GRACE CAVALIERI (2018 - )

Grace Cavalieri was appointed Maryland Poet Laureate on November 7, 2018 by Governor Larry Hogan. Grace Cavalieri is the author of 20 books and chapbooks of poetry, the latest are Other Voices, Other Lives (ASP, 2017;) and Life Upon The Wicked Stage: A Memoir (NAP/Scarith, 2015.) She's also written texts and lyrics performed for opera, television and film and has had 26 plays produced on American stages. Grace teaches poetry workshops throughout the country at numerous colleges. She produced and hosted "The Poet and the Poem," weekly, on WPFW-FM (1977-1997) presenting more than 2,000 poets to the nation. She now presents this series to public radio from the Library of Congress via NPR satellite and Pacifica Radio, celebrating 42 years on air in 2019.

Grace has received the 2013 George Garrett Award, the Pen-Fiction Award, the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Award, The Corporation for Public Broadcasting Silver Medal, and awards from the National Commission on Working Women, the WV Commission on Women, the American Association of University Women, The DC Poet Laureate Award from Dolores Kendrick, the Paterson lifetime Achievement Award, among others. She won a Paterson Excellence Award for What I Would do for Love, and The Bordighera Poetry Prize for Water on the Sun. She received the inaugural Columbia Merit Award from the Folger Shakespeare Library for "significant contributions to poetry."

The Poet Laureate position was formally established by the Maryland General Assembly in 1959 (Chapter 178, Acts of 1959; Code State Government Article, sec. 13-306) and authorizes the Governor to appoint a citizen of the State as Poet Laureate of Maryland.

Poets Laureate have served for the State since the inception of this Act in 1959. Past Poet Laureates include (in order of service): Maria B. Coker, Vincent Godfrey Burns, Lucille Clifton, Reed Whittemore, Linda Pastan, Roland Flint, Michael Collier, Michael Glaser, Stanley Plumly, and Grace Cavalieri.

The Poet Laureate of Maryland is an honorary State position in which the individual selected will serve at the discretion of the Governor for up to a four-year term renewable by the Governor’s consent. The Poet Laureate will provide public readings for the citizens of Maryland, ensuring that people in all geographic regions of the State have access to at least one reading during the term of service. As an honorary position the Poet Laureate will not receive compensation, though limited reimbursement for expenses incurred in the performance of duties is available.

Read Ms. Cavalieri's poem "Terms of Office" in honor of Governor Hogan's inauguration on January 16, 2019 below. 

Ms. Cavalieri is available for appearances in her new role on/after March 1, 2019. Please use the Appearances Request Form to make your request.

APPEARANCE REQUEST FORM

• Poet Laureate of Maryland Fact Sheet (Cavalieri)
• Cavalieri Poet Laureate Governor Hogan Press Release
• Cavalieri - Library of Congress
• The Poet and the Poem Episodes - Library of Congress
• Cavalieri Website and Archived The Poet and The Poem Episodes
• Cavalieri Poetry Foundation Profile
• Cavalieri Selection of Poems and Essays

PRESS:

• "Annapolis Resident Named State Poet," The Baltimore Sun
• "Annapolis Writer Grace Cavalieri named poet laureate of Maryland," Capital Gazette
• January 23, 2019 appearance on the Kojo Nnamdi show on WAMU
• Protector of language's beauty in dark times - WAMU

INQUIRIES/QUESTIONS:

For further information regarding the Maryland Poet Laureate position please contact Christine Stewart, Poet Laureate Liaison, at 410-767-6476 or e-mail christine.stewart1@maryland.gov

If you need assistance in using this form, please contact the MSAC office at 410-767-6555 or TDD/TTY: 410-333-4519

Stanley Plumly and Governor Martin O'Malley at press conference announcing Plumly's appointment.

Stanley Plumly was appointed the ninth Poet Laureate of Maryland on October 1, 2009 by Governor Martin O'Malley. He is the author of nine books of poetry, including Old Heart (Norton, 2008), which won the Los Angeles Times Book Award and was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2007. Most recently, Mr. Plumly has authored Posthumous Keats (Norton, 2008), a “personal biography” of the English poet, John Keats, which has received widespread critical acclaim by reviewers for The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, The New Yorker, among others, and his poems, essays, articles, and reviews have appeared in many of the country’s best periodicals and newspapers.

Stanley Plumly is the recipient of numerous awards including eight Pushcart Prizes, the Paterson Poetry Prize (2007), an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (2002), and a fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation (2001).

The Poet Laureate position was formally established by the Maryland General Assembly in 1959 (Chapter 178, Acts of 1959; Code State Government Article, sec. 13-306) and authorizes the Governor to appoint a citizen of the State as Poet Laureate of Maryland.

Poet Laureates have served for the State since the inception of this Act in 1959. Past Poet Laureates include (in order of service): Maria B. Coker, Vincent Godfrey Burns, Lucille Clifton, Reed Whittemore, Linda Pastan, Roland Flint, Michael Collier, and Michael Glaser.

The Poet Laureate of Maryland is an honorary State position in which the individual selected will serve at the discretion of the Governor for up to a four-year term renewable by the Governor’s consent. The Poet Laureate will provide public readings for the citizens of Maryland, ensuring that people in all geographic regions of the State have access to at least one reading during the term of service. As an honorary position the Poet Laureate will not receive compensation, though limited reimbursement for expenses incurred in the performance of duties is available.

Stanley Pumly Information and Interviews

• Fact Sheet - Poet Laureate of Maryland
• Poet Laureate Appointment Press Release
• Stanley Plumly - University of Maryland Faculty Profile
• Stanley Plumly Profile at Poets.org
• Stanley Plumly presentation profile on Maryland Humanities Council Speakers Bureau
• Interview on Maryland Morning with Sheilah Kast - October 13, 2009
• "A Conversation with Stanley Plumly" by Lisa Meyer, The Boston Review
• "2007 National Book award Finalist Interview with Stanley Plumly" by Craig Morgan Teicher, The National Book Foundation
• "The Poem and the Poet: Stanley Plumly" by Grace Cavalieri, Library of Congress
• Bright Stars, "Poems Out Loud", 10/22/2009

The photos below are from the Poet Laureate's rcent visit to Parkville High School in Baltimore County, Maryland.

Stanley Plumly, Maryland Poet Laureate

Audience members listen to the Poet Laureate

From left to right: Stephen Devorah (English Department), Laura Revere (English Chairperson), Stephen Edgar (Principal), Stanley Plumly (Poet Laureate), Judy Dobbs (Program Officer, Maryland Humanities Council).

The photo above is from the Poet Laureate's visit to the Maryland Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped through the Maryland Humanities Council's Speakers Bureau on April 15, 2010.

Contact: Christine Stewart, Program Director, 410-767-6476