In an official ceremony at Dallas City Hall on Wednesday, April 10, Mayor Eric Johnson appointed Dr. Mag Gabbert as the city’s second Poet Laureate. The Hockaday School student, Naisha Randhar, was also named the Youth Poet Laureate. These two laureates will represent the city’s commitment to the literary arts for the next one or two years respectively.
Dr. Gabbert, a Dallas native and Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts alumnus, will serve a two-year term. During this period, she will be the ambassador of the literary arts for Dallas, presenting her original poems at schools and community events. She will also develop outreach initiatives to inspire the Dallas community to appreciate and engage with the written and spoken word. Gabbert will regularly hold office hours at the Central Library as an artist-in-residence.
Photo courtesy of Mag Gabbert via X.
Gabbert is the accomplished author of a full-length book of poetry, SEX DEPRESSION ANIMALS, published last year and winner of the 2021 Charles B. Wheeler Prize in Poetry. She has received various awards and fellowships and her work has been published in more than 50 magazines and journals. Gabbert is currently a clinical assistant professor at SMU and holds an MFA from the University of California Riverside and a Ph.D. in English from Texas Tech.
Naisha Randhar, the newly appointed Youth Poet Laureate, will hold the title for one year. A 9th-grade student at The Hockaday School, she participates in debate, Model UN, and track, and volunteers as a tutor at Joe May Elementary. Randhar, a voracious reader and writer, self-published a fantasy novel at the age of twelve.
Photo courtesy of Isuu.
The Dallas poet laureate program was launched in June 2021 by the Dallas Public Library, the Office of Arts & Culture, and Deep Vellum to recognize exemplary poetry and the poet’s role in sharing poetry with the community. Funded by Friends of Dallas Public Library Inc., the Joe M. and Doris R. Dealey Family Foundation, Office of Arts & Culture, and Deep Vellum, the program serves to inspire the Dallas community to engage with poetry.
For more information on the Poet Laureate program, visit the Dallas Public Library’s website. The library operates the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library and 29 branch locations, serving more than 9 million visitors each year. A library card is free for any Dallas resident. Details on free programs and services available at Dallas Public Library can be found at www.dallaslibrary.org.
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This article first appeared on Good Info News Wire and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
This story was generated in part by AI and edited by The Courier Dallas staff.
