LibGuides: Celebrate Poetry!: United States Poet Laureate

Discover United States Poet Laureates

United States Poet Laureate History
Everything you would ever want to know about the U.S. Poetry Consultants
List of Poets who served as the U.S. Poet Laureate
As the nation’s official poet, the Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress seeks to raise the national consciousness to a greater appreciation of the reading and writing of poetry.
Poetry for the Mind's Joy
Kay Ryan said, “I simply want to celebrate the fact that right near your home, year in and year out, a community college is quietly—and with very little financial encouragement—saving lives and minds. It is at a community college that a student can progress all the way from learning to read to learning to read poetry."

Nearly half of the laureates have taken on a signature project to raise the national appreciation of poetry.

Living Nations, Living Words Created in 2020 by Poet Laureate Joy Harjo, this project gathers a sampling of work by 47 contemporary Native poets from across the nation.
American Conversations - Tracy K. Smith visited rural communities around the country and gave away her poetry anthology, American Journal: Fifty Poems for our Times.
American Life in Poetry - Ted Kooser founded this project in 2004 to create a space and a presence for poetry in American culture providing newspapers and online periodicals with a free weekly column by Kooser that featured a poem from a contemporary American poet.
Poetry 180 - Billy Collins designed Poetry 180 to make it easy for students to hear or read a poem on each of the 180 days of the school year.