Midwest Goodbyes: Poets on Loss

Event Details

Mary Ardery is the author of the poetry collection Level Watch (June Road Press, 2025). Her poems appear in Beloit Poetry Journal, Best New Poets, Poet Lore, Prairie Schooner, RHINO, and elsewhere. The recipient of an Academy of American Poets Prize and a Lifelong Arts Fellowship from the Indiana Arts Commission, she was born and raised in Bloomington and now lives in West Lafayette, Indiana. Learn more at www.maryardery.com.

Corey Ewing is a native of Indianapolis who pursued a love of poetry across the country on a whim. He would return home to support various poetic projects, including Word As Bond, Fighting Words Poetry, and Cafe Creative, and he currently curates VOCAB. His poetry and photography have led him to work with National Geographic Photo Camp, BUTTER Art Fair, Indy Arts Council, Central Indiana Community Foundation, and the Herbert Simon Family Foundation. He is a former Artist at Work with Kheprw Institute and continues to teach, coach, and create as a multidisciplinary artist.

Samantha Fain is an Indiana poet. She is the author of the chapbooks Coughing Up Planets and sad horse music, which was translated and published in Chile in 2024. She coedited Kiss Your Darlings: A Taylor Swift Anthology with Olney Magazine in 2022. Her full-length collection, Are You There, debuted in 2024 with Bad Betty Press. Find her at www.samanthafain.com.

Sreepadaarchana Munjuluri is a sophomore at Indiana University Indianapolis majoring in neuroscience with minors in math and physics. She plans to become a physician working at the intersection of public health and politics, aiming to heal both beings and bureaucracies. She was the 2023 National Poetry Out Loud champion and has since been swept up into the wonderful whirlwind of poetry programming—performing at the Pegasus Awards, the Indo-American Arts Council’s literary festival, and the Inaugural International Poetry Recitation Invitational in London. She has also served as a final reviewer for the Poetry Foundation’s Pegasus Awards and is a host of the Volta Poetry Open Mic series, supported by Indiana Humanities and Flanner House. Alongside science and poetry, she finds joy in Bharatanatyam dance and violin, two lifelong passions that keep her grounded and creative.