The group of poets are past winners of either the Ohio Chapbook Prize, sponsored by the Kent State University Press and the Wick Center, or the Stan and Tom Wick Poetry Prize.
The Sept. 19-21 celebration was packed with panel discussions, workshops and poetry readings, culminating in a gala dinner on Saturday, Sept. 21.
Among those returning was poet Maggie Anderson, founding director of the Wick program, which has provided a platform for creative voices across the globe in its 40 years.
“Our 40th celebration was a testament to the ongoing mission of the Wick Poetry Center to encourage new voices and to bring poetry to the most urgent and evolving needs of our communities through readings, workshops, panels, interactive exhibits and digital platforms,” Hassler said. “It was also a joyous homecoming for so many of our past Wick authors, scholarship winners, student interns, community members and the Wick family.”
The event focused on the themes of Poetry and Healing, Poetry and Science, Poetry and Peace and Poetry and Social Justice, and, in addition to Wick authors, featured a star-studded lineup of poets.
Padraig Ó Tuama: Irish Poet and theologian, Ó Tuama’s work centers around themes of language, power, conflict and religion. He is the host of On Being’s “Poetry Unbound” and the author of “Poetry Unbound: 50 Poems to Open Your Life.” “Feed the Beast” is his most recent collection with “Kitchen Hymns,” a volume of original poems, and an essayed poetry anthology, “Poetry Unbound: Poems on Being with Each Other,” expected to be released this year. From 2014-2019, Ó Tauma was the leader of the Corrymeela Community, Ireland’s oldest peace and reconciliation community.
Naomi Shihab Nye: Based in San Antonio, Texas, Nye is a poet and children’s author and was the Poetry Foundation's Young People's Poet Laureate from 2019-2022. She is the recipient of numerous honors and awards including the Ivan Sandrof Award for Lifetime Achievement from the National Book Critics Circle, the Lavan Award, the Paterson Poetry Prize, the Carity Randall Prize, the Isabella Gardner Poetry Award, the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry award, the Robert Creeley Prize, and many Pushcart Prizes. From 2010 to 2015, she served as a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. In 2018, she was awarded the Lon Tinkle Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Texas Institute of Letters.
Jane Hirshfield: Award-winning poet, essayist and translator, Hirshfield is the author of 10 collections of poetry, and two collections of essays, and has edited and co-translated four books collecting the work of world poets from the past. In 2017, with the March for Science in Washington, she founded Poets for Science, an interactive exhibit of science poems and writing invitations housed at the Wick Poetry Center, which has traveled to venues nationwide.
Adrian Matejka: Based in Chicago, Matejka is editor of Poetry magazine. A graduate of Indiana University Bloomington and the master of fine arts program at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Matejka served as poet laureate of Indiana in 2018-19. He is the author of “The Devil’s Garden,” which won the New York/New England Award and “Mixology,” a winner of the 2008 National Poetry Series. His third collection, “The Big Smoke,” was awarded the 2014 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award and was a finalist for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, the National Book Award, and the Pulitzer Prize in poetry. His most recent collection of poems, “Somebody Else Sold the World” was a finalist for the University of North Texas 2022 Rilke Prize and the 2022 Indiana Authors Award. His first graphic novel “Last on His Feet: Jack Johnson and the Battle of the Century” was published in February 2023.
As a special feature, no one was denied entry to the celebration due to inability to pay.
Registration for the three-day event was offered on a pay-what-you-can scale, allowing attendees to contribute according to their means. At registration, there was an option for those who could afford it, to make an extra donation to “pay it forward,” to help cover the costs of those who cannot pay the full price.
“For four decades, the Wick Poetry Center has been dedicated to fostering a welcoming community through free and accessible readings and events,” Hassler said. “Having people be able to take part was our top priority, and we took special measures to ensure everyone can join in our anniversary celebration.”
Wick History
Brothers Bob and Walt Wick first established scholarships in 1984 to support undergraduate poets at the university. Bob was a sculptor and former art department faculty member at Kent State, and the scholarships were born out of a desire to honor and memorialize Bob’s son Stan (1962-1980) and Walt’s son Tom (1956-1973), both of whom died as teenagers on the same day, seven years apart.
Over the next 20 years, the scholarships expanded into the Wick Poetry Program, which steadily increased its presence on the Kent Campus and involvement within the community. In 2004, the Wick Poetry Program was officially named the Wick Poetry Center, and in 2009, its popular Traveling Stanzas debuted as a collaboration between the center and Kent State visual communication design students.
In 2014, the Wick Poetry Center renovated a residence that once belonged to May H. Prentice, the first female faculty member of Kent State. The location for the center was recently renamed the Gaston Prentice House, in recognition of the generous donations by Paul Gaston, Ph.D., former Kent State provost and Trustees Professor Emeritus, and his wife Eileen, to the Wick Poetry Center over many years.
In this new location, the center also created the Maj Ragain Poetry Park, a peaceful space in the heart of the Lefton Esplanade, featuring the Edwin S. Gould Amphitheatre, “Seated Earth” bronze sculpture by Bob Wick, and the Joan and Ron Burbick Outdoor Gallery.
Lasting Legacy of Generosity
Although the Wick brothers have both passed away, the Wick family continues to support the center. A recent gift of $1 million brings the family’s total lifetime commitment to Kent State to more than $3.5 million.
Chris Wick, son of Walt, pledged the donation in November 2023, acting as a representative for his family. The gift created an endowed position for the executive director of the center to maintain the kind of visionary, innovative leadership that has led to the center’s elevated national profile and highly regarded status and will memorialize the brothers’ tremendous efforts to bring the power of poetry to the larger community.
Over the years, Hassler said the Wick brothers and their family members have repeatedly told him that the joy they have received from watching the center grow and expand has far exceeded the amount of money they have donated for it and has given meaning to the untimely deaths of their sons.
“They felt the value of what they received back in the spirit of the program is far greater than any dollar amount they ever gave to Kent State,” Hassler said.
Hassler followed Anderson as the second director of the center in 2009, after working with her for five years developing and leading the outreach programs for Wick. Over the past 20 years, he has helped the program secure a national presence with efforts such as its Poets for Science exhibition at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C., the Global Peace Poem in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Kent State May 4 shootings, the Freedom Story exhibition for the dedication of the Now and Forever Windows at the Washington National Cathedral, and many other initiatives, including “Dear Vaccine,” a global poem that spoke to the hope that sprung from the introduction of the COVID-19 vaccine. “Dear Vaccine,” has garnered national media coverage and attention and was turned into a book and stage performance.
“Thanks to the original vision and generosity of Bob and Walt Wick, and now Chris Wick, our center will continue to grow, transforming the lives of students and community members, locally and nationally, welcoming all into the ever-expanding Wick family of poets,” Hassler said. “I am most proud of how, through the passion, skill and dedication of our staff and student interns, the center continues to innovate new ways to bring poetry to everyday lives.”
