About PITA

Peggy Zuleika Lynch and Maj. General Edmund C. Lynch, USAF, Ret., founded Poetry in the Arts, Inc. (PITA), in 1983 to promote poetry as a cultural alternative in Austin, Texas, and provide a forum for poets and artists. Then, in 1986, PITA received its charter from the state of Texas as a literary nonprofit corporation.

PITA is a collaborative effort involving poets, writers, educators, the business community and volunteers from throughout society who are committed to promoting the literary arts and artists.

Our efforts include expanding publication and awards opportunities and providing promotional services to help advance the interests of poets and writers.

Publication Opportunities

Our premier publishing venture, Ardent!, began as an innovative new online journal of the arts, and is now a perfect bound, semiannual journal of poetry and art.

PITA also publishes books of poetry by invitation. Our publishing ventures are currently the heart of our service to poets and writers.

Please feel free to browse our past publising projects archive.

PITA's Live Poetry and Art Exhibitions . . .

. . . have been discontinued to allow us to focus on our publishing efforts. Our monthly poetry reading and art exhibit was more than our original effort to promote poetry and poets. We often invited poets who had read at our open mic to feature at our readings and readings for other organizations with which we were involved—and showcased our featured readers in Ardent!

We currently focus on promotional readings for Ardent! and by poets whom we have published.

Poetry in the Arts has also been honored to have hosted programs for the United Nations' Dialogue Among Civilizations, and the Poetry on the Peaks series in Austin, TX, in cooperation with the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and Dialogue Through Poetry. We remain committed to the goals of these efforts, and encourage participation in communities throughout the world in the ongoing effort.

Peggy Zuleika Lynch, poet, author, editor and lecturer

• BS University of Texas, Austin; MFA Southern Methodist University
• Published in US, Italy, India, Canada 
• Three Pushcart Prize nominations
• Awards include World Congress of Poets Lifetime Achievement Award and Poet Laureateship , Houston Poetry Fest Literary Arts Award, Poetry Society of Texas Hilton Ross Greer Outstanding Service Award, Stephen Gill International Peace Award for Poetry
• Author of eight books of poetry; coauthored 11; edited 15 anthologies, including Behold Texas, an anthology of Texas poetry by Texas poets that was the only poetry book selected by the City of Austin, Texas, for inclusion in the Centennial Time Capsule to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the University of Texas; and From Hide and Horn, a sesquicentennial anthology of poetry about 150 years of the Texas state of mind.
• Reads and lectures in the United States, France, Italy, Switzerland, Canada, and Puerto Rico
• Poet Laureate and permanent Poet-in-Residence at the Paris American Academy, Paris, France
• Listed in the Vista Who's Who of North American Poets, and Who's Who: Autobiographical Sketches of Poets, Writers and Publishers.
• Coronated Poet Laureate by United Poets Laureate International in 2002.
• Poetry Society of Texas: Editor, Book of the Year 11 years (1983-94); Program Chairman 1981 to the present; Historian from 1996 to present; Banquet Chairman 1999; Member of Board of Directors 2004 to the present, Organizer of the 2005 Summer Conference hosted by Poetry in the Arts; Vice President 2007 – 2009.
  
  

Board of Directors

Peggy Zuleika Lynch, Founder, Secretary-Treasurer
John J. Nance, LLD, Chairman
Dillon McKinsey, Executive Editor, Ardent!
Charles Johanson, LLD
Kenneth Pagan, Take My Class
Barbara Johanson
John Gorman, PhD