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.