The Writer in Residence works to bring about a greater appreciation and enjoyment of the value and importance of reading, performance, writing, and publication of literature.

The person is selected by the Local Arts Advisory Committee, which operates under the umbrella of Pablo Center at the Confluence.   

In April 2022, the Committee recommended Ken Syzmanski as the next appointee, continuing his 2020-2022 term as Writer in Residence, which was served during a global pandemic, limiting his opportunities for community service.  The Eau Claire City Council approved as resolution appointing Mr. Syzmanski to the position of Writer in Residence for the City of Eau Claire on April 26, 2022. 

Ken Syzmanski has been writing for and about Eau Claire since the 1980s, when he was the editor of his junior high newspaper. Later in the 1990s, as a freelance music journalist with the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram, he covered area music festivals—a dream gig combining live music, writing, and road trips. In the early 2000s, he turned to spoken work performance, earning two Grand Slam titles in the Eau Claire Running Water Poetry Slam. Around the same time, he started writing for the then-brand-new Volume One Magazine, who made him feel old before his time with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014. Recently, Syzmanski has focused on podcasts (Bend in the River, Oddly Enough, WPR’s Wisconsin Life) and live events combining spoken word and live music.

You can learn more about Ken's work by visiting his website at: KenSzymanski.com