 Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page.
Arlington County Names Jennifer Kronovet New Poet LaureateJennifer Kronovet has been selected as the fourth Poet Laureate of Arlington County. During her two-year appointment, the award-winning poet will serve as an advocate for poetry and the literary arts and will work to raise Arlingtonians’ consciousness and appreciation of poetry in its written and spoken forms. Jennifer Kronovet is the author of two poetry collections, The Wug Test (Ecco) and Awayward (BOA Editions), and she is the co-translator of Empty Chairs (Graywolf) by Chinese poet Liu Xia. She teaches ESOL in Arlington Public Schools and serves as the publisher and editor of Circumference Books, a press dedicated to poetry in translation. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, American Poetry Review, The Nation, A Public Space, and elsewhere. Kronovet has lived in Beijing, Berlin, Curaçao, Guangzhou, and several U.S. cities, and she is very happy to now call Arlington home. Ms. Kronovet’s appointment follows that of Arlington’s previous poets laureate, Courtney LeBlanc, Katherine E. Young and Holly Karapetkova. Laureate to Receive HonorariumThe Poet Laureate will receive an honorarium of $1,500 per year, provided through regular Cultural Affairs programming funds. The Laureate’s name will be added to a commemorative plaque at the County offices in Courthouse Plaza. Arlington County’s Poet Laureate program is managed by the Cultural Affairs division of Arlington Economic Development. The Poet Laureate will work with Cultural Affairs staff to develop and facilitate public programs to engage Arlingtonians of all ages and backgrounds and bring poetry to a wider audience. "Poetry is a dynamic form, taking the language of its time and pushing its expressive limits. And social media is changing the way we use language," Cultural Affairs Director Michelle Isabelle-Stark said. "It’s now easier than ever to write and share poems. Our new Poet Laureate will work with our community to awaken the poet in all of us." Arlington Understands the Power of PoetryArlington has long embraced poetry as a civic art form. During National Poetry Month, AED’s Cultural Affairs Division presents programs such as Moving Words, which places poetry on Arlington Transit’s ART Busses, and the Nature of Poetry Walk, in which poets lead participants on a nature trail of words. "The Poet is IN" pop-up booths features noted regional poets in public places like farmers markets and libraries, to create free, customized poems for citizens right on the spot. Poet laureates are a well-established tradition in the United States and abroad. Regional neighbors with poet laureates include the District of Columbia, Prince William County, Fairfax County, the City of Alexandria, and Takoma Park, Md. Virginia has had a state laureate since 1936. Since 1937, the United States has had an official poet through the Library of Congress. Selection ProcessThe open call for Arlington’s poet laureate was a competitive process, with candidates needing to be at least 18 years of age and residents of the County. Entries were reviewed by judge Lucian Mattison and Cultural Affairs staff. Lucian Mattison is a US-Argentinian poet and translator. He is the author of three books of poetry, Curare (C&R Press, 2022), 2023 International Latino Book Awards Silver Medalist; Reaper's Milonga (YesYes Books, 2018); and Peregrine Nation (Dynamo Verlag, 2017), winner of the 2014 Dogfish Head Poetry Prize. About Arlington ArtsArlington Cultural Affairs, a division of Arlington Economic Development, delivers public activities and programs as Arlington Arts. Our mission is to create, support, and promote the arts, connecting artists and community to reflect the diversity of Arlington. We do this by: providing material support to artists and arts organizations in the form of grants, facilities and theater technology; integrating award-winning public art into our built environment; and presenting high quality performing, literary, visual and new media programs across the County. Media ContactJim Byers Image
|
||||
