Nominations Open For The 2023 Peterborough Poet Laureate

Nominations are now open for the 2023 Peterborough Poet Laureate Program, announces the Electric City Cultural Council (EC3).

Photo courtesy of EC3.

The Peterborough Poet Laureate is a position that has been established to recognize the achievements of professional poets, both in print/page and spoken word, in Peterborough and Peterborough County.

The poet laureate acts as a community advocate for poetry, spoken word and the arts in general, composing works to be presented at City Council meetings and other Peterborough events. The poet laureate receives an honourarium of $2,000.

The program was launched as a pilot in 2021. Curve Lake spoken word artist Sarah Lewis was named as Peterborough’s first-ever poet laureate. Following the success of the pilot, Peterborough’s City Council approved the Peterborough Poet Laureate as a permanent program.

"The arts are one of the key components to what makes a city vibrant and lively. Humans create art, music and poetry to protest, to disrupt and to express their love, passions and the things we care about in this life. Not to mention that the arts have played a vital role in all thriving cultures and societies across the globe,” said Lewis.

Nominations are being accepted until Dec. 16 and will be assessed by a panel of individuals in the poetry and spoken word community, a City representative and local citizens.

The Poet Laureate Program guidelines and nomination form can be found here.

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