Danica Schettler
The rain pattered softly outside as poet Linzi Garcia, an Emporia State alumna, returned to campus on Wednesday, Sept. 17, for a reading with the Visiting Writers Series presented by the ESU creative writing program. The evening carried a calm, conversational atmosphere, with faculty, students and community members gathered in an intimate setting to hear Garcia’s work.
Garcia read selections spanning different stages of her life, describing her poetry as written with “wit, heart, gut and zest.” Her goal, she explained, is to make her work “accessible, vulnerable, relatable”—qualities evident in the rhythm of her performance and the thoughtful Q&A that followed.
Garcia, who graduated from ESU with a Master of Arts in creative writing, has built a wide-ranging career in the literary arts. She is the publicist and poetry editor for Meadowlark Press, a board member for House of Morrow–a local arts fund under the Emporia Community Foundation–and the author of “Thank You” and “Cravings.” She has also co-authored “Live a Great Story” and “While Away: Travel Poems”.
In 2023, Garcia was named a recipient of the NextGen Under 30 Kansas Award.
Though Garcia still lives in Emporia, returning to the ESU campus holds special meaning.
“I loved my time here. I had a wonderful education, and it changed my life for the better,” Garcia said, reflecting on the professors and peers who shaped her as a writer.
Themes of family, aging, travel, love and loss run throughout Garcia’s work. She writes about family and “what that means as a daughter (and) as a hopeful future mother,” reflecting those things that are “really huge and important” to her.
When asked about the influences on her writing, Garcia cited both literary traditions and contemporary voices. She draws inspiration from the Beat movement, Walt Whitman’s naturalism and transcendentalists like Thoreau and Emerson, while also admiring contemporary poets such as Sharon Olds, Skye Jackson and ESU professor Kevin Rabas.
“I think we are creating our own new tradition,” she said. “And I’m really interested to see how history will look back on this time.”
Beyond her own writing, Garcia is deeply invested in building creative opportunities for young people. Through her work with House of Morrow, she helps lead a creative writing program for fifth-grade students in underserved communities. The program emphasizes artistic freedom and self-expression, culminating in a professionally printed anthology of the students’ work. One of the many highlights is seeing each student leave as a published author, she said.
For those in attendance, the evening was not only a chance to hear from a program alumna but also a reminder of what poetry can offer: connection, community, and expression.
“I hope they all feel a little more like poets or artists, in whatever way they want to feel like artists,” Garcia said of the audience. “If you do something scary, it’s going to be supported well. We’re here for each other.”