Deadline Extended: Apply to be Dallas' First Poet Laureate
To help encourage greater literacy awareness in the Dallas community, Dallas Public Library, the Office of Arts and Culture and Deep Vellum will launch a Dallas Poet Laureate program, appointing the first Poet Laureate of Dallas in April 2022.
A local poet will be honored with the Poet Laureate title and honorarium to recognize a career in writing exemplary poetry and their role in sharing poetry with the greater community. The poet laureate will act as an ambassador of the literary arts and the City of Dallas by creating and reading poems and presenting their poems at public meetings and events to engage diverse voices, activate the community and broaden perspectives in shaping and furthering the literary arts and culture through creative expression.
Over the course of the two-year appointed term (renewable after the first year), the Dallas Poet Laureate will be a liaison, advocate and leader who will inspire the diverse residents of Dallas County to read, write, perform and appreciate the written and spoken word. This will include working with the Express Yourself! Youth Poetry Competition, collecting literary works that commemorate Dallas, organizing literary workshops, classes and events at libraries, Deep Vellum and other sites; hold regular artist-in-residence office hours at the Central Library; and other efforts to excite discussion, exchange and participation in poetry, and to engage readers on the culture of written and spoken word in Dallas.
At the end of the term, Deep Vellum will publish a collection of the Poet Laureate's works.
Participation
Watch this site for more details. Sign up to receive notifications about this program.