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.

Online Submission Form

Competition Details

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 and a community service project, which is the cornerstone of the MCPL program. Community Service projects have created permanent resources and ongoing programming for our organization.

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 “writer-in residence” at the Indian Valley Arts Foundation.

Lisa DeVuono, 2024 Montgomery County Poet Laureate

by admin | Apr 19, 2024 | 2024, Feature, Poet Laureate

Poet Laureate 2024

Lisa DeVuono is a poet and printmaker living in Ambler. Recently retired, she has worked as a librarian in a variety of medical and community-based settings, most recently with the Cheltenham Township Library System, creating and promoting adult programs.

She was a poetry therapy facilitator working with cancer patients, teens in recovery and with members of various Clubhouse organizations. She wrote a peer-based curriculum Poetry as a Tool for Recovery: An Easy-to-Use Guide in Eight Sessions for use in organizations working with persons living with mental health challenges. This served as the basis of a full training module taught by John Fox, author and founder of the Institute for Poetic Medicine. She was a creativity coach for the Artist Conference Network, a nationwide coaching community for artists of all kinds.

She was one of the founders of It Ain’t Pretty, a women’s writing collective that performed locally. She produced multi-media shows incorporating song, music, poetry, and dance, including Rumi in Song at the Sedgwick Theater, and Whole Heart Home and Breaking Open Breaking Free, part of the IceHouse Tonight series in Bethlehem.

She also co-facilitates workshops and performances with her husband Michael London with his musical interpretation of the poems of Rumi.

In addition to the full-length manuscript This Time Roots, Next Time Wings, her poetry has appeared in the Mad Poets Review, Paterson Literary Review, and the anthology Grit Gravity & Grace: New Poems about Medicine and Healthcare. She is the author of the chapbook Poems from the Playground of Risk, published by Pudding House Press, and was the recipient of an honorable mention in Passaic County Community College’s annual Allen Ginsberg Contest.

Each poem lifts a window into the universal experience of being human in inviting and skillful ways. From observing nature at play to pondering the remnants of past love to exploring family memories, to the tender and heartbreaking tasks of managing the impact of a loved one’s illness, the poems warmly invite the reader to enter and to be more than a witness. The writer beautifully crafts stories in tight lines that open into an entire world, requiring a mix of emotional heft, lightheartedness, and grace. It was a pleasure to read these poems.

Trapeta Mayson

2023 Celebrity Judge

Poets Laureate

2023 Jennifer Burkholder