Ohio Poetry Day 2016

Ohio Poetry Day 2016

Press Release

Ohio Poetry Day 2016, in its seventy-ninth year, will be held on the campus of Heidelberg University in historic Pfleiderer Hall October 14-15, 2016. We look forward to welcoming poets from all over Ohio, members of our local community, and two very special guests!

Thanks in part to the Gekler Family English Fund, after sessions with the Heidelberg University, Eric McHenry, poet laureate of Kansas and Associate Professor of English at Washburn University, will lead the Friday evening workshop and present a reading of his work.

Saturday morning is devoted to the Evan Lodge Memorial Workshop, an interactive work shop on ten poems selected for the event through a pre-judged contest. Lunch will follow at the Hoernemann Refectory. Those not on the OPD mailing list who wish to receive the reservation form may request one through a postcard request or SASE addressed to Amy Jo Zook, 3530 State Route 56, Mechanicsburg, OH 43044.

The highlight of the weekend will be the reading Saturday afternoon of Ohio Poet of the year, Maggie Smith. A Columbus poet who resides in Bexley, Ohio, Smith's winning volume is The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison (Tupelo Press, 2015). She is the author of three chapbooks and the full-length collection Lamp of the Body (Red Hen Press). Smith holds degrees from Ohio Wesleyan (B.A.) and the Ohio State University (M.F.A.) She has served as lecturer at Gettysburg College and is now a freelance writer. Smith has received awards from The National Endowment for the Arts, Sustainable Arts, and was recognized with an Ohio Arts Council award for individual excellence. 

After Maggie Smith's reading, authors of poems recognized in the twenty Ohio Poetry Day contests will be invited to read their work. Winners represent 135 entering poets from twenty-five states, the province of Ontario, and Cornwall in the UK. There were a total of 1010 poems entered in twenty-six contests in 2016.

Requests for additional information may be addressed to Bill Reyer, OPD State Contest Chair and Professor of English, Heidelberg University, at wreyer@heidelberg.edu.