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 “
2016 Poet Laureate – Autumn Konopka
Poet Laureate 2016
AUTUMN KONOPKA
Autumn Konopka is a poet, mother, teacher, and coffee addict. Her poems have appeared in Literary Mama, Crab Orchard Review, Philadelphia Stories, Apiary, Mad Poets Review, and others. In 2014, her chapbook a chain of paper dolls was published by the Head & the Hand Press. She has an MFA from Antioch University in Los Angeles, where she focused on memoirs in verse as well as the intersection of socio-economics and poetry. A grammar geek to the core, Autumn teaches creative writing, composition, and critical reading in Philadelphia. She lives with her family in Glenside, where she is sustained by reading with her kiddos, making sweet treats, running until her legs ache, and watching embarrassingly bad tv. Find her online: autumnkonopka.com.
“These poems manage to confront the realities of teaching in the midst of urban blight, poverty, and violence with a distinctive personal voice that avoids political rhetoric. Thoughtful, self-critical, often self-mocking, they enact a lively engagement with those who are trying not merely to defend themselves but to give their lives purpose and possibility.”
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Poets Laureate
