Montgomery County Poet Laureate

2025 Celebrity Judge Shawn Jones

Shawn R. Jones

Born in Hartford, Connecticut and grew up in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Shawn Jones is a 2023 Civitella Ranieri Fellow, and her poetry collection, Date of Birth, has won the 2022 Lexi Rudnitsky First Book Prize in Poetry. She is also the author of two poetry chapbooks, Womb Rain (2008) and A Hole to Breathe (2015). Her work has appeared in Tri-Quarterly, New Ohio Review, Rattle, Essence, Obsidian, Peregrine Journal, The Journal of Baha’i Studies, and elsewhere.

Shawn is the co-owner of Tailored Tutoring LLC and Kumbaya Academy, Inc., a dance instructor at Halliday Dance, and a member of the poetry performance troupe, No River Twice. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and an MFA in Creative Writing from Rutgers-Camden. When she is not writing, dancing, or teaching, she enjoys spending time with her family and her lucky pit bull, Ross.

2025 Youth Poet Laureate Judge Gabrielle Bates

Gabrielle Bates

is the author of Judas Goat (Tin House, 2023), a New York Times Book Review critics pick, NPR Best Book of 2023, and finalist for the Washington State Book Award in Poetry. Her work has appeared in the New Yorker, Poem-a-Day, and Ploughshares, and she has served as visiting faculty for the University of Washington Rome Center and the Tin House Writers’ Workshops. Originally from Birmingham, Alabama, she currently lives in Seattle, where she works for Open Books: A Poem Emporium and co-hosts the podcast The Poet Salon. www.gabriellebat.es

Over 20 Years of Poetry & Community

The Montgomery County Poet Laureate (MCPL) program was founded by Joanne Leva of Lansdale, PA, to recognize and promote excellence in poetry and support the growth and visibility of the poetry community. Since its inception in 1999, MCPL has expanded the many programs available to experience and learn about poetry in part through the Poet Laureate’s community service projects.

Steve Pollack

2025 Montgomery County Poet Laureate

Steve hit half-balls with broomsticks, rode the Frankford El to Drexel University, sailed the equator on the U.S.S. Enterprise, crossed the Mississippi with two kittens and a mustache. He advised governments, directed an affordable housing co-op, built hospitals, science labs and public schools. He found poetry (or it found him) later. His writing has appeared in various print and cyber journals including Poetica Magazine, Mukoli – the Magazine for Peace, Schuylkill Valley Journal, and The Jewish Writing Project. His debut chapbook, L’dor Vador – From Generation to Generation, was published by Finishing Line Press. “December 26, 1960” will be re-printed in Keystone: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania, the anthology by Penn State University Press forthcoming in May 2025. On first Saturdays, he circles with Joanne Leva and Forgotten Voices at the Indian Valley Public Library in Telford. He serves on the One Book One Jewish Community advisory team sponsored by Gratz College and sings bass with Nashirah: the Jewish Chorale of Philadelphia.

Tina Ramberg-Michael

2025 Montgomery County Youth Poet Laureate

Tina Ramberg-Michael is a ninth grader at Cheltenham High School. She took first place in the poetry slam at the Delaware Valley Consortium for Equity and Excellence and has published her poetry with Young Inklings. Outside of school she plays cello in three orchestras throughout Philly, Montgomery County, and Bucks County. In her free time she adores honing her creativity through making various projects with her hands as well as learning new languages. She hopes you enjoy her work as greatly as she enjoyed writing it.

Forgotten Voices

The Forgotten Voices Group and Workshops are hosted on a monthly basis virtually and on location at Indian Valley Public Library.

Details

Our Mission

The mission of MCPL is to bring poets together to share their thoughts and ideas about poetry and expose the community to rich poetic traditions. We invite the community to partake in the myriad of free programs and projects lead by our very own Poets Laureate. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the MCPL program regards poetry as a local public art form and offers both awareness of and involvement in an artistic and cultural outlet.

About Us

The Montgomery County Poet Laureate Program was started in 1998 by Joanne Leva. As a member of the Indian Valley Arts Foundation, Joanne recognized the value of personal expression through the literary arts and poetry and saw an opportunity to benefit the community, offer broad-based education for people of all ages, and improve the access to cultural outlets, leading her to form the MCPL.

The Poet Laureate competition includes a community service directive with a program developed by each Poet Laureate to elevate the literary arts in the community, expand their own personal experience and increase overall awareness of the program. As a result of this initiative, MCPL has expanded the many programs available to experience and learn about poetry including our most recent addition, the Montgomery County Youth Poet Laureate Competition.

Writing Poetry During the Pandemic | by Melinda Rizzo

Feature

MCPLs Autumn Konopka and Liz Chang on writing poetry during the pandemic As poets continue to wrestle with, sift through, and struggle against a global pandemic that has upended ordinary life, the ability to make sense of it all may prove elusive. Deadlocked or stuck....

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Montgomery County Poet Laureate Competition

Poet Laureate Adjudication

A “celebrity judge” is called upon to adjudicate manuscripts for both the Youth and Adult Poet Laureate Competitions. Manuscripts are assigned numeric values to maintain anonymity to determine the winner in a fair and objective way. The winning poet receives a cash award and a year of opportunities to enhance their public profile as featured poets in events throughout the area in addition to their community outreach project.

What is a Poet Laureate?

A Poet Laureate is an individual who composes poems, who has the ability to express poetic ideas in beautiful language, and has been identified as having the highest degree of excellence in poetry. Submissions open in the Fall through February. Winners are announced in April.

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Meet the Poets Laureate

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