Trethewey to Serve a Second Term

Emory's Natasha Trethewey will be US Poet Laureate for another year

Natasha Trethewey

Kay Hinton

Natasha Trethewey, Robert W. Woodruff Professor of English and Creative Writing and director of Emory’s Creative Writing Program, has been appointed to serve a second term as the nineteenth US poet laureate consultant in poetry by Librarian of Congress James H. Billington.

Trethewey follows previous multiyear laureates such as Kay Ryan, Ted Kooser, and Billy Collins. During her second term, beginning in September, she will undertake a signature project: a regular feature on the PBS NewsHour Poetry Series. Trethewey will join NewsHour Senior Correspondent Jeffrey Brown for on-location reports in cities across the US to explore societal issues through the lens of poetry.

Trethewey’s first term was noteworthy for her “Office Hours,” during which she met with the general public in the Library’s Poetry Room—harking back to a tradition established by her predecessors in the post from 1937 to 1986. For her second year, Trethewey will move beyond the capital to seek out the many ways poetry lives in communities across the country.

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