Arts and Culture Commission Meeting Date: May 8, 2023
To: Commission Members
From: Rob Hardy, Poet Laureate
Title
Poet Laureate Interim Appointment
Body
Action Requested
The Arts and Culture Commission approves a nomination for the appointment of an interim Poet Laureate.
Summary Report:
The position of Northfield Poet Laureate was established in 2016. In the summer of 2016, a committee was formed and an application process (application with resumé and sample poems, interview) initiated to fill the position. I was chosen out of four candidates for the position. The process was repeated in 2019 to choose a second Northfield Poet Laureate, but there were no applicants, and I remained in the position. Because I will be away from Northfield for much of the second half of 2023 and again in the spring and early summer of 2024, it is necessary to appoint a new Poet Laureate to insure the continuation of the program. Poets (and spouses) Becky Boling and D.E. (Doug) Green have agreed to fill the position jointly on an interim basis until another application process can be undertaken. My recommendation is that the Arts and Culture Commission and the Library Board approve Becky and Doug as the Northfield Poet(s) Laureate, effective June 1, 2023, for a term ending at the end of 2024. This will allow time for a more formal search for a new Poet Laureate.
Becky Boling is the Stephen R. Lewis, Jr. Professor of Spanish and the Liberal Arts, Emerita, at Carleton College, where she taught from 1983 to 2019. She has published both poetry and prose, including poetry in Visual Verse and Third Wednesday. She was nominated for a Pushcart Prize by the editor of Willows Wept Review, where she has been a frequent contributor. Several of her poems appear on sidewalks in Northfield.
D.E. Green is Professor of English, Emeritus, and Senior Fellow at Augsburg University, where he was the 2007 recipient of the Distinguished Contributions to Teaching and Learning Award for Excellence in Teaching. His academic specialty is Shakespeare. As a poet, he is the author of the poetry collection Jumping the Median (Encircle Publications 2019) and the chapbook Catastrophizing in Catastrophe (2023). His poems also appear on Northfield sidewalks.
Both Becky and Doug are active members of the poetry group unofficially known as the Northfield Public Library Poets (because they meet regularly at the library). As Poets Laureate, they will organize and introduce poetry readings at the library, and are currenly making preliminary arrangements to host a literary festival (organized by the Twin Cities chapter of the League of Minnesota Poets) in Northfield in October.
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