Since 2021, the Literary Club's Laureate Series has welcomed the public, hosting writers for public receptions and readings at its historic clubhouse in Cincinnati's Lytle Park historic District. 

    Past laureates include: Ohio Poet Laureates David Lucas and Kari Gunter Seymour; Kentucky Poet Laureates George Ella Lyon, Frank X Walker, and Richard Taylor; West Virginia Poet Laureate Marc Harshman,  Linda Parsons, Poet Laureate of Knoxville, as well as Cincinnati Poet Laureates, Pauletta Hansel, Manuel Iris, and Yalie Saweda Kamara. Current Cincinnati & Mercantile Library Poet Laureate Richard Hague is a member and past president (2021-22). 

Friends of the Laureates

   Contributions to this fund help us do more–attract major writers (laureates beyond our region) and expand our work with other organizations in support of the literary arts through youth writing programs and competitions. 

     To contribute this fund, contact Ed Lyon and he will help to make it as convenient as possible. 

All gifts are tax-deductible.

 Email: Treasurer@litclubcincinnati.org 

Pauletta Hansel 4/28/22            

Cincinnati Poet Laureate

George Ella Lyon 11/10/2022   

Kentucky Poet Laureate

Manuel Iris 5/4/23                   

Cincinnati Poet Laureate

Yalie Saweda Kamara 3/2/23 

Cincinnati Poet Laureate

Marc Harshman 11/2/23      

West Virginia Poet Laureate

Kari Gunter Seymour 11/11/21 

Ohio Poet Poet Laureate

David Lucas 10/23/24         

Ohio Poet Laureate

Frank X Walker 4/25/24     

Kentucky Poet Laureate

Richard Taylor 5/8/25          

Kentucky Poet Laureate

Richard Hague 4/22/26

Cincinnati Poet Laureate

 Sherry Cook Stanforth 2/24/25

Originary Arts Founder

Todd Davis 2/25/21

Michael Henson 2.24.22

Jack Kerouac Prize Winner

 Established in 1849, the Literary Club of Cincinnati is the oldest continually operating such organization in North America. Founding members include woman's rights activist and abolitionist John Celivergos Zachos, Stanley Matthews (Supreme Court Justice), Ainsworth Rand Spofford (Sixth Librarian of Congress) and nine others. The next year, a young Rutherford B. Hayes was elected to membership. Early prominent members included William Howard Taft, Salmon P. Chase, and Frank Duveneck.  

Papers (1885 to present) are archived in the club’s library and the Cincinnati History Library & Archives' Geier Center. The clubhouse sits opposite the George Grey Barnard statue of Abraham Lincoln in Lytle Park in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, occupying a two-story Greek Revival house on the homesite of Winthrop Sargent, Secretary of the Northwest Territory. A grand reading room was added to the rear of the property in 1930 after the club purchased the building from the Taft family. The c.1820 clubhouse, the Guilford School Building (c. 1916) and the Taft Museum (c. 1820) make up the core of  the Lytle Park Historic District. 

In early years, presentations often took place in the form of debate, after which members voted on the winner the debate (not necessarily the stance) with the results published in local papers. Changes after the Civil War included a move away from the debate structure to the current (presentation sans formal discussion) format and an informal limit of two papers by any member recounting war experiences. Membership is by election after sponsorship by a member in good standing. 

Today, members present an original paper on the subject of their choosing. By tradition, the papers are non-political and non-sectarian. Paper titles are announced in advance, but (also by tradition) they tend to be purposely oblique. 

    Members who left Cincinnati in the late 19th Century were instrumental in founding similar clubs in Chicago and Indianapolis. Notable guests: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Booker T. Washington, Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, Clarence Darrow, Potter Stewart, Robert Frost, and Neil Armstrong.

    The club property was originally the home of William Sargent, the Secretary of the Northwest Territory. The two-story Greek Revival brick house, circa 1820, was purchased from the Taft family in 1930, when it was renovated and the grand reading room added. 

    The club's collections reflect a diverse range of member interests from the original Fort Washington (1789), the Civil and Spanish American Wars to Rookwood & Bronze Age pottery.  Private group tours can be arranged in advance.

    The library holds a diverse collection of member publications as well as nearly 4,000 papers delivered by members since the 19th Century. Papers are archived on site and at the Cincinnati Musuem & History Library.

The club regularly hosts public events, and shares use of its historic property with similar non-partisan and/or non-profit groups with a focus on, but not limited to, the literary arts, education, and intellectual growth. 

            Its Poet Laureate Series hosts public readings at its clubhouse. Recent laureates include: Ohio Poet Laureates David Lucas and Kari Gunter Seymour; Kentucky Poet Laureates George Ella Lyon, Frank X Walker, and Richard Taylor; as well as West Virginia Poet Laureate Marc Harshman. Cincinnati Poet Laureates, Pauletta Hansel, Manuel Iris, and Yalie Saweda Kamara have also presented. Current Cincinnati & Mercantile Library Poet Laureate Richard Hague is a member and past president (2021-2022). 

        Donations to the Literary Club of Cincinnati help support these efforts and are tax-deductible. 

Research access is by advance letter of  request: 

Literary Club of Cincinnati

500 East 4th Street

Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

Attn: Rick Kesterman, Librarian 

Linda Parsons 

Poet Laureate of Knoxville

7:00pm

Thursday

November 13, 2025 

at The Literary Club

500 East 4th Street

Cincinnati, Ohio 

This event is free and open to the public

Richard Hague

Cincinnati & Mercantile Library

Poet Laureate

Three Guys in the Woods

    Beginning in the 60s, Richard Hague, Joe Enzweiler, and Jim Quinlivan, veterans of Xavier University’s literary fraternity, Mermaid Tavern, took excursions to the woods and rivers  from Appalachia to Alaska where they rusticated... and wrote about it. 

On this evening of Earth Day, Richard Hague shares 

stories about his departed companions and reads 

from their work as well as his own. 

Public Reception

& Reading

Earth Day

Wednesday

April 22, 2026

6:30pm

Free Admission

@ The Literary Club

500 East 4th Street

Cincinnati, Ohio

On the literary scene since 1849.

   Since 2021, the Literary Club's Laureate Series has welcomed noted writers for public receptions and readings at its circa 1830 clubhouse in downtown Cincinnati's Lytle Park historic District. Recent laureates include: Ohio Poet Laureates David Lucas and Kari Gunter Seymour; Kentucky Poet Laureates George Ella Lyon, Frank X Walker, and Richard Taylor; West Virginia Poet Laureate Marc Harshman, Linda Parsons, Poet Laureate of Knoxville, as well as Cincinnati Poet Laureates, Pauletta Hansel, Manuel Iris, and Yalie Saweda Kamara. Current Cincinnati & Mercantile Library Poet Laureate Richard Hague is a member and past president (2021-22). 

    Established in 1849, The Literary Club of Cincinnati is the oldest continually operating such organization in the United States. Founding members include woman's rights activist and abolitionist John Celivergos Zachos, Stanley Matthews (Supreme Court Justice), Ainsworth Rand Spofford (Sixth Librarian of Congress) and nine others. Early prominent members included Rutherford B. Hayes, William Howard Taft, and Salmon P. Chase, and Frank Duveneck. Members who left Cincinnati in the late 19th Century were instrumental in founding similar clubs in Chicago and Indianapolis. Notable guests include: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Booker T. Washington, Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, Clarence Darrow, Potter Stewart, Robert Frost, and Neil Armstrong.