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 | Steve Pollack
Nashirah, the Jewish Chorale of Greater Philadelphia Presents – Love in every language.
Come, treat yourself to beautiful songs of love from around the world. This concert, is the joyous collaboration between two guest choirs from New York, Nashira and a string quartet. It is an inspired product of creative partners from two cities, Cantor Natasha Hirschorn of Ansche Chesed Congregation and Dr. Julia Zavadsky of Temple and Rutgers Universities. They have selected stunning musical settings of poetic texts from Russian shtetls to Florence, folk tunes to contemporary choral repertoire, Israeli pop songs to eternal verses from the Song of Songs.
At the heart of the concert is the WORLD PREMIERE of “That Love” by Palestinian Israeli composer Wisam Gibran, based on verses of “The Prophet” by Khalil Gibran.
“As a Palestinian living in Israel, I see a major challenge…The spirit of my musical language is based on openness and mutual listening. It relies on the assumption that individual identity is formed, not inherited, that it comes from the future, not the past”- Wisam Gibran
Music is poetry, poetry is music, as natural together as bees and blossoms. Dr. Zavadsky also reminds us the vocal arts have a power to “build bridges between communities, beauty to heal our broken world”.
He was full of tenderness; she was very hard
And as much as she tried to stay thus
Simply and with no good reason
He took her into himself and set her down
In the softest, softest place.
from “Five Hebrew Love Songs”, poem by Hila Plitman, music by Eric Whitacre
Please join us on May 19th at 3PM at the Curtis Institute of Music next to Rittenhouse Square.
For more details and ticket info – https://www.nashirah.org
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Poets Laureate
