State Poets Laureate

Hard to believe our founding fathers did not mandate in the U.S. Constitution that every state must have a state poet laureate. Oh well. Here’s a breakdown of the LOC’s list of current state laureates.


State Poets Laureate
Alabama - Sue Walker
Alaska - Nancy Lord
Arkansas - Peggy Vining
California - Carol Muske-Dukes
Colorado - David Mason
Connecticut - Dick Allen
Delaware - JoAnn Balingit
District of Columbia - Dolores Kendrick
Florida - Edmund Skellings
Georgia - David Bottoms
Idaho - Anthony "Tony" Doerr
Illinois - Kevin Stein
Indiana - Unofficial: Carol Ogdon Floyd, Official: Karen Kovacik
Iowa - Mary Swander
Kansas - Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg
Kentucky - Gurney Norman
Louisiana - Julie Kane
Maine - Wesley McNair
Maryland - Stanley Plumly
Minnesota - Robert Bly
Missouri - David Clewell
Montana - Henry Real Bird
New Hampshire - Walter E. Butts
New York - Jean Valentine
North Carolina - Cathy Smith Bowers
North Dakota - Larry Woiwode
Oklahoma - Jim Barnes
Oregon - Paulann Petersen
Rhode Island - Lisa Starr
South Carolina - Marjory Heath Wentworth
South Dakota - David Allan Evans
Tennessee - Margaret Britton Vaughn
Texas - David M. Parsons
Utah - Katharine Coles
Vermont - Ruth Stone
Virginia - Kelly Cherry
West Virginia - Irene McKinney
Wisconsin - Bruce Dethlefsen
Wyoming - David Romtvedt

States with vacant laureate positions
Mississippi
Nebraska
Nevada
Washington

States with no laureate position
Arizona
Hawaii
Massachusetts
Michigan
New Jersey
New Mexico
Ohio
Pennsylvania


If you live in a state with a poet laureate, what does he/she do?

It’s a shame that my state, Massachusetts—a state with a large college/university population—does not have a state poet laureate. And why does Indiana have an official and an unofficial laureate?

Not a diverse list of poets, unfortunately.

If you're in a state with a vacant position, fill it! If your state doesn't have a position, that's an opportunity to help define it. This is job creation, baby!