The Ohio Artist Registry (OAR) is an exciting opportunity for artists to share their work, connect with the creative community, and establish an online presence—all on a free, virtual platform! The OAR encourages artists working in all art forms, throughout Ohio and beyond, to create a profile, which allows them to better promote themselves and their work. Being listed in the OAR provides artists with new opportunities to share their work with clients, galleries, patrons, and audiences. A listing in the OAR does not confer an endorsement, approval, or verification by the Ohio Arts Council.
For more information, contact Kathy Signorino, artist programs director, at kathy.signorino@oac.ohio.gov or 614-728-6140.
2024 Ohio Artist Registry Juried Exhibition
Nita Sweeney
Nita Sweeney, AuthorBio
About Nita Sweeney
Nita Sweeney is the award-winning author of two books, the running and mental health memoir, Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running with My Dog Brought Me Back from the Brink, and the coauthored writing journal, You Should Be Writing.
After a decade of legal practice (and a major depressive episode), Nita turned in her shingle for a fast-writing pen. People still ask legal questions, but she’s done her best to forget the answers. Instead of advising public officials on employment issues, she writes, and shares what she’s learned.
Her poem “Memorial” won the Dublin Arts Council’s Poet’s Choice Award and an early draft of Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running with My Dog Brought Me Back from the Brink (previously titled Twenty-Six Point Freaking Two) was short-listed for the William Faulkner – William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition Award. The book was also awarded a Maxwell Medal in the Human Animal Bond category of the Dog Writers Association of America writing competition. It is a #1 Amazon Bestseller in the “mood disorders,” “bipolar disorder,” and “running & jogging” categories. The Ohioana Library selected it for the 2020 Ohioana Book Festival.
Nita also coauthored the popular writing journal, You Should Be Writing: A Journal of Inspiration and Instruction to Keep Your Pen Moving, with Brenda Knight (Women of the Beat Generation.) It was an Amazon #1 New Release and was selected by Ohioana Library for the 2021 Ohioana Book Festival.
Nita has been featured on Health.com, Healthline.com, Livestrong.com, Fupping.com, PsychCentral.com, bpHope.com, Bustle.com, NextAvenue.com, UpJourney.com, Medium.com, Pawstruck.com, Thrive Global, WGRN, Sweatpants & Coffee, Authority Magazine, Intergenerational Inspiration, 2014 and Beyond, and Pretty Progressive, and in bp Magazine and Epoch Times, on the Word Carver, Running Dad, My Brain on Endorphins, This Week in Writing, and Diz Runs podcasts, and was nominated for the Ohio Arts Council Governor’s Award.
Nita earned a journalism degree from The E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University, a law degree from The Ohio State University, and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from Goddard College. She serves on the boards of the Women’s National Book Association of San Francisco and the mental health nonprofit, Still I Run. For ten years, she studied with and assisted best-selling author Natalie Goldberg (Writing Down the Bones) at week-long writing workshops teaching the “rules of writing practice” and leading participants in sitting and walking meditation. Goldberg authorized Nita to teach “writing practice” and Nita has taught for nearly twenty years.
Nita’s articles, essays, and poems have appeared in Buddhist America, Dog World, Dog Fancy, Writer’s Journal, Country Living, Pitkin Review, Spring Street, The Taos News, WNBA-SF blog, Pencil Storm, The Writing Cooperative, Runner’s Life, Curious, It’s Not Your Journey, The Innovation, Wide Open Writing, and other newspapers and newsletters. She also blogs and publishes the monthly email newsletter, Write Now Columbus.
When she’s not writing or meditating, Nita runs. She has completed three full marathons, twenty-eight half marathons (in eighteen states), and more than one hundred shorter races. Nita lives in central Ohio with her husband and biggest fan, Ed, and her yellow Labrador running partner, Scarlet.
For more information about Nita, visit her website: https://nitasweeney.com or follow her on your favorite social media channel.
Download Nita’s free mental health and wellness ebook, Three Ways to Heal Your Mind.