A call for more poetry activists among the laureates March 29, 2011: In an opinion piece for The Philadelphia Inquirer, Julia Baird laments the relative invisibility of poet laureates among the general public. The deficiency isn't in the public's taste for poetry but rather the title itself, the kind of person it's bestowed upon and what it should require of its bearer. Baird recalls the efforts of Joseph Brodsky [...] by Harriet Staff

A poet’s take on Wisconsin, as Wisconsin governor takes out poets March 8, 2011: Bloomberg reports that Wisconsin's Poet Laureate post, created by order of then-Governor Tommy Thompson in 2001, will be one of the casualties of embattled Governor Scott Walker's budget bill. The post comes with a stipend that covers up to $2,000 in gas money a year to make up for the poet's travels across the state to lecture and read. The [...] by Harriet Staff

Queens poet laureate focuses on technology June 29, 2010: Paolo Javier who was recently named poet laureate of the borough of Queens thinks the future of poetry is in technology. The New York Daily News reports. By fusing multimedia platforms like film and the Internet with words, Sunnyside resident Paolo Javier said, he hopes to make poetry more accessible to the borough's aspiring writers. by Harriet Staff