Montgomery County Poets Laureate
The Annual Montgomery Poet Laureate Competition is the foundation upon which the MCPL Program was built. The competition is the ultimate expression of the program’s mission; creating an ever expanding community of poets, supporting their work and providing opportunities for poets to elevate their visibility while also benefiting the community with their service project, many of which continue long beyond their tenure.
How does the competition work?
Each year MCPL recruits a celebrity poet with a national reputation, who along with two additional local Delaware Valley poets, adjudicate the submitted manuscripts.
The newly selected Montgomery County Poet Laureate is honored with an award in the amount of $500 along with a personalized statement about their work, which is shared through MCPL and other local organizations.
The Award is presented during an Award Ceremony and Reading, open to the public and attended by the celebrity judge and previous poets laureate to read with and welcome the newest member of their esteemed ranks.
Who can compete?
Poets of all ages and backgrounds are encouraged to submit their poetry for review and adjudication in the annual competition. Poets must also be residents of Montgomery County. The window for submissions generally opens in early December and closes mid-February with the winner to be announced at the end of March.
The role of the Poet Laureate
The Poet Laureate functions as an ambassador for poetry in Montgomery County from April 1 of the year of his/her naming to March 31st of the following year. This role includes working with MCPL’s Executive Director, Joanne Leva, to develop a schedule of readings, workshops
Appearances may include the Forgotten Voices Poetry Group, Farley’s Bookshop First Thursday Poetry Reading Series, and the annual Caesura Poetry Festival. They may also hold the office of “
Full Circle Microgrants | by Melinda Rizzo
David Gaines knows it’s hard to explore your creative voice when you’re worried about paying the bills.
That’s why the Montgomery County Poet Laureate supports his community outreach project to help other poets and writers pay their bills.
“This idea came about [through] finding ways for relief for writers, who have lost income because of Covid-19,” Gaines explained.
The resulting Full Circle Microgrant Program is the first MCPL resource initiative aimed at providing direct financial support to poets.
While spurred by real hardship challenges since the coronavirus pandemic, Gaines believes Microgrants can thrive to support poets in the community beyond the immediate financial devastation Covid-19 has caused.
He said grant programs and organizations that have approved funding for him during this time have been a “big saving grace for me” as well as the support of his mother, with whom he lives, along with his brother and sister.
“I quit my part-time job right before the pandemic hit. I’ve been [writing] full-time now, and it’s been really difficult not having that income,” Gaines said.
Gaines received funding support from PEN America Writers’ Emergency Fund (2020) and from the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance COVID-19 Arts Aid PHL program.
Full Circle Microgrant’s goal is to reach people who really need it.
“Very few [grants] are directed to writers – that’s where the specific idea for writers came from…to reach people who really need it,” Gaines explained.
Most of the grant and relief awards Gaines received recently came through general artist funding for programs.
While the details for the MCPL program are being worked out, Gaines hopes donations and sponsorships will come from myriad sources – individuals, other non-profit organizations and from corporate donors and partnerships.
He hopes businesses willing to invest in writers will step up because “writers are often times the loudest voices in a community” able to make a profound difference, not only for themselves but for others.
“I’ve gone into this thing with no expectations,” Gaines said. He brings a desire and passion to help marginalized people move forward.
“In this crisis and in the pandemic we can’t afford silence, we can’t let that happen,” he said.
The goal is for Full Circle Microgrants to help sustain creative endeavors and continue well beyond the Covid-19 crisis.
“If this fund helps one writer, one person, feel less alone or one writer feel more supported during this really stressful and chaotic time, that’s good enough for me,” Gaines said.
Gaines is currently working on a debut collection of poems with a target release in 2020. The collection, titled “Soft Boy” uses his life as “a window to explore and analyze the construction instruction and policing of black masculinity.”
For updates and progress toward the release of “Soft Boy” visit www.davegpoetry.com
Full Circle Microgrant Program is a provisional writer’s fund sponsored by the MCPL committee with $250 in unrestricted micro grants subsidized by local benefactors.
The purpose is to mitigate financial hardship caused by Covid-19 on writers in Montgomery, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lehigh and Philadelphia counties.
For information about MCPL Full Circle Microgrant, as well as additional programs, opportunities and initiatives, visit www.montcopoet.org/programs/full-circle-microgrant .
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Poets Laureate
