 1. Directions

Don’t miss the fourth annual Poetry at Perkins benefit reading event preceded by a day-long series of activities on Saturday, June 3, 2017 at various locations throughout Delaware, Ohio. The Sun & Moon Poetry Festival promises to provide a full spectrum of poetry activities and readings. It starts at the Delaware County Library with a workshop led by Dr. Susann Moeller, secretary of the Ohio Poetry Association, on the topic of Space Junk. In the afternoon, a reading hike is scheduled though Stratford Ecological Center that will feature poets from throughout Ohio at various points along the path. In the evening, there will be more poetry from Ohio poets at the Perkins Observatory . Check out the full details below. Full/Crescent Press , a Columbus-based poetry press, has hosted “Poetry at Perkins: In Celebration of the Night Sky” as an annual event since 2014. Bill Hurley was one of the first poets to be involved and acted each year as Master of Ceremonies. A poet and ama...

Contact: Joseph Cavanaugh jcavanaugh1@gmail.com Poet Kari Gunter-Seymour is selected national winner April 16, 2017 – The National Federation of State Poetry Societies (NFSPS) is pleased to announce the 1 st place winner of the 2017 BlackBerryPeach Spoken and Heard competition, Kari Gunter-Seymour of Albany, OH. BlackBerryPeach is a major NFSPS competition that challenges poets to present their original poetry in print and spoken word, requiring submission of an audio file in mp3 or WAV format of four poems along with a manuscript. Kari Gunter-Seymour Vice President Joe Cavanaugh, chair of the contest stressed the importance of reaching out to all poets, by recognizing stage poetry in its many forms as a powerful poetic genre. All entries were reviewed for compliance and approximately 100 entries were selected as finalists and sent on to an independent judge for final selection. As 1 st place winner, Gunter-Seymour receives the grand prize of $1,000 and is inv...

With April’s arrival comes the beginning of National Poetry Month, and in 2017, there’s no shortage of great events and activities to experience in Ohio. If you haven’t yet kicked off your celebration by attending a great reading or just plain reading great poetry this past weekend, take a look at some of the things offered by both OPA and local groups throughout the state, as well as offerings at the national level. Events LaWanda Walters John Drury OPA is pleased to offer another of its free poetry workshops at Otterbein University on Saturday, April 8, when we welcome from Cincinnati the husband-and-wife poetry team of John Drury and LaWanda Walters. Get the full event details from the OPA website and come prepared for an engaging afternoon of wordsmithing.  If you’re looking to make a weekend of poetry in the Columbus area, why not put the Ohioana Book Festival on your list? OPA is excited again to be partnering with the Ohioana Library to bring the 11th ...

Don't miss this opportunity to be a part of Ohio Poetry Day.  May 15 is the deadline for the dozens of contests that are a part of the event . Here is a copy of the submission form. We realize the type is small. This is how it comes to OPA from Ohio Poetry Day staff in the mail. It's chocked full of great contest information, and as a result, the type is small. OPA recommends that in order to see it best, you should print a copy of the form which is in jpg or photo format. You can do that by saving the image to your computer and printing it. You can also use your own paper as an entry form if you don't want to print off a copy of the form. Be sure to provide all the information required, including which poems you want to be considered for which contests. Follow all the submission instructions. (Many photo viewers will allow you to zoom out thereby enlarging the type so you can check to see that you have included everything.)  It is recommended that you contact...

The Ohio Poetry Association (OPA) is releasing a new ekphrastic poetry anthology, titled, A Rustling and Waking Within. The collection is a celebration of art and poetry in Ohio . The 139-page perfect-bound book contains poems written by friends and members of OPA in response to various forms of art featured in Ohio 's museums, galleries and many other venues, including homes. Works by Ohio artists, both older art and more contemporary, are included.   On the cover is a painting by Camille Pissarro (French, 1830–1903), titled, "The Roofs of Old Rouen , Gray Weather " used by permission from the Toledo Museum of Art. The project marks the culmination of four OPA writing events that were held in major art centers in Ohio . An initial release event, at which contributors will read their poems against a visual projection of the art to which they responded, is slated for Saturday, March 11, 2017, from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm, at the Wexner Center for the Arts, 1871 N. H...