First-every Norman poet laureate installed into position

May 1—Norman has officially become the first city in Oklahoma with a poet laureate.

University of Oklahoma professor Julie Ann Ward, Ph.D., was announced to the position during a poetry month celebration ceremony Wednesday night at Norman Public Library Central. During the event, she read three poems: "Self Portrait," "Elm Street: Elegy" and "Maybe We Are Poets."

"I feel shocked. I feel honored. I guess I would say that I'm surprised and I'm also so grateful," said Ward, who was nominated by her friend, Camille Germany. "I feel also so humble, because I know this is a town of great creators and great poets, so to be chosen to help promote poetry in the community and a chance to share my work is humbling and such an honor."

She said her husband, Joey, is very proud of her and read his own poetry at an open mic. Also, her parents were thrilled to hear the news.

Ward described the crowd Wednesday night as warm and welcoming to her appointment, and the crowd seemed excited about Norman having its first poet laureate.

"The crowd was very energized. People were really excited to share their own work and to talk about poetry and to just really celebrate poetry," she said.

Joshua Caudill, information services librarian Norman Public Library Central who was on the selection committee, said Ward was selected out of a pool of 10 candidates, and some nominees were nominated by other nominees.

Candidates were considered based on four criteria: level of community engagement, involvement and outreach; professional qualifications and publication history; quality of writing and the ability to represent Norman in its diverse variety of residents. The initial list was first narrowed to five before members voted, and Ward was determined as the best candidate.

"We have a vibrant arts community, but we also have a very supporting and collaborative community," Caudill said. "I think she's going to be a great person for the position."

He said he is excited about Norman having a poet laureate.

"Norman has historically invested a lot in its arts communities, and I think that we're proud to be the first city in Oklahoma with a poet laureate, and it's natural that we would be because we've always invested in artists," he said.

Ward was hired at OU in 2014 to teach in the Spanish department, specifically Latin American literature, theater and culture, Spanish language courses, conversation, composition and literary theory.

Ward, who was born in Antlers, said poetry has been a part of her life since she was a child.

"When I was a kid, one of my favorite activities was writing. When I was in high school, I was really into literature," she said. "As I grew up, I started studying Spanish. I started reading literature in other languages, and I just kind of continued having it be an important part of my life."

At age 5, Ward's family moved from Antlers to Elko, Nevada, until she was middle-school aged. Then her family moved to Stillwater, where she attended high school. During high school, she attended the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute in poetry, where one of her poems was selected for publication.

She earned an undergraduate degree at the University of Tulsa, a master's at the University of Kansas and a Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley. She returned to Oklahoma when she saw OU's job listing in 20th and 21st century Latin American literature.

"I just thought, 'That's my job. I'm going to get to go back home.' I was very pleased to get the job offer and to get back closer to my folks," Ward said.

In addition to writing poetry, Ward said she has witnessed the healing power of using language in specific ways through her work with Poetic Justice in Tulsa, which facilitates restorative writing workshops in women's prisons and jails in Oklahoma, California and Mexico.

"It seems like women who participate are able to access an innate power to heal and to process and also to support one another when they write poetry, in particular," Ward said.

She said she likes experimenting with different poetic forms.

"I think sometimes the form can be freeing if you have a container. It kind of helps you to organize yourself and to find some limits. If you've going to have a certain number of syllables you're going to use or if you're going to try to follow a certain rhyme scheme, sometimes it helps you to create unexpected combinations," she said.

Growing up, her favorite poet was Shel Silverstein. Now, her favorite is Peruvian poet Cesar Vallejo. She also enjoys reading fictional novels.

She said when she taught Vallejo's poetry in class last week, several students cried and one student told her it was "the most impactful poetry she'd ever read and that she could feel it in her chest, and I feel the same way."

Outside of poetry, Ward said her hobbies include gardening, walking, running and reading.

Ward said her biggest influences are her family, including her sister and her father, who would print off works she had written on his laptop. Her teachers also were encouraging, especially Stillwater High School English teacher Nedra Segall.

She also was encouraged at the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute hosted at OU, where she read poetry on the Catlett stage in front of an audience and learned the process of writing and submitting poetry. She said she was especially honored when Francine Ringold, editor of the Nimrod International Journal of Prose and Poetry and judge there, published one of her poems in the journal.

As poet laureate, Ward said she is looking forward to meeting more people who love poetry in Norman, working with the library, which is one of her favorite institutions, and getting to be part of the community in a new way.

"I think we're all poets. I think any time we pay attention to words and language and their creative power, we're tapping into an old magical connection that humans have with each other. I think it's really special, and so I think that must be what keeps me coming back [to poetry]," Ward said.

Jamie Berry covers general, police and court news for The Transcript. Reach her at jberry@normantranscript.com, 366-3532 or @JamieStitches13.