Heid E. Erdrich, Minneapolis poet laureate, and Jean Prokott, poet laureate of Rochester, Minn., will each receive $50,000 as two of 22 Poet Laureate Fellows, awarded by the Academy of American Poets.
The Academy announced Tuesday that it is awarding a combined total of $1.1 million to Fellows in states, counties and cities to lead public poetry programs in their communities. “Poems bridge distances between people,” Ricardo Maldonado, Academy president and executive director, said in a news release announcing the awards.
“I am excited to celebrate the work of our Poet Laureate Fellows across the country, elevating civil discourse and reminding us of the true possibility of a shared future.” Erdrich’s project, Poetry Service Announcement (PoeSA) connects the peoples of Minneapolis/Bde Ota Othunjwe, the Dakota homeland. Erdrich will commission poems from and convene youth and emerging and established poets, culminating in a public reading and launch of PoeSA online.
PoeSA will also feature poets who are Native American, BIPOC, refugees of genocide, those experiencing the city’s housing crisis, and those who are justice-impacted. Erdrich has written seven poetry collections, including “Little Big Bully,” a National Poetry Series winner. Her honors include two Minnesota Book Awards, the Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry and a National Artists Fellowship from the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation.
An interdisciplinary poet, curator, and longtime c.