Literary Club's Laureate Series
Photo by Nelson Pilsner
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The Literary Club Laureate Series
In 2021 the Laureate Series opened the doors of the Literary Club of Cincinnati for public events. Since then we've hosted a dozen Laureates for public receptions, local authors, book launches, and readings at our historic home in the Lytle Park Historic District.
As our outreach expands to support the broader community of writers and readers through writing programs, contests, and publications, we hope an evening at the little brick house by Lytle Park may encourage you learn more about us and how we might work together where our missions align.
We've been on the literary scene since 1849 and stand ready to work with others in the region to support the literary arts in the region.
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Literary Club Laureates:
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
Sherry Cook Stanforth 2/24/25
Originary Arts Founder
Todd Davis 2/25/21
Award-winning Pennsylvania Writer
Michael Henson 2.24.22
Jack Kerouac Prize Winner
Tributaria (Anthology) Celebration 2026
Dos Madres Press
About Us
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 Alphonso Taft (and his son, William Howard) Salmon P. Chase, and Frank Duveneck.
The clubhouse sits opposite the George Grey Barnard statue of Abraham Lincoln in Cincinnati's Lytle Park, occupying a two-story Greek Revival house on the homesite of Winthrop Sargent, Secretary of the Northwest Territory. A grand reading room was constructed in 1930 after the the property was purchased 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 (not necessarily the stance) with the results published in local papers. After the Civil War the format moved away from the debate structure to the current (presentation sans formal discussion) format. After WWII, an informal limit of two papers by any member recounting war experiences was put in place. Membership is by election after sponsorship by a member in good standing.
Today, members present original papers 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 include: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Booker T. Washington, Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, Clarence Darrow, Potter Stewart, and Robert Frost.
The library collection includes member publications and bound volumes of the 4,000 papers delivered since the late 19th Century (which are also archived at the Cincinnati History Library & Archives' Geier Center). The club's diverse collections reflect a 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 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 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
Recent Events:
Literary Club Laureate Series
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.
The Literary Club
On the literary scene since 1849
.....................
Recent Event:
Richard Hague
Cincinnati & Mercantile Library
Poet Laureate
Public Reception & Reading
Earth Day
Wednesday
April 22, 2026
Literary Club Laureates:
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
Sherry Cook Stanforth 2/24/25
Originary Arts Founder
Todd Davis 2/25/21
Michael Henson 2.24.22
Jack Kerouac Prize Winner
Richard Hague 4.22.26
Cincinnati & Mercantile
Library Poet Laureate
Tributaria
a Celebration
Saturday
February 28
6:30pm
@ The Literary Club
500 East 4th Street
Cincinnati, Ohio
Free Admission
https://sites.google.com/litclubcincinnati.org/our-history/home
A celebration of the art, poetry & prose in the anthology Tributaria (Dos Madres, 2025).
Original art from Tributaria will be displayed as co-editors Richard Hague, Sherry Stanforth, and Michael Thompson present an evening of poetry & unabridged prose in a celebratory evening with ample time to mingle with contributors and discuss their work.
Tributaries from 14 states feed the Ohio River-- the lovely living gift of the ohi:yó that sustains us, body and soul, and feeds the creativity of the artists in Tributaria.
Cocktails & appetizers @ 6:30
Free Admission
Proudly sponsored by the Literary Club, on the region's literary scene since 1849.
https://sites.google.com/litclubcincinnati.org/our-history/home
2025 Literary Club Laureate Series
Linda Parsons
Poet Laureate of Knoxville
Thursday
November 13, 2025
7:00pm
(followed by a Reception
& Book Signing)
at The Literary Club
500 East 4th Street
Cincinnati, Ohio
https://sites.google.com/litclubcincinnati.org/our-history/home
This event is free and open to the public
Linda Parsons, Poet Laureate of Knoxville, has been a poet, playwright, and editor for over 40 years while being active in the writing and artistic community of Knoxville and the East Tennessee region. She attended the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, earning both her bachelor’s and master's degrees in English. She retired after serving as editor for nearly 30 years at UT. A Nashville native, she has lived in Knoxville for over 50 years and is an eighth-generation Tennessean.
A member of the East Tennessee Writers Hall of Fame, Parsons is the author of six poetry collections, most recently This Shaky Earth (2016), Candescent (2019), and Valediction: Poems and Prose (2023). Her works explore subjects such as family history, childhood, gardening / the natural world, and loss/rebirth.
Parsons co-created and coordinated WordStream: The Weekly Writer’s Voice, a reading/performance series sponsored by WDVX-FM and Visit Knoxville in 2019-2020. She is currently the poetry editor for Madville Publishing, Reviews Editor for Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel, and the copy editor for Chapter 16, the literary website of Humanities Tennessee. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the Knoxville Writers Guild. Five of her plays were produced by Knoxville’s Flying Anvil Theatre.
She has received two individual artist grants from the Tennessee Arts Commission, the AWP Intro Award, George Scarbrough Poetry Award, prizes from Streetlight Magazine and the Tennessee Writers Alliance, and numerous Pushcart Prize nominations. Her plays have been produced by Flying Anvil Theatre in Knoxville.
Click here to see Parsons reading "Everywhere and Nowhere at Once" (YouTube).
The Literary Club Poet Laureate Series has presented 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, a member and past president (2021-2022), will be featured in 2026.
Notable early Literary Club guests include: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Booker T. Washington, Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, and Robert Frost.
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