Media Guide

NEW HAMPSHIRE TO HOST FIRST-TIME GATHERING OF U.S. POETS LAUREATE
Presidential primary season draws more than just candidates to the state

CONCORD, NH—January 24, 2003—For the first time in history, poets laureate from around the nation will gather in New Hampshire in April for a ground-breaking conference on the role of poetry in society. Hosted by the New Hampshire Writers' Project (NHWP) in association with the Academy of American Poets, the three-day event, dubbed “Poetry and Politics,” will bring together poets laureate representing some 30 states, plus prominent politicians, educators and media moguls. The brainchild of New Hampshire Poet Laureate Marie Harris, the event will take place April 25-26th 2003 in a variety of locations around the state.

“The idea of bringing poets and politicians together was a natural for the state that plays a unique role in U.S. politics,” says Harris. “During the primary season, New Hampshire is where a lot of the key issues facing our country get defined and debated. We want to make sure that culture and, specifically, poetry, is part of that discussion. While the tradition of state poet laureate has been around since the 1930s, most state poets laureate have never met. There wasn’t even a central list of who they all were until we began to put this together,” Harris explains. Her initial brainstorm broadened into the three-day event with the involvement of the New Hampshire Writers' Project and the Academy of American Poets.

The conference has three primary goals, according to NHWP Executive Director Katie Goodman. “We want to gather the poets in one place and provide informal opportunities for them to exchange information, ideas, and concerns. The role of the laureate is not well defined in any state, and it seems to be up to the individual to interpret the position and to initiate presentations, programs and occasional poetry to address the place of the poet in society.

"Secondly, we want to make sure that poetry and culture are part of the political discussion in the upcoming election season. So we’re not just putting poets and politicians in a room together, we’re taking the visiting poets, along with our native New Hampshire poets, into New Hampshire communities.

"Finally, we see this not as an end in itself, but rather the beginning of the discussion that will certainly continue, in one form or another, for years. And, although we have no expectations of specific outcomes, we're confident that the issues raised will serve to ignite further exploration of the poet's public role,” says Goodman.

The poets arrive Thursday evening and the event begins Friday morning when the poets laureate travel to the reading venues, accompanied by New Hampshire poets. On Saturday, the Poetry & Politics: Nations of the Mind conference will take place at The Highlander Inn and Conference Center in Manchester. Panel discussions include the Poet as Citizen; Poetry and Education; Poetry and Community; Human Creativity and the Brain; Poetry and the Media; Poets and Politicians; and Poetry and the Spirit.

Saturday night, a gala dinner at The Center of NH will celebrate the gathering of poets and recognize the state's supporters of poetry and the arts, with a keynote speech by the new chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, poet and essayist Dana Gioia.

For more information, contact Katie Goodman at the New Hampshire Writers' Project at 603-226-6649.