Ohio Voices: A Poetic History - March 21st Online

March 21st at 10 a.m., Join the Ohio Poetry Association for a historical look at notable poets with Ohio ties on World Poetry Day!

This is a virtual event. More information and free registration at Eventbrite.

Peace

 

Sandusky Coffeehouse Reading

VALENTINES DAY It's beautiful country along the lake. Join us.

Registration open for Lit Youngstown's free Winter Writing Camp on February 28th

From our friends at Lit Youngstown:

Winter Writing Camp
Registration is Open

Winter Writing Camp 2026 will be Saturday, February 28, for writers ages 5 and up.

Warm up and write at the 9th Annual Winter Writing Camp! Spend the day engaged in interesting writing activities led by regional writers.

Registration is required for this free event, and includes a delicious catered lunch.  Registration is open until February 1 or all seats are filled.

​

​Register at https://www.lityoungstown.org/winter-writing-camp.

​

Please note that children in Kindergarten and First Grade require an adult to be with them all day, and children 10 and under require an adult in the building.

 

Adult campers can select sessions on the art of letter writing, telling your own story, adult-child journaling, writing haiku, traditional vs. self-publishing, and more, with workshop leaders Christopher Barzak, John Burroughs, Russell Brickey, JRW Case, Meghan Cliffel, Makenn Liller Dahman, Bella Davis, Teresa Leone, Isabella Moreno, Trennae Roe, Abby Vandiver, Shaunda Yancey & Kara M. Zone. 

​

Many thanks to our host the Public Library of Youngstown & Mahoning County.

AURAS OF DECEIT

Long time Cleveland Poet and Writer is a Co-Author of a new book - AURAS OF DECEIT.

Released on Dec. 2, 2025, it is available online in print and ebook form from Barnes and Noble and Amazon.

Auras Of Deceit: A Trivolity Cozy Mystery

by Lake Norman Writers Guild

When a murder mystery party in the exclusive Trivolity active adult community turns deadly, two retired investigators team up to find the killer. They uncover a web of blackmail, jealousy, and secrets hiding beneath the manicured lawns and polite smiles of their quirky neighbors. With a rising body count and a murderer on the loose, they must untangle the truth before another resident checks out permanently.

About the Authors

Lake Norman Writers Guild is a group of authors living in a North Carolina Active Adult Community. As a lark, they thought it would be fun to write a cozy mystery together. One that takes place in a community just like theirs, but not exactly.

Contact them at lnwg@qsynq.pub for more information.

Available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle Unlimited https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FY6ZVSQK

More about the authors at https:// qsynq.pub/lake-norman-writers-guild/

Published by QSynQ Publishing https://qsynq.pub/

Last Exit readings in Kent from December through May

For more info, follow https://www.facebook.com/groups/275521006684052.

November 15th: Get Sharp! 2025 Ohio Poetry Publishing Conference

Join the Ohio Poetry Association on November 15th from 10 to 4:30 at the Cuyahoga County Public Library's South Euclid-Lyndhurst branch for an absolutely free Ohio Poetry Publishing Conference. Registration and more details at https://attend.cuyahogalibrary.org/event/13881294.

Get Sharp! will include an Ohio small press book fair and fab workshop presentations by Dianne Borsenik, Geoff Anderson, Michael Salinger, and Susan Grimm.

Elliot Nicely Wins Ohio Poet of the Year Honorable Mention

On October 18th, in recognition of his debut collection Sine Qua Non (Red Moon Press, 2024), northern Ohio's Elliot Nicely was awarded an Honorable Mention at the 2025 Ohio Poet of the Year ceremonies. 

Since 1976, the Ohio Poetry Day Association has selected annually an Ohio Poet of the Year, basing its choice on a book published in the previous year. Notable recipients of this award have included Mary Oliver and Maggie Smith. This year's winner was Cincinnati's Yalie Saweda Kamara, for her book Besaydoo (Milkweed Editions, 2024). 

Elliot Nicely has been published in leading haiku and poetry journals since 2006. His haiku has appeared in more than two dozen anthologies across four continents, and his writing was featured in Red Moon Press’s New Resonance series in 2019. Nicely also served on the Haiku North America 2023 Programming Committee and was co-judge for HSA’s Merit Book Awards in 2024. Nicely resides in Lakewood, Ohio.

2025 Anthology of the River Roots Poets Published

So many thanks to Ohio Poetry Association President, Holly Brians Ragusa, for her hard work on this excellent project in collaboration with the OPA and America's River Roots. I'm thrilled to have a poem ("After Kao Ch'an") included alongside the work of so many fantastic writers! View the whole digital flipbook anthology at https://midd.me/aspt.

November 8th: Two Ohio Poets in Sandusky

 Join us for a good time of sharing. Two friends and fine poets to us all.

Always Things Going on in Sandusky

ALWAYS THINGS GOING ON IN SANDUSKY

Thanks to the Firelands Writing Center

and Bottom Dog Press.

 

August 30th: The Poetry Airshow

From Mike Credico and our friends at the Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library:

I wanted to let you know that we'll be hosting an open mic poetry reading on Saturday, August 30th from 3-5 PM here at the Ohio Center for the Book. We're offering this as an alternative to the other, better-known, airshow (although it will be in full view). We did something similar last year, by accident, and it turned out to be a very positive, powerful experience for participants. 

We're hoping to have a bunch of readers, so if you're in the area this upcoming Labor Day weekend, stop by!

New from Bottom Dog Press

Ad for America Poetry Review

Frank Lehner at Mr.  Smith's Coffeehouse July 14th 2:00

140 Columbus Ave. Sandusky, Ohio

Open Mic to follow. Join Us.

July 12: Ohio Poetry Association Picnic at Sandy Ridge Reservation

Join us July 12th at the Lorain County Metroparks' Sandy Ridge Reservation in North Ridgeville, Ohio for the Ohio Poetry Association's annual picnic, featuring readings by co-Ohio Poet of the Year Barbara Sabol (Watermark) and recent Cleveland Heights Poet Laureate Ray McNiece (Bone Key Sutra), shorter readings by OPA members with recent publications, plus open mic.

Picnic begins at 12:30 p.m. in the park's Johnson Wetlands Center.

Preceded at 10 a.m. by OPA's quarterly business meeting (all members welcome).

6195 Otten Road
North Ridgeville, Ohio 44039

A Confluence of Poems: 2025 Edith Chase Reading, May 16th at Kent State

Friday 16 May 2025 at 4 p.m., poets from all over Ohio will gather for a dramatic reading on the theme of tributaries. There will be music, and an anthology of the poems performed will be available at the reading.

Kent State College of Architecture + Environmental Design
132 S. Lincoln Street
Kent, Ohio 44240

More info at https://www.facebook.com/events/1007338138041745.

The Cleveland Poetry Scene, 1960s-1970s - Exhibit at Kent State

Just found out about this exhibit at Kent State. For more information, please visit: https://www.library.kent.edu/special-collections-and-archives/exhibitions. 

Jawbone Poetry - May 2nd thru 4th in Kent

 

2025 Cleveland Poetry Festival on April 25-27

From our friends at Literary Cleveland: 

For complete info and to register, please visit https://www.litcleveland.org/events-programs/cleveland-poetry-festival-2025. 

March 15th: Of Poetry at Visible Voice Books

From our friends at Visible Voice Books in Tremont: 

An evening of readings from volumes of poetry titled Of.

Kai Ihns is the author of two books of poems, most recently Of (The Elephants, 2024). She lives in Chicago.

Ossian Foley is the author of OF: Vol I (UDP) and works for the government.

Justin Cox is the author of Stock Pond (Bench Editions, 2025). His writing has appeared in Annulet, Chicago Review, Fence, Tagvverk, and elsewhere. Justin teaches at the University of Iowa and has been a fellow at the International Institute of Modern Letters in Wellington, New Zealand.

David James Miller is the author of CANT and the chapbooks FOLD, As Sequence, and Facts & Other Objects. He is founding editor of Elis Press and SET, a journal of innovative writing that comes out once in a while.

Caryl Pagel’s most recent book is Free Clean Fill Dirt (University of Akron Press), named for a sign seen at Lakeview Cemetery. She teaches and makes books with her friends.

Zach Peckham is a writer, editor, and educator. He is the author of the poetry collection As If And, forthcoming from New Mundo Press in 2026, and his work has recently appeared in Full Stop, Mercury Firs, Landfill, APARTMENT, and Tilted House. He is the managing editor at the CSU Poetry Center, an editor at large at the Cleveland Review of Books, and he teaches at Cleveland State and the Cleveland Institute of Art. He also runs a small press called Community Mausoleum and a journal called Coma.

Alyssa Perry is the author of Oily Doily (Bench Editions, 2024). Her writing appears with Annulet, Coma, Fence, Mercury Firs, and elsewhere. Perry is poetry editor at the Cleveland Review of Books and an editor at Rescue Press. She teaches at the Cleveland Institute of Art.

Lindsay Turner is the author of The Upstate (University of Chicago Press, 2023) and Songs & Ballads (Prelude Books, 2018). She's also a French-to-English translator of poetry and philosophy. Originally from northeast Tennessee, she lives in Cleveland, where she is Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing at Case Western Reserve University.

2/13: Ekphrastacy at Heights Arts

From our friends at Heights Arts:

Artists Talk and Poets Respond to Emerge and Spotlight Gallery artist Frank Hadzima. Join Heights Poet Laureate Siaara Freeman, along with guest poets Barbara Marie Minney, Caira Lee, and Conor Bracken, for an evening of poetry inspired by the current exhibitions at Heights Arts' gallery.

 

Reserve A Spot at eventbrite.com/e/ekphrastacy-artists-talk-and-poets-respond-tickets-1104908714709.

Peace Poems Anthology Seeks Submissions

From our friends at the National Federation of State Poetry Societies:

1/11: Ohio Poetry Association Workshop featuring Yalie Saweda Kamara

In my new role as 2nd vice president of the Ohio Poetry Association, I would like to invite you to join us virtually on Saturday 11 January at 1 p.m. for a fantastic workshop with Yalie Saweda Kamara.

OPA Workshop featuring Yalie Saweda Kamara

For our first poetry workshop of 2025, we are thrilled to welcome the current Poet Laureate of the City of Cincinnati, Yalie Saweda Kamara. Kamara is a Sierra Leonean-American writer, educator, and researcher originally from Oakland, California, and the 2022–2024 Cincinnati and Mercantile Library Poet Laureate. Invited for a third year of poet laureate service, her tenure will conclude in 2025. She is an assistant professor of English at Xavier University, where she specializes in creative writing and global and diasporic literature. Winner of the 2022–2023 Jake Adam York Prize, Kamara’s debut full-length poetry collection is Besaydoo (Milkweed Editions, 2024).

About the Workshop: “i am running into a new year”

In this workshop, whose title is based on the famed Lucille Clifton poem, poets will reflect on the gifts, struggles, and revelation of 2024 and engage in creative activity that considers world making in 2025. Through a multimedia exploration of surrender, embrace, confession, and celebration, we will endeavor to investigate the following query: How do the vestiges and blossoms from the previous year inform our understanding of and proximity
to "possibility" in the newest year?

This hybrid workshop will take place following the 10 a.m. OPA quarterly business meeting at the Mercantile Library in Cincinnati and also via Zoom. 

To attend, please register at www.ohiopoetryassn.org/events. 

To learn more about Yalie Saweda Kamara, visit her website at www.yaylala.com.

1/11 in East Cleveland: Second Saturday Stanzas will feature Caira Lee

From our friends at the East Cleveland Public Library:

4 p.m. January 11th 2025 at:

East Cleveland Public Library
14101 Euclid Avenue
East Cleveland, OH
eastclevelandpubliclibrary.org

1/16: Poetry Unplugged Turns 3!

Check this!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Cleveland Open Mic Experience (@poetry.unplugged)

Thrive on, Doc Janning!

A nice feature on our friend (and Cuyahoga County Poet Laureate) Doc Janning appears in the Winter 2024/25 issue of Thrive: South Euclid Magazine.

 

Find Doc online at facebook.com/drmikej1008. His book Before Today ∞ Beyond Tomorrow [2023, Venetian Spider Press] is available from Mac's Backs and other great booksellers.