In 2023, the Academy of American Poets awarded a combined total of $1.1 million to its 2023 Poet Laureate Fellows. These funds supported their respective public poetry programs throughout the year as presented in their proposals to the Academy. The fellowship program is made possible by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

The 2023 Poet Laureate Fellows and the communities they serve are: Diannely Antigua (Portsmouth, NH); Lisa Bickmore (Utah); Jennifer Bartell Boykin (Columbia, SC); Joseph Bruchac (Saratoga Springs, NY); Lauren Camp (New Mexico); Laura Da’ (Redmond, WA); Oliver de la Paz (Worcester, MA); Farnaz Fatemi (Santa Cruz County, CA); Nicholas Gulig (Fort Atkinson, WI); Peter J. Harris and Carla Rachel Sameth (Altadena, CA); Taylor Johnson (Takoma Park, MD); Yalie Saweda Kamara (Cincinnati, OH); Brandy Nālani McDougall (Hawaiʻi); Gloria Muñoz (St. Petersburg, FL); Sharon Kennedy-Nolle (Sullivan County, NY); Shin Yu Pai (Seattle, WA); Willie Perdomo (New York); Jason Magabo Perez (San Diego, CA); Glenis Redmond (Greenville, SC); Erin Elizabeth Smith (Oak Ridge, TN); Junious Ward (Charlotte, NC); and Joaquín Zihuatanejo (Dallas, TX).

Learn more about the 2023 Poet Laureate Fellows, their communities, fellowship projects, writing practices, and thoughts on poetry, by reading these interviews and essays from their fellowship year. 

LIsa Bickmore

Poet Laureate Fellow Interview: Lisa Bickmore

I think poetry is, or at least can be, especially good at this–creating space to consider our own connectedness.
Jennifer Bartell Boykin

Poet Laureate Fellow Interview: Jennifer Bartell Boykin

Poetry helps us hold up a mirror to ourselves and helps us to see ourselves and the world in a clearer light.
Joseph Bruchac

Poet Laureate Fellow Interview: Joseph Bruchac

Poetry, I believe, can help those who hear it to see themselves and the world around them more broadly and more clearly.
Lauren Camp

Poet Laureate Fellow Interview: Lauren Camp

I shape my poems through these senses of composition and sonics. I’m listening for my aesthetic and rightness when I complete a poem.
Laura Da'

Poet Laureate Fellow Interview: Laura Da’

The most exciting element of my project has been working with young folks and professionals to interpret the themes of the Lake Sammamish ecosystem and to track kokanee salmon via technology.
Oliver de la Paz

Poet Laureate Fellow Interview: Oliver de la Paz

My goal is to, in turn, shine a light on the organizations that have long been working at promoting poetry and spoken word in Worcester
Farnaz Fatemi

Poet Laureate Fellow Interview: Farnaz Fatemi

Poetry is a space with vast permission for nuance.
Nicholas Gulig

On Poetry and Community: Nicholas Gulig

At the age of forty-three, in what is, I hope, the middle of my life, I became the tenth poet laureate of the s

Peter J. Harris

On Poetry and Community: Peter J. Harris

I’ve been writing it since 1992, on the page and within enduring relationships forged as a volunteer member of the Anansi Writers Workshop at The World Stage in Leimert Park, Los Angeles.
Carla Rachel Sameth

On Poetry and Community: Carla Rachel Sameth

Usually, I am one to find the thread of dark humor even in the worst of circumstances.

Sharon Kennedy-Nolle

Poet Laureate Fellow Interview: Sharon Kennedy-Nolle

A poem can begin for me with a revealing image or a fresh phrase, often synesthetic, something that the ear hinges on.
Shin Yu Pai

Poet Laureate Fellows Interviews: Shin Yu Pai

Being exposed to new voices and going into communities and places that I am not usually directly involved with have been powerful learning experiences.
Willie Perdomo

On Poetry and Community: Willie Perdomo

Whenever I’m asked about poetry communities, I’m quick to mention my very first poetry community: my mother’s living room, wherein she wove narratives
Jason Magabo Perez

On Poetry and Community: Jason Magabo Perez

Perhaps we were already living these futures. Perhaps we were already living these possibilities.
Glenis Redmond

On Poetry and Community: Glenis Redmond

Poetry has saved my life on multiple occasions.
Erin Elizabeth Smith

On Poetry & Community: Erin Elizabeth Smith

In my twenties, I used to dread having strangers ask me the question, “What do you do?”
Joaquín Zihuatanejo

On Poetry and Community: Joaquín Zihuatanejo

When I applied to be the inaugural poet laureate of Dallas, I did so with the idea of service in mind.

Gloria Muñoz

Poet Laureate Fellow Interview: Gloria Muñoz

Poetry offers people a way into their big questions and deep considerations.