Originally from Ontario, Canada, Marilyn Baszczynski has taught French at the college and high school levels and now lives and writes in rural Iowa. Her book, Gyuri. Poem of wartime Hungary, was published in 2015. Her poetry has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies including Abaton, Aurorean, backchannelsjournal.net, Earth Hymn, Healing Muse, KYSO Flash, Purifying Wind, Slippery Elm, Shot Glass Journal and Telepoembooth Iowa. Marilyn is currently Editor-in-chief of the Iowa Poetry Association’s annual anthology, Lyrical Iowa. Read more at www.marilynbaszczynski.com.

In addition, IPA holds an annual Student Poetry Reading Celebration for all students whose poem was published in Lyrical Iowa. The event typically occurs in June at the State Historical Building; however, for this year, we will host readings on Facebook later in the fall, and hopefully will resume in person again next year. It’s fun and inspiring to watch the students’ excitement in performing their poetry, to the applause of family and friends. At the celebration, we also announce Iowa winners of the National Federation of State Poetry Societies student contests; IPA always advances some winners and high-ranking poems from our student submissions into the national competitions.