Patricia Frolander (born 1942) is an American poet originally from Boston, Massachusetts. [1] She was poet laureate of Wyoming from November 7, 2011, to June 9, 2013. [2] [3]
Frolander began writing poetry in the mid-1990s. [4] She has written five poetry collections, [1] including Grassland Genealogy (2009), Married Into It (2011), and Second Wind (2020). She won the 17th Annual National Senior Poets Laureate Competition in 2009. [5] In 2011, she won the Neltje Blanchan Memorial Writing Award, sponsored by the Wyoming Arts Council. [6]
She owns and lives on their family ranch in Sundance in the Black Hills area of Wyoming, [1] where she has lived since 1969. She has one son, two daughters, and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. [7] She was widowed in October 2016. [7]
A poet laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) of Arezzo were the first to be crowned poets laureate after the classical age, respectively in 1315 and 1342. In Britain, the term dates from the appointment of Bernard André by Henry VII of England. The royal office of Poet Laureate in England dates from the appointment of John Dryden in 1668.
Dame Carol Ann Duffy is a Scottish poet and playwright. She is a professor of contemporary poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University, and was appointed Poet Laureate in May 2009, resigning in 2019. She was the first female poet, the first Scottish-born poet and the first openly lesbian poet to hold the Poet Laureate position.
Rita Frances Dove is an American poet and essayist. From 1993 to 1995, she served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. She is the first African American to have been appointed since the position was created by an act of Congress in 1986 from the previous "consultant in poetry" position (1937–86). Dove also received an appointment as "special consultant in poetry" for the Library of Congress's bicentennial year from 1999 to 2000. Dove is the second African American to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, in 1987, and she served as the Poet Laureate of Virginia from 2004 to 2006. Since 1989, she has been teaching at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, where she held the chair of Commonwealth Professor of English from 1993 to 2020; as of 2020 she holds the chair of Henry Hoyns Professor of Creative Writing.
Albert James Young was an American poet, novelist, essayist, screenwriter, and professor. He was named Poet Laureate of California by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger from 2005 to 2008. Young's many books included novels, collections of poetry, essays, and memoirs. His work appeared in literary journals and magazines including Paris Review, Ploughshares, Essence, The New York Times, Chicago Review, Seattle Review, Brilliant Corners: A Journal of Jazz & Literature, Chelsea, Rolling Stone, Gathering of the Tribes, and in anthologies including the Norton Anthology of African American Literature, and the Oxford Anthology of African American Literature.
Patricia Fargnoli was an American poet and psychotherapist. She was the New Hampshire Poet Laureate from December 2006 to March 2009.
Joy Harjo is an American poet, musician, playwright, and author. She served as the 23rd United States Poet Laureate, the first Native American to hold that honor. She was also only the second Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to have served three terms. Harjo is a member of the Muscogee Nation and belongs to Oce Vpofv. She is an important figure in the second wave of the literary Native American Renaissance of the late 20th century. She studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts, completed her undergraduate degree at University of New Mexico in 1976, and earned an MFA degree at the University of Iowa in its creative writing program.
Luisa A. Igloria is a Filipina American poet and author of various award-winning collections, and is the most recent Poet Laureate of Virginia (2020-2022).
Natasha Trethewey is an American poet who served as United States Poet Laureate from 2012 to 2014. She won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for her 2006 collection Native Guard, and is a former Poet Laureate of Mississippi.
Jaki Shelton Green is an American poet. In November 2009, she was named the first Piedmont Laureate by a collection of Triangle-area arts councils. She currently resides in Mebane, North Carolina. Green teaches Documentary Poetry at Duke University within the Center for Documentary Studies.
Angela Jackson is an American poet, playwright, and novelist based in Chicago, Illinois. Jackson became the fifth Illinois Poet Laureate in 2020.
Lee Ann Roripaugh is an American poet and was the South Dakota poet laureate from 2015 to 2019. Lee Ann Roripaugh is the author of five volumes of poetry: tsunami vs. the fukushima 50, Dandarians, On the Cusp of a Dangerous Year, Year of the Snake, and Beyond Heart Mountain. She was named winner of the Association of Asian American Studies Book Award in Poetry/Prose for 2004, and a 1998 winner of the National Poetry Series.
David Clewell was an American poet and creative writing instructor at Webster University. From 2010–2012, he served as the Poet Laureate of Missouri.
Bruce Dethlefsen is an American poet and teacher of poetry. He was Wisconsin Poet Laureate for 2011-2012, having been appointed by Governor James Doyle. He also served as secretary for the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets for six years.
Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda was named Poet Laureate of Virginia by the Governor, Tim Kaine, on June 26, 2006. She succeeded Rita Dove and served in this position from June 2006 – July 2008. While serving as Poet Laureate, Carolyn started the "Poetry Book Giveaway Project" and added the "Poets Spotlight" to her webpage highlighting one poet from the Commonwealth each month, in addition to traveling widely to promote poetry in every corner of Virginia.
Kathryn Stripling Byer, also called Kay Byer, was an American poet and teacher. She was named by Governor Mike Easley as the fifth North Carolina Poet Laureate from 2005 to 2009. She was the first woman to hold the position.
Cathy Smith Bowers is an American poet and professor. She teaches poetry in an M.F.A. program at Queens University of Charlotte. Bowers was named by Governor Bev Perdue as the sixth North Carolina Poet Laureate, 2010–2012. She has published five collections of poetry.
The Poet Laureate of Washington is a poet designated by the government of the US state of Washington to promote poetry generally, and Washington poetry specifically, within the state. The office of Poet Laureate of Washington was established by an act of the Washington State Legislature in 2007.
Keith G. Kautz is an American lawyer and judge, who is an associate justice of the Wyoming Supreme Court. He previously served as a Wyoming District Court judge from 1993 to 2015.
The Poet Laureate of Wyoming is the poet laureate for the U.S. state of Wyoming. The position of Poet Laureate was created by executive order in 1981 with a variable term of service. The post became a customary two-year term starting on statehood day.