The University of Cincinnati Libraries and the Elliston Poetry Room announce the poets and composers for the next Poetry Stacked, a semi-regular poetry reading series. This session is a musical collaboration, and will be held in the Albino Gorno Memorial (CCM) Library, 600 Blegen Library.

At the next event, scheduled for Wednesday, March 11 at 4pm, three poets will read their original work:

• Dr. Taylor Byas, Ph.D. is a Black Chicago native currently living in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her debut full-length, I Done Clicked My Heels Three Times from Soft Skull Press, won the 2023 Maya Angelou Book Award, the 2023 Chicago Review of Books Award in Poetry and the 2024 Ohioana Book Award in Poetry. Her second full-length, Resting Bitch Face (2025), was a September pick for Roxane Gay’s Audacious Book Club. She is represented by Noah Grey Rosenzweig at Triangle House Literary.
• Jim Palmarini has been facilitating and participating in public poetry readings for more than 40 years. He currently hosts the Word of Mouth Cincinnati series, now in its 12th year, at Over the Rhine’s MOTR Pub. His work has appeared in numerous journals, online and in print, including Shellys, ClayDrum, Jawbone and For a Better World. His narrative poem, “Welcome to the Reading”, was included in the Fall, 2023 edition of The Cincinnati Review.  
• Luca Campagnoli is a fourth-year fiction writer and poet majoring in creative writing at the University of Cincinnati. His work is forthcoming or has appeared in Solid State, Mr. Bull and Short Vine Journal. He serves as president of the university’s Writer’s Circle and Poetry Collective. He also works at Household Books, an independent bookstore in Cincinnati. 

This session of Poetry Stacked will also feature three composers who have created and will perform original musical pieces to accompany one of the poet’s readings:

• Andrew Strawn is an American composer who writes dramatic music for the concert hall. Notable collaborations and commissions include the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, CCM Wind Symphony, CCM Concert Orchestra, CCM Wind Ensemble, NKU Theatre & Dance Program, CCM Saxophone Ensemble and many chamber ensembles and soloists. He was recognized as a finalist for the American Prize in instrumental chamber music, the National Young Composers Challenge, as well as the MakeMusic International Young Composers Competition. In 2023, he won first prize in the Cincinnati SongSLAM. Recently, his first symphony, “Confluence”, was recorded by Ablaze Records for their upcoming album featuring significant new works for wind band.
• Matthew McCoy has worked as a conservation specialist at The Preservation Lab since 2023 and has been a UC Libraries employee since 2024. Matt began playing electric bass at the age of 14 and would later learn the upright bass while studying at Northern Kentucky University. He received a Music Performance Degree in Jazz Studies in 2016 and can be seen performing jazz and other musical styles with various ensembles regularly throughout the Cincinnati area. When not performing music or working in conservation, Matt enjoys reading, catching movies at the Esquire and hanging out with his dog.
• Chinese-Canadian clarinetist Tyler Song has performed with the National Arts Centre Orchestra Mentorship Program, the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra and is an alumnus of McGill University and the University of Cincinnati. Tyler was named one of CBC Radio’s 2020 “30 Canadian classical musicians under 30.”. Tyler is a grant recipient of the British Columbia Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts; his belief that music needs to resonate with a broader audience led him to co-found performing arts organization Soirée in 2024. Offstage, Tyler enjoys playing tennis.

The mission of Poetry Stacked is to celebrate poetry and raise awareness of the collections of both UC Libraries and the Elliston Poetry Room.

Each reading engages audiences via exposure to contemporary poetry and increases appreciation for both the talents of UC and community poets, as well as for poetry itself. Poetry Stacked is free and open to all to attend. Following each reading, guests are invited to tour the Elliston Poetry Room.

The intent of the series is to enrich and engage the UC campus and Cincinnati communities in accordance with the Libraries’ Strategic Plan and the Next Lives Here Strategic Directions in support of Academic Excellence and Community Engagement. It aligns with the Libraries’ vision as the globally engaged, intellectual commons of the university – positioning ourselves as the hub of collaboration, digital innovation, and scholarly endeavor on campus and beyond.

Can’t make it to Poetry Stacks in person? It will be live streamed via the Elliston Poetry Room’s Instagram.