South Dakota's New Poet Laureate is Lee Ann Roripaugh!

If you've heard of South Dakota Review or considered studying poetry at the University of South Dakota then you've almost certainly heard of Lee Ann Roripaugh. Roripaugh has been announced as the newest South Dakota poet laureate, replacing Dave Evans: we can't think of a better person for the job! From Argus Leader:

On any given Saturday, a certain reader might wander the bookstores and libraries of the city, trying to dig up a copy of “Dandarians,” poet Lee Ann Roripaugh’s latest collection.

Said reader, however, might find herself out of luck. Even the staff at Zandbroz Variety struck out on Roripaugh. They didn’t know the book. They claimed to not know the author.

All that is about to change.

Roripaugh has recently been announced as South Dakota’s newest poet laureate, replacing literary landmark David Allan Evans, who served the state for more than 12 years. Roripaugh is a nationally recognized poet, professor of English at the University of South Dakota, director of the university’s creative writing program and editor-in-chief of South Dakota Review. Her poems have been collected into four books of her own, dozens of anthologies and a plentitude of literary journals.

How come so many people haven’t heard of her?

Because she’s a poet, of course.

Poetry in South Dakota boasts a devoted following to be sure (a vibrant and healthy community, even), but, in the end, poetry to a host of people is, well … poetry. More local readers line up to purchase the latest erotica release than might ever get excited about a slim volume that explores a series of “word betrayals,” seeded by Roripaugh’s Japanese mother’s use of English and the ramifications of alternate pronunciations and muddled translations.

Roripaugh is celebrating the honor of being named the state’s go-to poet, all the while weighing the responsibility of serving a geographically vast, culturally diverse and occasionally poetry-starved state for the next four years.

“Dave Evans has been a fixture in the South Dakota literary community,” Roripaugh says. “He’s been a wonderful representative of place. He’s collaborated with a lot of artists, and he’s written very movingly. He’s a lovely, solid presence.”

Though these might seem like sizable shoes to fill, Evans isn’t the first poet Roripaugh has had to write outside the shadow of. Her father, Robert Roripaugh, just happens to have been the poet laureate of Wyoming. [...]

Learn more about Lee Ann Roripaugh (and congratulations!) courtesy of Argus Leader.