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 “
2001 Poet Laureate – Deidra Greenleaf Allan
Poet Laureate 2001
DEIDRA GREENLEAF ALLAN
Deidra’s poetry has appeared in American Poetry Review, Poetry Miscellany, Puerto del Sol, West Branch, and Wind Magazine, among other printed and online journals.
In 1997 Deidra returned to writing poetry after more than 20 years of focusing on her professional career in communications. In 2000, she took a hiatus from work to attend the MFA program at Vermont College where she studied under Richard Jackson, Betsy Sholl, Bill Olsen, and Roger Weingarten.
In 2001 she was selected as Montgomery County Poet Laureate in a competition judged by Robert Hass. Also that year, she received a Leeway Emerging Artist Award and was nominated by Vermont College for the Modern Poetry Association’s Ruth Lily Fellowship. In 2002, she was a finalist for a Pew Fellowship in poetry.
Today, Deidra tries to balance her creative writing life with the demands of her professional career—a challenge in which she is not always successful, though ever hopeful. She credits the support of her weekly poetry group, 34th Street Poets, with helping her to keep focused and motivated.
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Poets Laureate
