Ohio Poetry Association Blog

Join us in the great city of Toledo for the 89th annual Ohio Poetry Day celebration! Friday, October 16 (7:00 PM – 9:00 PM) Handmade Toledo 1717 Adams Street Toledo, Ohio 43604 .  Saturday, October 17 (10:00 AM – 4:00 PM) Toledo Lucas County Public Library 325 Michigan Street Toledo, Ohio 43604 .  Saturday Schedule: 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM: Set up (including table setup and book room) 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM: OPD Evan Lodge Workshop led by Professor Jennifer Moore 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM: Readings by Toledo poets Lunch available at EatWell Cafe , located inside the library. (We will be reading in the open atrium, across from the cafe, so you can easily get lunch and still listen to the readings.) 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM: Reading by Poet of the Year 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM: Reading by contest winners 3:00 PM – 3:30 PM: Readings by Toledo poets 3:30 PM – 4:00 PM: open mic From noon - 4pm, there will also be activity tables in the library available for all, sponsored by the Arts Commission of Greater Tole...

Once again in 2026, our friends at the Ohio Poetry Day Association are accepting nominations for the Ohio Poet of the Year. This is the 50th year of handing out the award, which is given for a single book of poetry published in the previous year. Past winners include Mary Oliver, Maggie Smith, David Baker, and Yalie Saweda Kamara. Guidelines are provided below.  Nomination Guidelines   The poet must be a native or a resident of Ohio or, if neither, must have previously lived in Ohio and established close ties to the state. There is no form to fill out, no fee, and no letter of recommendation is necessary. Books must be nominated by other people, such as a publisher, editor, poet colleague or poetry group. Book length: at least 48 pages of poetry.   The page count does not include: Title Pages, acknowledgments, illustrations, photographs, or end matter, such as notes. Nominated books may be from a commercial, university, small or hybrid press, or self-published, but vanit...

Our friends at the Ohio Poetry Day Association have announced their annual contests!  May 15, 2026, is the deadline (postmark)  for two dozen contest categories. Categories include humor, formal poems, parody and more. As always, a “Welcome Aboard” category for first-time submitters and an art category to design the cover art for the 2026  Best of Ohio Poetry Day  anthology are also open to submissions.  Below is a copy of the submission form, which provides full contest information.  Ohio Poetry Day 2026 will take place in October in Toledo, Ohio. Stay up to date on event 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 image below to view it at full size.

The Ohio Poetry Day Association (OPDA) is accepting nominations for the 2025 Ohio Poet of the Year. This annual competition invites submissions to join a prestigious list of former award winners, including Mary Oliver, David Baker, Kari Gunter-Seymour, and Maggie Smith. If you've recently published a book of poetry (self-published NOT eligible) check out the rules below and throw your hat into the ring. Poet Joanne Greenway is Chair for Ohio Poet of the Year 2025. For those of you who aren’t as familiar with OPOTY, please check out this Ohio Poet of the Year Association site . Nomination Guidelines for Ohio Poet of the Year , 2025 are linked here, and also copied below for your convenience. Nomination Guidelines OPOTY  Poets are invited to self-nominate by submitting their books, along with their complete contact information (mailing address, phone number, and email) and a bio (50-100 words). Books may also be nominated by others, such as a publisher, editor, poet colleague or poet...

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 ...

The Ohio Poetry Day Association (OPDA) has selected Rikki Santer as its Ohio Poet of the Year for 2023. Santer was selected for her book of poems, Resurrection Letter: Leonora, Her Tarot, and Me (Materialist Press/Cereal Box Studio, 2023), a book-length sequence in tribute to the surrealist artist Leonora Carrington. A resident of Columbus, Ohio, Santer has had published five full-length poetry collections and six chapbook sequences exploring such topics as the Hopewell earthworks of Newark, Ohio; the late Kahiki Supper Club of Columbus, Ohio; the world of ventriloquism, the art of fashion, and the classic television series Twilight Zone . She is a member of the teaching artist roster of the Ohio Arts Council, a vice president of the Ohio Poetry Association, and a member of the poetry troupe, Concrete Wink. Her poetry has been widely published and has received many honors including several Pushcart and Ohioana book award nominations as well as a fellowship from the National Endowmen...

Our friends at the Ohio Poetry Day Association have announced their annual contests!  May 15, 2023, is the deadline (postmark)  for nearly two dozen contest categories. Categories include humor, formal poems, parody and more. As always, a “Welcome Aboard” category for first-time submitters and an art category to design the cover art for the 2023  Best of Ohio Poetry Day  anthology are also open to submissions.  Below is a copy of the submission form, which provides full contest information.  Ohio Poetry Day 2023 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.

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...

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.