Come see the unveiling of the new 2018/19 Seattle Youth Poet Laureate and Ambassador at the Northwest Folklife Festival, where all eight youth finalists will read from their work, and the new Youth Poet Laureate will be crowned!
Current Youth Poet Laureate, Lily Baumgart, will also be launching her first collection of poetry, published by Penmanship Books.
The Seattle Youth Poet Laureate is a joint program of Seattle Arts & Lectures’ Writers in the Schools (WITS) and Urban Word NYC. Founded in Seattle in 2015 by WITS Writers-in-Residence Matt Gano and Aaron Counts, the YPL program aims to identify young writers and leaders who are committed to civic and community engagement, poetry and performance, human relations, diversity, and education. The Youth Poet Laureates share their powerful voices, leadership, and love of community at events throughout the region over the course of the year, and also publish their poems in a collection released in May.
Attention all young poets, rappers, leaders, and activists ages 14-19 living in Seattle and the greater Puget Sound region! Are you interested in representing the city as the 2018/19 Seattle Youth Poet Laureate? Applications for this year’s Youth Poet Laureate will be open March 24 – April 24, 2018. Click here for more information on applying.
This event is free and open to the public.