The Academy of American Poets is honored to announce that Carolyn Forché has been elected its newest Chancellor, a distinction shared by just 120 poets since 1946, when the group was formed to ensure that poets would always be at the heart of the organization. Chancellors Emeriti include Elizabeth Alexander, W. H. Auden, Elizabeth Bishop, Lucille Clifton, Rita Dove, Yusef Komunyakaa, Claudia Rankine, Adrienne Rich, Naomi Shihab Nye, Mark Strand, and Arthur Sze.
Chancellors serve an active six-year term during which they consult with the organization on artistic matters, judge the organization’s largest legacy prizes for poets, and act as ambassadors of poetry in the world at large. Forché was selected by the current Chancellors—Ellen Bass, Marilyn Chin, Natalie Diaz, Kwame Dawes, Nikky Finney, Forrest Gander, Terrance Hayes, Marie Howe, David St. John, Dorianne Laux, Tracy K. Smith, Natasha Trethewey, Kevin Young, and Brenda Hillman, whose active term has concluded.