Ivars Balkits’ poetry and prose has been published in (getting-to-be) numerous literary online and print publications and anthologies. He is a recipient of two Individual Excellence Awards from the Ohio Arts Council, for poetry in 1999 and creative nonfiction in 2014. His one-act play "Spirit Band of Mount Nebo" was selected for the 2013 Hodge Podge Reading Series at Arts/West in Athens, Ohio. Ivars works as a writing tutor and course facilitator at Ohio University.