Youth Poet Laureate is a joint program of Teens with a Purpose, Hampton Roads Youth Poets, and in partnership with Urban Word, supported by PEN Center USA and the Academy of American Poets. The Norfolk Youth Poet Laureate program aims to identify young writers and leaders who are committed to civic and community engagement, poetry and performance, and leadership and education across Hampton Roads. In 2016, the program expanded to include all of the Hampton Roads cities. Teens with a Purpose is accepting submissions from young poets, rappers, leaders and activists ages 14-19 from across Hampton Roads and Southeastern Virginia who are interested in representing the region as the Hampton Roads Youth Poet Laureate.
Teens With a Purpose (TWP) launched the inaugural Virginia Youth Poet Laureate Program in 2023. The pilot program engaged Title 1 High School students throughout the State of Virginia. TWP has the support and encouragement of Virginia House of Delegate Jackie Glass; Communities In Schools Hampton Roads Dr. Hope Sinclair; Virginia Poetry Out Loud program Casey Polcznski; Norfolk Deputy city Manager LaVoris Pace, with guidance and resources from the National Youth Poet Laureate Program and funding from Virginia Humanities.
The Virginia Youth Poet Laureate Program seeks to identify young writers who are committed to civic and community engagement, performance poetry, leadership, and education across the state of Virginia.
NATIONAL YOUTH POET LAUREATE FOUNDER ANNOUNCES VYPL
At the invitation of Mr. Michael Cirelli, CEO of Urban Word and Founder of the National Youth Poet Laureate Program, announced the Virginia Statewide YPL program.
“As we grow the program, that once was a local program in New York City to one that was serving dozens and dozens of cities across the country, we are now moving to a model that will offer state titles for every state in the country. We are going to pilot that program with the leadership of TWP. Next year we will have the first Virginia Youth Poet Laureate Program in partnership with the incredible leadership of Deirdre Love and TWP’.
This program has been funded in part by a grant from Virginia Humanities
FORMER HAMPTON ROADS YOUTH POET LAUREATES
-
- Raven Bland, Norfolk YPL 2015
-
- Dayana Lee 2016 Hampton Roads Youth Poet Laureate
-
- Donovan Pollock 2017 Hampton Roads Youth Poet Laureate
-
- Devon “Imagine” Carter 2018 Hampton Roads Youth Poet Laureate
-
- Reed Williams, 2021 Hampton Roads Youth Poet Laureate
-
- Salma Amrou, 2022 Hampton Roads Youth Poet Laureate
-
- Ayana Askew, 2022 Hampton Roads Youth Poet Laureate
This program has been funded in part by a grant from Virginia Humanities
