Applications for Westwood Youth Poet Laureate Open March 10th (UPDATED)

Thanks to Lynne Viti for contributing this news to Westwood Minute.

Westwood’s inaugural Poet Laureate, Lynne Viti and the Westwood Public Library have announced that applications for the position of the Town of Westwood Youth Poet Laureate will open on March 10, 2023 and continue until April 7, 2023. This is a newly created position, established on February 27 by the Westwood Select Board. The Youth Poet Laureate will work in harmony with Lynne Viti, the town’s inaugural Poet Laureate, to promote and celebrate poetry in the Westwood community.

The position of Youth Poet Laureate is largely ceremonial. The Youth Poet Laureate will have the opportunity to bring poetry to citizens of Westwood at all levels, from the very young to elders. The successful candidate must have had some experience writing poetry and a desire to write and share even more poetry, during the year-long term. Students currently in eighth through eleventh grade who have resided in Westwood for at least one year are eligible to apply. Students who are not residents of Westwood but attend school in Westwood are eligible to apply if they are currently in eighth through eleventh grade at a school in Westwood.

Working in collaboration with the town’s Poet Laureate, the Youth Poet Laureate will celebrate the Westwood community by reading their original poems at community occasions such as Westwood Day, Founding Day and other government holidays, and at library and school poetry programs, including the town-wide poetry reading for National Poetry Month and the Westwood High School poetry slam. Poems by the Youth Poet Laureate will be posted on the town library’s website, and in posters in the main library and the Islington Branch Library. The Youth Poet Laureate may also represent the town of Westwood at literary events outside the town and at Youth Poet Laureate competitions in New England and nationally.

The one year term of the Youth Poet Laureate will begin in May 2023 and run through May, 2024. The deadline for applying is midnight, Friday, April 7, 2023. No late applications will be considered. Further information about eligibility and details on how to apply can be found on the Town of Westwood website at https://www.townhall.westwood.ma.us/departments/library/poet-laureate.

Updated 3/10/2023. Additional information regarding the eligibility of non-resident Westwood students to apply for the position has been added.