NM Poet Laureate to use $50K grant for creative writing workshops in schools, libraries

Aug. 29—The Academy of American Poets is awarding $50,000 each to its 2023 Poet Laureate Fellows for a combined total of $1.1 million.

The 23 individuals serve as poets laureate of states, counties and cities across the United States, and will be leading public poetry programs in their respective communities in 2023 — 24.

Lauren Camp is New Mexico's Poet Laureate and is one of the awardees.

She will lead a series of free creative writing workshops in schools and libraries throughout New Mexico with a focus on students and elders in underserved and rural communities.

Camp will also partner with the New Mexico History Museum to create broadsides that will be available to state libraries in 2025.

The academy will additionally provide $114,500 total in matching grants to help secure the pledged support of the fellows' projects from 12 nonprofit organizations.

"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," said Ricardo Maldonado, president and executive director of the Academy. "We are inspired by these projects — which include intergenerational workshops, city- and statewide festivals, community-generated publications, and more — that the 23 fellows will carry out, and grateful to the Mellon Foundation and the nonprofit organizations supporting this life-affirming work."

Through the Poet Laureate Fellowship program, the Academy of American Poets has awarded a total of $5.45 million in fellowships to 104 poets laureate since 2019.

The fellowships are made possible by the Mellon Foundation, which awarded the Academy two grants to fund the program.

"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," said Elizabeth Alexander, president of the Mellon Foundation, in a statement. "We are proud to continue our support of the Poet Laureate Fellowship program and to honor the Academy of American Poets' enduring commitment to the unique power of poetry."