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Archive: July 2014 (3 Posts)

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State Poet Laureate Controversies: From North Carolina to California

Posted by: Peter Armenti

By now readers of this blog are probably well aware of the swift rise and fast fall of erstwhile North Carolina Poet Laureate Valerie Macon. Macon was appointed North Carolina Poet Laureate by Governor Pat McCrory on July 11. The selection immediately drew criticism from North Carolina’s literary community, and soon afterwards by other state …

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State Poets Update – New NC Poet Laureate

Posted by: Peter Armenti

Shortly after I published Friday’s post on recent state poet laureate happenings I received an email alert that North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory had just appointed Valerie Macon the new N.C. poet laureate. So much for my timing! Macon succeeds Joseph Bathanti in the two-year position and is the state’s eighth poet laureate. Several media …

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State Poets Laureate Update

Posted by: Peter Armenti

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 …