The Publisher Bringing Poets to Omaha

July 20th, 2026

Amy Haddad still has the poems she wrote in grade school. She’ll tell you upfront: they weren’t very good.

“I liked the sound of poetry and the rhythm that it has that’s different from prose, though I love reading prose too,” she said.

That early fascination with poetry stayed in the background for decades while Haddad built a career in healthcare. She worked as a nurse before becoming a longtime faculty member at Creighton University, where she taught healthcare ethics. Along the way, writing became a way to process some of the most difficult moments she encountered.

“I found that I turned to creative writing given the experiences that I had as a nurse that were troubling to me or kind of confounding,” Haddad said.

A late-career leap

Near the end of her teaching career, Haddad made an unexpected decision. She enrolled in a Master of Fine Arts program in creative writing, joining workshops alongside students decades younger than herself.

“That’s a very humbling experience when you’re in your 60s and among a lot of very young students in the MFA program,” she said. “But I learned a lot.”

The low-residency MFA program at Queens University in Charlotte, North Carolina, paired Haddad with a faculty advisor who would later become one of the country’s best-known poets.

“My advisor was Ada Limón, who went on to be the Poet Laureate of the United States,” Haddad said. “So aren’t I lucky to have run into her, and to have her guidance.”

Building a poetry press in Omaha

Today, Haddad is the editor and publisher of Ex Ophidia Press, an independent poetry publisher based in Omaha. Each year, the press hosts a national poetry competition and publishes one winning collection, drawing submissions from poets across the country.

This year’s winner is Colleen Morton Busch of Berkeley, California. Her debut poetry collection, Smolder, was selected from nearly 300 submissions. Busch is also the author of a nonfiction book about Buddhist monks who serve as wildland firefighters in California.

Haddad said the title Smolder resonated with her for more than one reason.

“The title Smolder has to do with fire, the fires that we see in the natural world,” Haddad said. “But also her husband was diagnosed with smoldering multiple myeloma — that’s the medical term they use, that just kind of is there but can flare up at unexpected times. That metaphor of smolder encompasses a lot of the different parts of her life.”

Drawing on her own healthcare background, Haddad said the collection explores caregiving, uncertainty and resilience through deeply personal poetry.

Bringing the winning poet to Nebraska

As this year’s Ex Ophidia Press competition winner, Busch will travel to Nebraska in early August for a week of readings and community events introducing Smolder to audiences across the state.

Stops on the tour include:

• Chapters Bookstore in Seward
• Francie & Finch Bookshop in Lincoln
• The Bookworm in Omaha
• Gallery 1516 in Omaha for a reading and book signing alongside the Generations exhibition
• A poetry workshop in partnership with Lauritzen Gardens inspired by the natural imagery found throughout Smolder

For Haddad, the mission extends beyond publishing books.

“I would always encourage people not to be afraid of poetry,” she said. “I can say very firmly that Colleen’s work is very accessible and will speak to people in ways that they may be surprised about. So don’t be afraid of poetry. Come and listen and see what you think.”

More information about the August reading series and events is available through Ex Ophidia Press.