Poetry academy announces more than $1 million in grants for US laureates

NEW YORK (AP) — A digital poetry archive in Utah, slam poetry workshops in South Carolina and creative writing programs in New Mexico are among the initiatives being supported by more than $1 million in grants from the Academy of American Poets.

On Tuesday, the academy announced its 2023 Fellowships, contributions of $50,000 each to 23 state and local poets laureate around the country, from Portsmouth, New Hampshire to Redmond, Washington.

The Poet Laureate Fellowship program, launched in 2019, are funded in part by the Mellon Foundation.

“Collectively the voice and vision of these 23 poets laureate will bring together community members through the craft and creativity of poetry and illuminate place through words,” poet Elizabeth Alexander, president of the Mellon Foundation, said in a statement.

Fellows include Utah laureate Lisa Bickmore and Lauren Camp of New Mexico, along with such local laureates as Diannely Antigua of Portsmouth, New Hampshire; Laura Da’ of Redmond, Washington; Jennifer Bartell Boykin of Columbia, South Carolina; and Yalie Saweda Kamara of Cincinnati.

“The Academy of American Poets celebrates the unique position poets laureate occupy at state and local levels, elevating the possibilities poetry can bring to community conversations and reminding us that our national spirit can be nourished by the power of the written and spoken word,” Ricardo Maldonado, president and executive director of the poetry academy, said in a statement.

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This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Kamara’s middle name. It’s Saweda, not Sawede.