In 2023, Brandy Nālani McDougall was named an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow. McDougall will promote poetry as a way to connect with ʻāina (land and water) through workshops and readings, and provide poetry posters to local schools and public libraries. McDougall will also create Puka Kinikini, an online archive of Hawaiʻi poems in multiple languages and local poets’ video performances, as well as a print anthology of contemporary poetry in the Hawaiian language.