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State Poets Laureate Update

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Virginia State Capitol, Richmond, Virginia, 1988
Virginia State Capitol. Richmond, Virginia, 1988.
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/va1498.color.361885c/

Since my last post on state poets laureate there have been only two significant state poet developments. First, on June 27 Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe appointed Ron Smith, Writer-in-Residence at St. Christopher’s School in Richmond, the poet laureate of Virginia. Smith succeeds Sofia Starnes in the post, and is Virginia’s 18th poet laureate.

Second, Florida lawmakers passed HB 513 on June 20th. The law establishes a four-year term for Florida’s state poet laureate and designates all former Florida poets laureate “State Poet Laureate Emerita.”

A complete list of current state poets laureate follows.

State Laureate
Alabama Andrew Glaze
Alaska Nora Marks Dauenhauer
Arizona Alberto Ríos
Arkansas Peggy Vining
California Juan Felipe Herrera
Colorado David Mason
Connecticut Dick Allen
Delaware JoAnn Balingit
District of Columbia Dolores Kendrick
Florida Vacant
Georgia Judson Mitcham
Hawaii Kealoha (Steven Kealohapau’ole Hong-Ming Wong)
Idaho Diane Raptosh
Illinois Kevin Stein
Indiana Unofficial: Cecil Tresslar
Official: George Kalamaras
Iowa Mary Swander
Kansas
Wyatt Townley
Kentucky Frank X Walker
Louisiana Ava Leavell Haymon
Maine Wesley McNair
Maryland Stanley Plumly
Massachusetts No position
Michigan No position
Minnesota Joyce Sutphen
Mississippi Natasha Trethewey
Missouri William Trowbridge
Montana Tami Haaland
Nebraska Twyla Hansen
Nevada Vacant
New Hampshire Alice B. Fogel
New Jersey No position
New Mexico No position
New York Marie Howe
North Carolina Joseph Bathanti
North Dakota
Larry Woiwode
Ohio No position
Oklahoma Nathan Brown
Oregon Peter Sears
Pennsylvania
No Position
Rhode Island Rick Benjamin
South Carolina Marjory Heath Wentworth
South Dakota David Allan Evans
Tennessee Margaret Britton Vaughn
Texas Dean Young
Utah Lance Larsen
Vermont Sydney Lea
Virginia Ron Smith
Washington Elizabeth Austen
West Virginia Marc Harshman
Wisconsin Max Garland
Wyoming Echo Roy Klaproth

Help me keep the list of state poets laureate current by contacting me with any changes you discover in the above positions.