Member Linzi Garcia coordinated a five-week writing program with fifth-grade students as a board member of House of Morrow. Member Kevin Rabas was one of the classroom guests.

House of Morrow is excited to announce the inaugural launch of the Diverse Voices/Voces Diversas Literacy Program with the fifth-grade students at Walnut Elementary School!
 
Program Description:
House of Morrow is a local arts fund within the Emporia Community Foundation. It focuses on providing programs and services, primarily focused on the arts, to Emporia youth. House of Morrow Board Member Linzi Garcia, as well as specially invited local guest authors and artists, are currently leading a creative writing program designed to engage the fifth-grade students at Walnut Elementary in the art of creative writing using language in conventional and experimental ways, including with poetry, music, and visual art. This program emphasizes nurturing creativity, enhancing writing skills, fostering self-expression, and promoting personal and peer acceptance. 
                                   
Each student has been gifted a notebook and custom pen, provided by local printer, Chester Press, to use during this program and beyond.
 
Classroom guests included Poet Laureate of Kansas Emeritus Kevin Rabas, artist Deon Morrow, and theatre teacher Kacie Hastings.
 
At the end of this five-week program, an anthology of the students’ creative works from this time will be published by local book publisher, Meadowlark Press. This means each student will be a published author! Chester Press will print the book and partner with a Wichita company to bind it.
 
House of Morrow and Walnut Elementary will also host a book launch and reading event to celebrate the students’ creation. The event is free and open to the public. More details to come. Copies of the book will be gifted to students. The books will also be available for purchase, serving as a fundraiser for Walnut Elementary School and House of Morrow.
 
Funding this program is made possible in part by the United Way United for Racial Equity Grant. The grant, as well as House of Morrow funds, cover the cost of notebooks, pens, guest speaker compensation, book printing, and event supplies. House of Morrow extends a hearty thank you to United Way and to everyone who has donated to House of Morrow.
 
  
House of Morrow Mission:
Our goal is to assist underserved communities in Emporia through the cultivation of public art and services. We aim to positively impact the community by creating innovative programs for the youth and providing them with tools to make a difference in their lives. We strive to empower those in need and foster a sense of community through public service and art projects. Working together will create a better future for Emporia and its residents.
 
 
Linzi Garcia Bio:
Linzi Garcia lives in Emporia, where she serves as the publicist and poetry editor for Meadowlark Press and as a board member for House of Morrow. While earning her MA in creative writing from Emporia State University, she worked as the graduate assistant to Poet Laureate of Kansas Emeritus Kevin Rabas and as an editorial assistant with Bluestem Press and Flint Hills Review. During that time, she also worked as a composition professor at the university and a reporter for The Emporia Gazette. Linzi has facilitated over 50 community writing workshops and poetry readings across Kansas. She is the author of Thank You (Spartan Press, 2018) and co-author of Live a Great Story (Analog Submission Press, 2019) and While Away: Travel Poems (Spartan Press, 2022). Linzi is a recipient of a 2023 NextGen Under 30 Kansas Award in the arts category.
 
 
Deon Morrow Bio:
Deon Morrow, a passionate advocate for education, brings a wealth of experience and dedication to our literacy program. As an integral part of our school community, Deon is committed to creating an environment where students not only excel academically but also discover the joy of reading. With a background in educational leadership, Deon understands the importance of instilling a love for learning in our students. Deon is also a recipient of a 2024 NextGen Under 30 Kansas Award in the arts category.

Hosted by Ad Astra Books & Coffee House
141 N Santa Fe Ave., Salina
Friday, November 12, 7:00pm
Click here for more information.

Manager: Linzi Garcia
 
Theme Contest:
Amy Sage Webb-Baza is Professor of English and Director of the Creative Writing Program at Emporia State University, where she was named Roe R. Cross Distinguished Professor and directs the Donald Reichardt Center for Publishing and Literary Arts. She is managing editor for Bluestem Press and Flint Hills Review. She publishes fiction, poetry, and nonfiction, and is author of Your Own Life: Kansas Stories (Woodley Press, 2012).
 
Classical Poetry:
Kristin Van Tassel teaches writing and American literature at Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas. She writes essays and poetry about place, teaching, motherhood, and travel. Her work has appeared in literary, academic, and travel publications, including The Chronicle of Higher Education, World Hum, ISLE, The Journal of Ecocriticism, The Los Angeles Review of Books, Wraparound South, Temenos, Burningword, Capsule Stories, and About Place.
 
Free Verse:
Jason Ryberg is the author of fourteen books of poetry, six screenplays, a few short stories, a box full of folders, notebooks and scraps of paper that could one day be (loosely) construed as a novel, and, a couple of angry letters to various magazine and newspaper editors. He is currently an artist-in-residence at both The Prospero Institute of Disquieted P/o/e/t/i/c/s and the Osage Arts Community, and is an editor and designer at Spartan Books. His latest collection of poems is Are You Sure Kerouac Done It This Way!? (co-authored with John Dorsey, and Victor Clevenger, OAC Books, 2021). He lives part-time in Kansas City, MO with a rooster named Little Red and a billygoat named Giuseppe and part-time somewhere in the Ozarks, near the Gasconade River, where there are also many strange and wonderful woodland critters.
 
Narrative Poetry:
John E. Epic is the author of the non-fiction memoir, Ill Digestions, the illustrated children’s book, Such a Little Apple: the anatomy of a bully, and numerous poetry books that illuminate beauty within the mundane, meaning within the seemingly insignificant, and humor to all of life’s absurdities.  As an avid advocate of the arts John E. Epic co-created DroneBEE Gazette Publishing, an agency dedicated to publishing previously unknown artists, poets, photographers and authors. Bio Pic by Rim Valiakhmetov (Moscow, Russia)  
 
Whimsy:
Lori Brack is the author of three books of poems: A Case for the Dead Letter Detective (Kelsay, 2021), Museum Made of Breath (Spartan, 2018), and A Fine Place to See the Sky (The Field School, 2010). She lives in Lucas where she is a freelance writer for nonprofits, a writing coach and instructor.
 
 
Japanese Poetry:
Dr. Cynthia Patton has been a member of the English faculty at Emporia State University since 2000.  For the past fifteen years, she has researched and taught Japanese literature and film in English translation, as well as her original fields (19th- and 20th-century British literature, literary criticism and theory).  Her favorite haiku is by Yosa Buson:
harusame ya monogatari yuku mino to kasa.  Spring rain: / so the story goes-- / straw raincoat and umbrella
 
Performance Poetry:
Matt Spezia is the Kansas Program Director for Poetry for Personal Power. In art, Matt is a national powerhouse of lyrical ability, combining an eight-time national award-winning poetry style, Kansas City hip hop, and thespian teachings. He has three albums and a book published and has appeared in an anthologized CD and book. Matt uses his platform and his art to promote self confidence and betterment, social awareness, and cultural change. Outside of art, Matt is a mentor and has worked to directly influence school children in 36 different districts. He has given numerous presentations on performing for the public forum at a number of state-wide venues and on the floor of the Kansas capitol building. Matt has experience with hosting radio shows and producing commercials, music videos, and films. Above all, Matt believes everything is a #teameffort.
 
New Poets:
Jason Baldinger is from Pittsburgh and looks forward to roaming the country writing poems again. His newest books are A Threadbare Universe (Kung Fu Treachery Press) and The Afterlife is a Hangover (Stubborn Mule Press).  A History of Backroads Misplaced: Selected Poems 2010-2020 (Kung Fu Treachery) is forthcoming later this year. His work has been published widely across print journals and online. You can hear him read his work on Bandcamp and on lp’s by The Gotobeds and Theremonster.
 

 Kansas Authors Club is run by an all-volunteer board. Officers from across the state devote time monthly to everything from district programming to our annual writing contests and convention. Visit with your district representative about how you can contribute!

Linzi Garcia plays with language in poetry, essays, book reviews, and publicity materials. Her full-length poetry collection Thank You was published by Spartan Press in 2018, and since then she has been continually writing and publishing poetry about her experiences as a newspaper reporter, bartender, family gal, traveler, and philosopher. She and her partner Jase Buck co-authored a chapbook, Live a Great Story (Analog Submission Press 2019), about their short but impactful time in England. 
 
Linzi also writes feature articles for Spotlight, the Emporia State University alumni magazine. She pursued her MA in English at ESU, during which she worked as an editorial assistant for Flint Hills Review and Bluestem Press, and as a graduate assistant to Kansas Poet Laureate Emeritus Kevin Rabas. Her research focused on Kansas poetry and small press publishing. Outside of the university, she was a reporter for The Emporia Gazette and bartender at Mulready’s Pub. 
 
Garcia currently teaches English composition at ESU and still bartends after class. She continues her work with Rabas, which primarily consists of curating, designing, editing, and promoting his chapbooks and books, including Elizabeth’s City, Kansas Letters to a Young Poet, and More Than Words. Garcia also currently works as the publicist for Meadowlark Press.
 
Garcia became involved with KAC after building friendships with members across the state, particularly in Salina, Emporia, and in Lawrence, where she currently resides. She served as the 2020 free verse poetry contest judge and, after joining the club in 2021, serves as the 2021 poetry contest manager.