March 15, 2026
Midtown
Topeka poets Annette Billings and Dr. Jennifer Gordon will share original poetry, prose and songs that embrace their life-experiences as daughters, mothers and grandmothers in this free performance.
Annette Hope Billings is an award-winning author hailed for a dynamic delivery of poetry. She has been dubbed “The Maya of the Midwest” by some readers. She received the 2015 Topeka ArtsConnect Arty Award for Literature.Her work includes poetry, short stories and plays. A registered nurse for decades before Billings began to write full-time, her penchant for caring is evident in her words. Her books include a collection of poetry A Net Full of Hope and a book of affirmations Descants for a Daughter. Billings’ work has been published in journals and periodicals as well as several anthologies of poetry and short stories. Billings recently won the 2026 Kansas Governor’s Arts Award for Excellence in Artistic Achievement in Literature.
Dr. Jennifer Gordon is a retired Topeka Public School Administrator. She began writing poetry more than 50 years ago when she was in high school. She has quietly continued to write and to share her poetry. Gordon is proud to have had several of her poems published in the Salina Journal and The Kindred Spirit. She is in a phase of renewed energy about her writing and engaging in the “spoken word”. Gordon has participated in a number of Open Mic events sponsored by Black Lawrence and the First Wednesday Speak Easy Open Mic. She has performed her poetry, Sherheroes Unsung: Women of My Village at Ad Astra Books and Coffee in Salina. Gordon is working to publish her first book of poetry Some Women Are Mothers – Some Women Are Heroes.