CHaSS Writing Center Director Named Logan's First Poet Laureate

April is National Poetry Month, a fitting time for officials from the City of Logan to designate Utah State University College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHaSS) Writing Center Director Star Coulbrooke as the town’s first poet laureate.

Logan Mayor H. Craig Petersen named Coulbrooke the winner of a public competition earlier this month. The announcement followed an invitation for city residents to vie for the appointment as poet laureate in a competition that ended March 2.

“Being chosen as the Logan City poet laureate is the achievement of a lifetime for me,” Coulbrooke said, “a thrill and an honor.”

Coulbrooke has devoted much of her life to studying and writing poetry that her mentor, Dr. Kenneth W. Brewer, the late former poet laureate of Utah praised for the way it, “incorporates stories of the local culture and illuminates everyday occurrences and feelings that make up the life of ‘ordinary’ people.”

Logan joins a growing number of cities across the nation that have appointed poet laureates. Poets laureate generally work to give voice to what it means to be a resident of a certain community.

The nation’s poet laureate is appointed by the Librarian of Congress and is officially known as the Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. Pulitzer Prize winning poet Charles Wright currently holds that honor.

Although a national poet laureate is a tradition that dates back to the 1930s, most states (all but six) now also appoint poets laureate. During the past decade, more and more localities also have appointed poets laureate. In fact, at least 35 large cities and many smaller municipalities now have an official poet laureate.

According to city information, Logan’s poet laureate will, “act as an ambassador and advocate for the arts.”

In her new position, Coulbrooke also will be expected to visit schools, hold public readings and write at least one commemorative poem about Logan over the course of her two-year term as laureate.

For Coulbrooke, who has lived in Logan for 24 years and holds a master’s degree in poetry from USU, the requirements of her new position are an exciting challenge.

“Logan has a rich and varied literary history, with many local writers and writing groups,” Coulbrooke said. “It will be a pleasure to take poetry out into the community to promote the reading, writing and oral presentation of poetry for all ages and lifestyles.”

Coulbrooke has long been interested in supporting the local literary scene and is one of the founders of Helicon West, the local open reading series that invites members of both the campus and city communities to share their creative literary efforts through bi-monthly readings at the Logan City Library.

Coulbrooke will be officially sworn in as poet laureate May 15, not coincidentally only two weeks before the 102nd birthday of Logan’s most famous poet, May Swenson.

Born May 28, 1913, in Logan, raised in town and a graduate of Utah State University, Swenson became one of the most revered poets of the 20th century.

She published several poetry collections including A Cage of Spines, Half Sun Half Sleep and In Other Words, served as poet-in-residence at several universities in the United States and Canada, including Bryn Mawr, Purdue University and Utah State and her many honors included fellowships from the Guggenheim, Ford, Rockefeller and MacArthur foundations and an Award in Literature from the National Institute of Arts and Letters. Swenson died in 1989 and is buried in Logan.

“Having a local poet laureate allows the humanities to get out into the public, so it’s a nice bridge between college and community,” said Jeannie Thomas, head of the CHaSS English Department. “Given Star’s facility with both poetry and people in the community, you couldn’t have picked a better person to be Logan’s first poet laureate.”

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Writer and contact: Kristin Middaugh, CHaSS communications director, (435) 797-0267, kristin.middaugh@usu.edu