The Academy of American Poets is the biggest supporter of the work that poets laureate do. My San Mateo County Youth Ecopoetry Project (2021-22) was fully funded by them and allowed me to work with and mentor some of the Bay Area’s finest young poets:
CASSANDRA BOUSQUET (2024 Birss Fellow, Roger Williams University’s Poetry Walk 2024 featured poet, 2024 Poetry Lighthouse Prize winner); EVA CHEN (2023 California Arts Council Fellow, 2022 San Mateo County Young Woman of Excellence Honoree, 2022 Burlingame Poet-in-Residence); CHLOE CHOU (2024 California Youth Poet Laureate, 2022 Daly City Youth Poet Laureate, 2022 South San Francisco Youth Poet-in-Residence); LAUREN LIN (2023 San Mateo County Youth Poetry Ambassador & Inaugural Burlingame-Hillsborough Youth Poet Laureate); JESCENT MARCELINO (Jefferson High School’s official centennial poet); KEIKI LENI WARD (2024 Pacific Islander Community Partnership (PICP)’s Inaugural Pasefika Rise Environmental Justice Scholarship Honoree). More than the accolades, it’s about what poetry has come to mean for these young poets, and how they have grounded themselves in words as they navigate the world.
Please support the Academy of American Poets‘ signature reading and fundraiser, Poetry & the Creative Mind—poetry’s biggest night in and closing celebration of National Poetry Month. Hosted by Jericho Brown, this year’s featured readers include Carrie Coon, Paul Giamatti, and Meryl Streep among others. Program details.
Aileen Cassinetto 