August 7, 2024, 10:49am
A group of poet laureates across the United States were awarded $50,000 each from The Academy of American Poets as part of The Academy’s Fellowship Prize. The group represents a diverse body, and the funding will go towards unique projects in their communities, everything from collecting and publishing local voices, to creating spaces for kids to write, to funding a series of billboards that celebrate poetry, and more.
The Academy’s president, Ricardo Maldonado, explains that the mission of the Academy is to honor “how poets nourish our spirit through poems, inviting us to reflect and commit to each other. I am excited to celebrate the work of our Poet Laureate Fellows across the country, elevating civil discourse and reminding us of the true possibility of a shared future.”
The 2024 Poet Laureate Fellows and the communities they serve are:
Julia Bouwsma (Maine)
Angelika Brewer (Ogden, UT)
Traci Brimhall (Kansas)
Ching-In Chen (Redmond, WA)
Kai Coggin (Hot Springs, AR)
Nandi Comer (Michigan)
Tongo Eisen-Martin (San Francisco, CA)
Heid E. Erdrich (Minneapolis, MN)
Andrea Gibson (Colorado)
Amanda Johnston (Texas)
Patricia Spears Jones (New York)
Alison Pelegrin (Louisiana)
Charlotte Pence (Mobile, AL)
Georgia A. Popoff (Onondaga County, NY)
Jean Prokott (Rochester, MN)
Joseph Rios (Fresno, CA)
Lois Roma-Deeley (Scottsdale, AZ)
Emily Schulten (Key West, FL)
Tess Taylor (El Cerrito, CA)
Arianne True (Washington State)
Kerri Webster (Idaho)
avery r. young (Chicago, IL)
The Academy of American Poets turns 90 this year, and in addition to awarding prizes, the organization has been a leader in promoting and celebrating poetry. The Academy “produces Poets.org, the world’s largest publicly funded website for poets and poetry; established and organizes National Poetry Month each April; publishes the Poem-a-Day series and American Poets magazine; provides free resources to educators,” and more.
Lots more information on the individual poets, each of their projects, and their writing is available at The Academy of American Poets website.