In celebration of April 2024 National Poetry Month, Kent State University Geauga will host retired nurse, poet, and essayist Jeanne Bryner, who will read from her work and conduct a workshop on healing through writing. Bryner is the author of several books, including "Breathless," a Wick Poetry Center Chapbook (1995) and "Tenderly Lift Me: Nurses Honored, Celebrated, and Remembered" (2004), both published by Kent State University Press. Most recently, she co-edited the award-winning "Learning to Heal: Reflections on Nursing School in Poetry and Prose" (2018), also published by Kent State UP.
Bryner is a graduate of Trumbull Memorial Hospital School of Nursing and Kent State University’s Honors College. She is the recipient of several writing fellowships, including one from the Ohio Arts Council. Her poetry has been adapted for the stage, performed nationally and at the 2004 Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The public event will take place on Apr. 18 at the Geauga Campus Clark Commons, 14111 Claridon-Troy Rd., Burton, from 12:15 – 1 p.m. Geauga Student Nurses Association, Media Club, and The Listening Eye poetry journal are sponsoring the event. Kent State Geauga offers a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing and a Bachelor of Arts in English.
The Listening Eye, founded by Geauga Professor Emerita Grace Butcher, is in its 54th year of publication. The current open call for poetry, short fiction, nonfiction, and artwork is themed around the topic of health. Prospective contributors should make a free account at Submittable.com and search for "The Listening Eye."