We are pleased to announce our new OPA Regional Poet Ambassadors, serving from Fall 2026 through Fall 2028.
Southwest Ohio: Zinnia Stewart
Zinnia (Zeda Stew) Stewart, Writer, Spoken Word Artist, Speaker,
Host, Oral Historian and Community Engagement Coordinator, is
the Community Engagement Coordinator at the Harriet Beecher Stowe House in Cincinnati. She is a poet, storyteller, and teaching
artist whose work centers Black history, motherhood, and the
power of narrative as a tool for connection and liberation. A
Milwaukee native, Zinnia brings lived experience and creative
vision to her community work, building programs and
partnerships that invite dialogue, reflection, and belonging.
Through spoken word and public engagement, she bridges
history and the present, helping audiences connect the legacy of freedom to contemporary
voices and lived realities. Learn more about Zinnia at @zedastew.
Northwest Ohio: Sandra Rivers-Gill
Sandra Rivers-Gill is the Lucas County Poet Laureate (2026-2028).
Her poetry is known for its rhythmic, evocative imagery, familial
and social consciousness fused with musicality and resilience. An
award-winning poet, performer and playwright, Sandra is based
in Toledo, Ohio. She is editor of AMPLIFY: A Sheila-Na-Gig Anthology Celebrating Poets of Color (2026). Her debut poetry
chapbook, As We Cover Ourselves With Light (Sheila-Na-Gig
Editions, 2023), was a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Book Award. She
is a Teaching Artist, engaging older adults and youth in the art of
poetry. Her work has been supported by the Ohio Arts Council and
the Arts Commission of Greater Toledo. She is a member of Poets
Against Racism & Hate USA, Unbounded Artists, Not Dead Yet Poets, and serves as Poet
Ambassador of Northwest Ohio representing the Ohio Poetry Association. Sandra holds a
bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from the University of Toledo. Learn more about
Sandra at sandrariversgill.com & @sandra.gill.52.
Outside Ohio: Manuel Iris
Manuel Iris (1983) is a Mexico-born American poet who has
held several distinguished positions, including Poet Laureate of
the City of Cincinnati, Ohio, writer in residence at the Cincinnati
and Hamilton County Public Library, and writer in residence at
Thomas More University. In 2021, he was named a member of
the National System of Art Creators of Mexico. He is the author
of six poetry collections that have gained national and
international recognition. In 2022 the Autonomous University
of Chiapas (Mexico) released Traductor del silencio:
acrecamientos criticos a la obra de Manuel Iris [Translator of Silence: Critical Approaches to the Work of Manuel Iris], a
collective volume of essays, reviews, and interviews by 23 authors about his poetic works.
In 2025, Iris received the Ambroggio Poetry Prize from the Academy of American Poets for
his book The Whole Earth is a Garden of Monsters/Toda la tierra es un jardín de monstruos,
recently published by the University of Arizona Press. Manuel Iris has given readings,
lectures, and talks across Mexico, the United States, and Europe. He currently resides and
writes in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Learn more about Manuel at manueliris.com & @manuelirispoet.
Northeast Ohio: John Burroughs
John Burroughs was recently named Lifetime New Generation
Beat Poet Laureate by the National Beat Poetry Foundation. Born
in West Virginia, raised in Elyria, and based in Cleveland, he is a
nationally touring writer and performer and the author of The
Wrest of the Worthwhile [2023, Far Queue Press], Rattle &
Numb: Selected & New Poems [2019, Venetian Spider Press], and
approximately twenty poetry chapbooks. He has edited several
anthologies and journals including Cheap and Easy Magazine,
Oct Tongue, the Best Cleveland Poem Competition series,
and two Hessler Street Fair poetry annuals. He has curated several regular reading series in
the Lake Erie region, co-produced (with Dianne Borsenik) the annual Snoetry winter
wordfest (including, in 2011, a 150-hour non-stop poetry reading), served in several roles
including vice president for the Ohio Poetry Association and, since 2008, served as the
founding editor and publisher for Crisis Chronicles Press, producing nearly 130 titles by
vital voices from around the world. Burroughs was also the 2019-2021 Ohio Beat Poet
Laureate and the 2022-2023 U.S. Beat Poet Laureate. Learn More about John at
linktr.ee/johnburroughs and crisischronicles.com.
Southeast Ohio: Bonnie Proudfoot
Bonnie Proudfoot has lived in Athens, OH, for 3 decades. Bonnie’s
writing focuses on the intersection of family roles, place, and identity.
Her novel, Goshen Road (OU/ Swallow Press), set in rural WV,
received WCONA’s Book of the Year and was Longlisted for the PEN/
Hemingway. Her poetry chapbook, Household Gods (Sheila-Na-Gig
Editions) focuses on her upbringing in Queens, NY. Her fiction,
poetry, reviews, and essays have appeared in journals and
anthologies including Rattle, SWWIM, Still: the Journal, New
Ohio Review, Women Speak, and I Thought I Heard a Cardinal Sing,
among others, and her writing has been nominated for the Pushcart
Prize and the Best of the Net. Her first full-length poetry collection, Incomer, reflects on
moving to the Appalachian region as a young woman and remaining to set down roots. It
was published in April 2026 by Shadelandhouse Modern Press. Learn more about Bonnie
at bonnieproudfootblog.wordpress.com & @bpfoot.
Central Ohio: Karen Scott
Karen Scott, a poet in Columbus, Ohio, is a proud part of the
Columbus Poetry scene, is a substitute teacher, member, advisor
and ardent supporter of Ohio Poetry Association (OPA), a past
participant in the Women of Appalachia Project (2017-18,
2019-20, and 2020-21) and a proud member of the SALON writing
group. Some of her work has been published in Common Threads (OPA anthology, 2013, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2021), She Speaks (Women of Appalachia anthology, 2017, 2019, 2020), Delirious: A
Poetic Celebration of Prince (2016), Northern Appalachia Review
(2020), the Quarantine Zine published by OPAWL, among others.
Learn more about Karen on Facebook and in the Columbus poetry scene.
Comments
Post a Comment