Would the next Amanda Gorman please come forward?
Nominations open April 1 for Portland’s next poet laureate, and one member of the search committee hopes the process yields an array of candidates, including those who are not widely known or who practice alternative forms of poetry. Relatively unknown before her moment in the inaugural spotlight, Gorman, now 23, drew raves with her dramatic delivery of “The Hill We Climb” at Joe Biden’s swearing-in ceremony in January.
“We have such a rich literary community, both highly visible and not as visible,” said Rebecca Starr, health and literacy librarian for the Portland Public Library, which administers the poet laureate program. “I think an ideal poet laureate is someone who perhaps embodies the face that isn’t so public and so traditional. A poet laureate can help engage people, perhaps of different ages and different backgrounds, to get them involved in the literary world in some way. As long as they have the willingness to engage the community around poetry, that is the most important thing.”
Starr will serve on the committee that selects a successor for outgoing poet laureate Linda Aldrich. She doesn’t have a specific vision for the next poet laureate, and said it’s the library’s job to help whomever is chosen realize that vision.
To be considered for the unpaid, honorary post, a poet must be nominated by someone else through the library’s website (portlandlibrary.com/highlight/portland-poet-laureate-nominations). Nominations are open from April 1 until May 1. After nominations close, finalists will be asked for samples of their work.
Candidates must have lived in Greater Portland for at least a year and have both an impressive body of work and an active history in a poetry community. Starr and Aldrich will anchor the committee that will make the selection. Aldrich, Portland’s sixth poet laureate, has served since 2018. She succeeded Gibson Fay-LeBlanc. Both have new books of poetry out this spring.
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