HOUSTON – Mayor Sylvester Turner, the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs (MOCA), and the Houston Public Library (HPL), are pleased to announce the search for the City of Houston’s next poet laureate.
In its 10th year, the Poet Laureate program has seen five poet laureates selected by the Mayor of Houston.
The program celebrates Houston’s rich culture and diversity through the work of a Houston poet who serves as the City’s ambassador for the literary arts. During a two-year appointment, the poet laureate makes several guest appearances at special events and also completes a Community Outreach project. The poet laureate will receive an honorarium of $20,000 through the City Initiative Grant Program of the City of Houston and serve from April 2023 through April 2025.
The role of the Houston poet laureate is to stimulate poetic impulse, foster appreciation of poetry in all its forms, and serve Houston residents and visitors with expressions of culture through words. “For the past decade, our poet laureates have reached into the hearts of our residents to find the soul of Houston and to be inspired by them,” said Mayor Sylvester Turner.
“We are looking for the next poet laureate who will continue on the work of those before them and bring the position of the Houston poet laureate to new heights.” |