Spotlights

March 2015
NH Poet Laureate

Established by the State Legislature in 1967, New Hampshire’s Poet Laureate is an honorary five-year position held by an individual who has made outstanding contributions to the field of poetry. Appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Executive Council, New Hampshire’s Poet Laureate serves as an ambassador for all poets in the state and works in collaboration with the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts, writers organizations and the State Library to heighten the visibility and value of poetry in the state.

For the first time in its history, the New Hampshire Poet Laureate position currently includes an honorarium of $500 for each year of the five-year term to help the Poet Laureate achieve his or her stated mission. Funding comes from contributions made to the Walter Butts’ New Hampshire Poet Laureate Fund, created in memory of the most recent New Hampshire Poet Laureate, and coordinated through the Poetry Society of New Hampshire.

To date, New Hampshire has had 11 Poets Laureate:

• Paul Scott Mowrer, Chocorua
• Eleanor Vinton, Concord
• Richard Eberhart, Hanover
• Donald Hall, Danbury
• Maxine Kumin, Warner
• Jane Kenyon, Wilmot
• Donald Hall, Wilmot
• Marie Harris, Barrington
• Cynthia Huntington, Hanover
• Patricia Fargnoli, Walpole
• Walter Butts, Manchester

The current Poet Laureate, Alice B. Fogel, is an award-winning poet, author, teacher and well-respected figure in the New Hampshire poetry community. Her third book, Be That Empty, was a national poetry bestseller in 2008, and Strange Terrain (on how to appreciate poetry) was published in 2009. Her poems have appeared in many journals and anthologies, including The Best American Poetry 1993, guest edited by Louise Gluck. Fogel's newest book, Interval: Poems Based on Bach’s Goldberg Variations, won the Nicholas Schaffner Award for Music in Literature, and is forthcoming from Schaffner Press.

Fogel was the 2012 Poet in Residence at the Carl Sandburg Historical Site National Park and has received an Individual Artist Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, among other awards. She has served as a judge for the New Hampshire Poetry Out Loud high school competition and currently teaches writing at both Keene State College and Landmark College in Putney, Vermont.

In celebration of National Poetry Month in April 2015, Fogel will lead a kick-off event at the State Library in Concord on April 4 at 1:00 pm. She and other New Hampshire poets will read their own and others’ poetry, and talk about bringing poetry to more listeners. For more information, please visit Fogel’s website at www.alicebfogel.com.

Last updated: February 25, 2015