Poets Laureate of Lawrence

Tuesday, October 22, 2024, 7:00 - 7:45 p.m. Featured John Sherman. John Sherman has been a professional writer and photographer for several decades. He writes and publishes poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and humor. He is the author of nine books. He has published dozens of poems and short stories in literary magazines and anthologies.

He has been a newspaper columnist, syndicated travel writer/photographer, features writer for newspapers and magazines, and editor of two magazines.

He has received numerous prizes and awards for his writing and photography. The manuscript for his book, Marjorie Main: Rural Documentary Poetry, earned him a Finalist position in the Walt Whitman Award competition of the Academy of American Poets; he received the New Mexico Governor’s Award of Honor for Historic Preservation for the first edition of Santa Fe: A Pictorial History.

John has been awarded four Individual Artist Program grants from the Indiana Arts Commission. As a result of receiving a Creative Renewal Arts Fellowship from the Arts Council of Indianapolis, he wrote the libretto for the opera Biafra. A portion of the opera was performed in 2006 (available here), with the score composed by Nathaniel Blume, who also conducted the orchestra for the performance.

7:45-9 p.m. Open Mic reading

Directions: Take E. 56th Street to Post Road. Go North on Post and West on Otis. Poetry readings happen on the 2nd Floor of the Theater. We are next door to The Sterret Center. Please enter at the back side entrance, closest to the musical swings. The doors generally open by 6:45 p.m. or soon thereafter. There is an elevator inside or feel free to take the stairs. The corner meeting room overlooks the musical swings. A parking lot is to the front of the Theater or at the back off of Post Road.

Feel free to bring a capped drink and snacks.  Arts for Lawrence has a number of accessibility options for our patrons. If you have any questions about parking, or seating, or have a specific request, please contact the Program Manager, Lecia Floyd at leciafloyd@artsforlawrence.org or at (317) 875-1900 ext. 100