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 “
Poet’s Blog | Cathy Cohen
An interview with Doris Ferleger
Greetings! As well as posting about poetry events, this space is a good way to catch up with past MCPLs to learn about their news and current projects. I’ll be making my way through our list of talented poets and please get in touch if there is something coming up that’s timely.
Thanks,
Cathy Cohen
It was a delight catching up with Doris Ferleger, Ph.D., Montgomery County Poet Laureate for 2009. Doris maintains a mindfulness-based therapy practice in Wyncote, Pa as well as a rich and productive poetry career. Four of her books of poetry have been published, three full-length volumes, Big Silences in a Year of Rain, As the Moon Has Breath, Leavened, and a chapbook, When You Become Snow.
Doris shared about her many current projects. Big news is that Doris’ fifth volume of poems was recently chosen as a finalist for the Marsh Hawk Press poetry prize and has moved forward to be judged by Marge Piercy, whose work Doris values. She recently participated in a project of the Philadelphia Calligraphers’ Society wherein visual artists and calligraphers created images based on writers’ poems, (a reverse process to ekphrastic poetry, she noted). This work is featured in PCS’s journal, Scripta, and will be on view at Ludington library in Bryn Mawr along with a poetry reading the evening of July 25.
Doris has finished her sixth book, Galloping Heart. She recently studied with David Wojahn through the Vermont College of Fine Arts, where she received her MFA, a low residency program she highly recommends. This summer she will continue her studies there with Patricia Smith.
Asked about current themes and publications, Doris mentioned that two new poems will be coming out in Calyx. Her current work takes up themes of relationships, elegy and love poetry as well as ekphrastic poetry based on photographs taken by her partner.
When asked about the impact of her MCPL year, Doris emphasized how important the experience was, how generous and supportive Joanne Leva and the community were to her, newly widowed in the time.
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Poets Laureate
