The Beck Series: ‘Poetry in Ohio’

Denison’s Beck Series welcomes poets Kathy Fagan, Michael Rosen and Maggie Smith as part of the Ohio Poetry Series.

Fagan’s latest collection is “Sycamore.” She is also the author of the National Poetry Series selection “The Raft,” the Vassar Miller Prize winner “MOVING & ST RAGE,” “The Charm,” and “Lip.” Her work has appeared in The Paris Review, The Kenyon Review, Slate, FIELD, Narrative, The New Republic, The Nation, and Poetry. Fagan was named Ohio Poet of the Year for 2017, and is the recipient of awards and fellowships from the Ingram Merrill Foundation, the NEA, The Frost Place, Ohioana, Greater Columbus Arts Council, and the Ohio Arts Council. The director of creative writing and the MFA Program at The Ohio State University, she is currently professor of English, poetry editor of OSU Press, and advisor to The Journal.

Rosen is prolific writer and artist. His biography refuses easy summation. He has deep Central Ohio ties and was director of the Thurber House for about 20 years. His poems have appeared widely and he has written four books of poetry: “Every Species of Hope,” “Telling Things,” “Traveling in Notions: The Stories of Gordon Penn,” and “A Drink at the Mirage.”

Smith is the author of three books of poetry: “Good Bones;” “The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison;” and “Lamp of the Body.” Smith is also the author of three prizewinning chapbooks. Her poems appear in Best American Poetry, the New York Times, Tin House, The Paris Review, Ploughshares, The Gettysburg Review, Guernica, Plume, AGNI, Virginia Quarterly Review, and elsewhere. In 2016, her poem “Good Bones” went viral internationally and has been translated into nearly a dozen languages. PRI (Public Radio International) called it “the official poem of 2016.” Smith has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Ohio Arts Council, and the Sustainable Arts Foundation, among others.