A Reading and Book Signing with Poet Raymond McNiece

Raymond McNiece is the author of nine books of poems and monologues and two poetry/music albums. His two most recent books are LOVE SONG FOR CLEVELAND, a collaboration with photographer Tim Lachina, and BREATH BURNS AWAY, NEW HAIKU. His forthcoming book BONE KEY SUTRA includes song lyrics and poems from his many sojourns in Florida. The Orlando Sentinel reporting on Ray's solo theater piece Us - Talking Across America at the Fringe Festival called him "a modern-day descendant of Woody Guthrie. He has a way with words and a wry sense of humor." The Star-Phoenix said, "His thoughtful writing combines with perfectly timed delivery to create a powerful wordscape that owes as much to jazz as drama." His most recent theatrical piece, Lives of a Poet - A Verse Autobiography, premiered at Cleveland Public Theater in 2016. He has toured Russia with Yevgeny Yevtushenko, appeared on Good Morning, Russia and performed at the Moscow Polytech, The Russian Poets' Hall of Fame where he was dubbed "the American Mayakovsky." He has toured Italy twice with legendary beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti. He fronts the blues rock band, Tongue-in-Groove. He has received a Creative Work Force Fellowship, a CPAC grant and residencies at The Cuyahoga Valley National Park and the Jack Kerouac House. He was the 10th Poet Laureate of Cleveland Heights. He received the Cleveland Arts Prize Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021. He was awarded a $50,000 Poet Laureate Grant from the American Academy of Poetry for his Poem for Cleveland Project in 2022 from which the anthology POEM FOR CLEVELAND was created.

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Host or Publisher Georgia Court