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 “
1999 Poet Laureate – Yolanda Wisher
Poet Laureate 1999
YOLANDA WISHER
Philadelphia-based poet Yolanda Wisher is the author of Monk Eats an Afro (Hanging Loose
Press, 2014) and the co-editor of Peace is a Haiku Song (Philadelphia Mural Arts, 2013).
Wisher was named the inaugural Poet Laureate of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania in
1999 and the third Poet Laureate of Philadelphia in 2016. A Pew and Cave Canem Fellow,
she has been a Writer in Residence at Hedgebrook and Aspen Words. Wisher taught high
school English for a decade, served as Director of Art Education for Philadelphia Mural Arts,
and was the 2017-2018 CPCW Fellow in Poetics and Poetic Practice at the University of
Pennsylvania. Wisher founded and directed the Germantown Poetry and Outbound Poetry
Festivals and currently works as the Curator of Spoken Word at Philadelphia Contemporary.
She regularly performs a unique blend of poetry and song with her band The Afroeaters and
is part of the first cohort of artists with studios at the Cherry Street Pier on the Delaware River
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Poets Laureate
