The Poet Laureate plays a crucial role in keeping the arts accessible and vital to all age groups, and acts as a statewide emissary for poetry and creativity.
Brenda Cárdenas was invited by Governor Evers to be the Invocation Speaker at Wisconsin's 46th Annual "Tribute and Ceremony" honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr at the State Capitol Rotunda in Madison on January 19, 2026. She delivered a new poem on the theme "The Power of Unity."
To view a PBS Wisconsin video recording of the entire event...
The Wisconsin Poet Laureate Commission (WPLC) is thrilled to announce Brenda Cárdenas as the state Wisconsin Poet Laureate serving a three-year term from January 15, 2025 through December 31, 2027.
Brenda Cárdenas was born and raised in Milwaukee and has also lived in Beaver Dam, Appleton, Menasha, and Fond du Lac. She obtained her...
Outgoing interview: Nicholas Gulig reflects on tenure as Wisconsin's Poet Laureate, altars, Niedecker, a new journal, indebtedness, and the language of his friends.
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Nick Gulig has won the 2024 Colorado Prize for Poetry for his new book The Other Altar, to be published by the Center for Literary Publishing and distributed by The University Press of Colorado.
Nick's documentary on his trip around Lake Superior has turned into a documentary film series that tracks his life as...
The Wisconsin Poet Laureate Commission is thrilled to announce Nicholas Gulig as the new state poet laureate of Wisconsin. Nicholas will serve his two-year term beginning January 14, 2023 and serve until the end of 2024. A Thai-American poet from Wisconsin. Nicholas lives in Fort Atkinson and works as an Associate Professor at the...
The Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters, in partnership with the Wisconsin Poet Laureate Commission, is pleased to announce the call for applications and nominations for the Wisconsin Poet Laureate for 2023–2024. Beginning August 25, 2022, the Wisconsin Poet Laureate Commission will accept applications from individual poets who...
Reviews:
Milwaukee Journal Sentinal--Jim Higgins: ...
https://bayviewcompass.com/favorite-poem-i-too/
My Country Tis of Thee September 2, 2020 BayView Compass
Interviewing people about their favorite poems, my project as Wisconsin Poet...
https://bayviewcompass.com/favorite-poem-now-sheba-sings-the-song/
The following statement was passed unanimously by the Wisconsin Poet Laureate Commission:
The rise in angry rhetoric against immigrants, particularly immigrants of color, the policy of child separation, and the treatment of children in detention camps...
Margaret Rozga writes frequently about favorite poems for the BayView Compass. Read some of her columns here:
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Interview with KimPoem and commentary by Kim
http://www.wisconsinacademy.org/magazine/catching-kimberly-blaeser
Spring 2016 article on Kim in Wisconsin People and Ideas. Thanks to everyone at the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters.
http://wisconsingazette.com/2016/03/08/wisconsins-poet-laureate-taps-native-american-roots/
Thanks to Michael Muckian of the Wisconsin Gazette.
Anne Strainchamps remembers Ellen Kort at Wisconsin Public Radio.
Wisconsin's first Poet Laureate, Ellen Kort, is remembered with gratitude.
Senior Writer Molly Snyder interviews Kim for OnMilwaukee.
Gayle Worland features the story in the Wisconsin State Journal Sunday edition.
Featured on the Wisconsin Humanities Blog, Humanities Booyah!, a 2010 essay by Kim with a new preface as she accepts her appointment as Poet Laureate.
Wisconsin's next poet laureate hopes to hear more poems in public places, saying that poetry “has a spiritual role to play” in our lives.Wisconsin Public Radio's Chick Quirmbach covers the story, featuring Kimberly's reading of "Family Tree" and "Manoominike-giizis."
Silena Milewski interviews Kim for Express Milwaukee.
Jim Higgins covers the story for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Featuring video of Kim's poem, "Refractions."