Poet Laureate of Virginia

The position of Poet Laureate of Virginia was established December 18, 1936 by the Virginia General Assembly.^[1]

Originally, the Poet Laureate of Virginia was appointed without outside consultation by the General Assembly, usually for one year, in a process that has been described being "more of a political thing".^[2]

As of 1996, the procedure was changed^[2] and most recently codified in 1998 in Virginia Code, Sec. 7.1–43, as follows:^[1]

7.1-43. Poet laureate.

The honorary position of Poet Laureate of Virginia is hereby created. Beginning in 1998, the Governor may appoint a poet laureate from a list of nominees submitted by the Poetry Society of Virginia. Each poet laureate shall serve a term of two years with no restrictions on reappointment.

(1997, c. 299.)^[1]

The Virginia General Assembly now confirms the governor's appointment.^[3]

List of Poets Laureate of Virginia

Luisa A. Igloria was poet laureate in 2020.

Current Poet Laureate:

• Mattie Quesenberry Smith (named Nov 26, 2024)^[4]

Former Poets Laureate:

• Margaret O. Daramola (May 5, 2023 - Nov 25, 2024)^[5]
• Luisa Igloria (July 1, 2020 - June 30, 2022)^[6]
• Henry Hart (July 1, 2018 – June 30, 2020)^[7]
• Tim Seibles (July 1, 2016 – June 30, 2018)^[8]
• Ron Smith (July 1, 2014 – June 30, 2016)^[9]
• Sofia Starnes (July 1, 2012 – June 30, 2014)^[10]
• Kelly Cherry (July 1, 2010 – June 30, 2012)^[11]
• Claudia Emerson (August 26, 2008 – June 30, 2010)^[12]
• Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda (June 26, 2006 – June 30, 2008)^[13]
• Rita Dove (September 20, 2004 – June 25, 2006)^[14]
• George Garrett (July 9, 2002 – June 30, 2004)^[15]
• Grace Pow Simpson (2000–2002)^[16]
• Joseph Awad (1998–2000)^[2]
• Margaret Ward Morland (1996–1998)^[2][17]
• Kathryn Forrester Thro (July 1, 1994 – June 30, 1996)^[18]
• Guy Carleton Drewry (1970–1991)^[19]
• Ruby Altizer Roberts (1950; poet laureate emerita, 1992)^[20]
• Leigh Buckner Hanes (1949)^[21][22]
• Thomas Lomax Hunter (1948)^{[23][21][24][25]}
• Charles Day (1942–1948)^[3][26]
• Carter Warner Wormeley (1936–1938)^[27]

See also

• Virginia literature

References

1. "Virginia Current Laureate". The Library of Congress. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
2. Baker, Donald P. (March 17, 1999). "For Virginia, a New Poet Laureate". Washington Post. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
3. "Poet Laureates of Virginia". Massanutten Regional Library. August 30, 2013. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
4. "Governor Glenn Youngkin Announces Mattie Quesenberry Smith as Poet Laureate".
5. beverly (May 5, 2023). "Governor Glenn Youngkin Announces Margaret O. Daramola as Poet Laureate". Hampton University Home. Retrieved November 4, 2023.
6. "Latest gubernatorial appointments for Aug. 3". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Richmond Times-Dispatch. August 3, 2020. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
7. Ducibella, Jim (June 21, 2018). "Henry Hart has a new title: poet laureate of Virginia". William & Mary News & Media. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
8. Hewitt, Jeff (October 7, 2016). "Norfolk's Tim Seibles Sworn in as Poet Laureate at Virginia's State House". AltDaily. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
9. Baldwin, Brent (November 14, 2015). "Ron Smith, Virginia's Poet Laureate. 2016 Guest Writer". Artemis. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
10. Petrini, Andi (June 9, 2018). "HRBook notes: Williamsburg poet releases 'Consequence of Moonlight'". Daily Press. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
11. "Kelly Cherry named Va. poet laureate". The Washington Post. Associated Press. January 28, 2011. Archived from the original on October 14, 2012. Retrieved May 4, 2011.
12. Langer, Emily (December 6, 2014). "Claudia Emerson, Pulitzer-winning poet who illuminated divorce and death, dies at 57". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
13. "Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda, Virginia Poet Laureate Emerita". VMFA. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
14. "Rita Dov3". Virginia Women in History. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
15. Fox, Margalit (May 20, 2008). "George Garrett, 78, Southern Novelist, Is Dead". The New York Times. Retrieved June 8, 2010.
16. Robertson, Ellen (March 8, 2016). "Service set for Grace Pow Simpson, former Virginia Poet Laureate". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
17. "SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 42 2 Offered January 19, 1996 3 Designating Margaret Ward Morland of Lynchburg as Virginia ' s Poet Laureate for July 1, 1996, 4 through June 30, 1997". LIS: Virginia's Legislative Information System. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
18. "1995 Session HJ 466 Kathryn Forrester Thro; Poet Laureate". LIS: Virginia's Legislative Information System. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
19. "Guy Carleton Drewry dies". The Washington Post. August 6, 1991. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
20. Moxley, Tonia (May 29, 2004). "'That's the way she was, like a bubbling spring'". The Roanoke Times. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
21. "Poets Laureate Named In Virginia Richmond, Va". Bluefield Daily Telegraph. Bluefield, West Virginia. March 13, 1948. p. 3. Retrieved September 17, 2018. A couple of Virginia poets laureates, one for 1948 and one for 1949, were named today by the house of delegates. If the senate agrees, Thomas Lomax Hunter, "Cavalier" columnist of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. will be the state's official bard this year, and Leigh Hanes, of Roanoke, will have the versifying honors for 1949.
22. Brooker, Peter; Thacker, Andrew (January 24, 2017). The Oxford Critical and Cultural History of Modernist Magazines: Volume II: North America 1894-1960. Vol. II. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199545810. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
23. Pruitt, jr., Paul M. (December 2009). "Virginia's latter-day cavalier Thomas Lomax Hunter of King George County". Northern Neck of Virginia Historical Magazine. 59 (1): 7167. Retrieved September 17, 2018.^{[dead link‍]}
24. Plaisance, Patrick Lee (May 17, 1998). "Ambassador of Verse". Daily Press. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
25. "Up for auction!". Belle Grove Plantation. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
26. Day, Charles (1937). Lights o'Day. A book of poems. Norfolk, Virginia: C. Day.
27. Wormeley, Carter Warner (1904). Poems. New York: Broadway Publishing Company.

External links

• Poetry portal

• Poet Laureate of Virginia from the Library of Congress
• Welcome to Poet Laureate of Virginia Information Page (archived from The Poetry Society of Virginia website)