Artist in Residence Program

Rikki Santer has built a distinguished career as a writer, educator and arts advocate. She has worked as a journalist, magazine and book editor, co-founder and managing editor of an alternative city newspaper in Cleveland, a poet-in-the-schools, a high school teacher of English and film studies and director of a student writing center. She also served as vice president of the Ohio Poetry Association.

Currently, Rikki is an Ohio Teaching Artist through the Ohio Arts Council and a member of the poetry troupe Concrete Wink. She holds an M.A. in Journalism from Kent State University and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from The Ohio State University.

Her poetry has received numerous honors including recognition from The Poetry Forum (William Redding Memorial Contest), Black Lawrence Press (finalist for the St. Lawrence Book Award), the Ohio Poetry Association, Ohio Poetry Day, the Zachary Doss Friends in Letters Fellowship, the Derick Burleson Poetry Contest and several state and national poetry societies. She has earned six Pushcart nominations, three Ohioana Book Award nominations, multiple artist grants from the Greater Columbus Arts Council, a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities and was named Ohio Poet of the Year in 2023.

Rikki’s poetry collections include Fishing for Rabbits (Kattywompus Press), Make Me That Happy (NightBallet Press), Dodge Tuck, Roll (Crisis Chronicles Press), In Pearl Broth (Stubborn Mule Press), How to Board a Moving Ship (Lily Poetry Review Books), Zebra Lashes (Fernwood Press) and Shepherd’s Hour (Lily Poetry Review Books), which won the Paul Nemser Book Prize from Lily Poetry Review Books. Her collection Resurrection Letter was a grand prize short-lister for the Eric Hoffer Book Award.

Her chapbooks include Front Nine (exploring the Hopewell earthworks of Newark, Ohio), Kahiki Redux (inspired by the late Kahiki Supper Club of Columbus) and Clothesline Logic (Pudding House Press finalist). Other works include Drop Jaw (NightBallet Press), Head to Toe of It (Kelsay Books), Stopover (Luchador Press) and Resurrection Letter; Leonora, Her Tarot, and Me (Cereal Box Studio).

The residency period is January 5 – May 2, 2026. As part of her residency, Rikki will direct a 16-week series of experiences for seniors that includes workshops and field trips designed to inspire participants to write and share their own stories, documenting how they move through the world. The residency will culminate in a printed anthology of participant writing, premiered and distributed during a public reading featuring Rikki and the contributing authors.