Tree Swenson to leave the American Academy of Poets

The American Academy of Poets announced yesterday that Executive Director Tree Swenson will be leaving the organization to take over as the head of the Richard Hugo House in Seattle. In its announcement, the Academy pointed to all that Swenson has accomplished in her 10-year tenure:

During her time at the Academy of American Poets, Ms. Swenson has overseen the creation of many important programs, including Poetry & the Creative Mind (2003), Poem in Your Pocket Day (2004), an outdoor reading series in New York City parks (2005), digitization of the Academy's Audio Archive (2007), the Poets Forum (2007), and the Poem-a-Day email series (2010), which is hosted on the Academy's enormously popular website Poets.org.

Swenson — who co-founded Copper Canyon Press and worked with the Massachusetts Cultural Council before joining the Academy in 2002 — commented:

Long before I moved to New York to lead the organization, I believed (and continue to believe today) that the Academy of American Poets was the premier literary organization in the country, and I am grateful beyond measure to have had this decade to contribute to it. Believing as I do in the power of change and renewal, I know that this is the right time for the Academy to open its next chapter, and for me to return to the Northwest and my roots. My time at the Academy of American Poets has been profound and intense, moving and rewarding, and these ten years have sped by.

The Academy's Associate Director Beth Harrison will take over as Acting Executive Director, while the Board of Directors pulls together a national search committee to find someone to fill Swenson's shoes. Read the whole announcement here.