Poets have long used their pens to capture important moments, encapsulate the strongest emotions, and offer their audience new perspectives. Some poets are appointed—for their towns, their counties, their states, and even the nation—as laureates, whose roles are to write and promote poetry as well as serve their community as advocates, connectors, and innovators.

Since 2008, the National Youth Poet Laureate program, a project of Urban Word, has expanded the notion of a poet laureate beyond the idea of an accomplished adult writer. The program, now present in more than seventy cities, states, and counties, celebrates top poets between the ages of thirteen and nineteen who are, as their mission statement reads, “committed to artistic excellence, civic engagement, and social impact.”

Communities across the country are naming youth poet laureates , and with their appointment comes the responsibility—and joy—of being a youth leader for their one- or two-year term. During the 2025 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, I sat down with five inaugural poet laureates who were invited as part of the Youth and the Future of Culture program to learn how they’re shaping their positions.

Harmony Devoe
Vermont State

Harmony Devoe’s love for poetry is a family tradition: her grandfather wrote poetry for himself, her mother followed in his footsteps, and Devoe has since taken up the mantle under her mother’s mentorship. She views her poetry as political and identity-based, given her Filipino, Indigenous Nipmuc, and European heritage, and an extension of her civic engagement work, which includes being the Vermont State Youth Council chair and a member of the Vermont Youth Lobby Club.

“Being a poet has allowed me to express feelings and concerns about the world in a way that people are inclined to listen to and care about,” Devoe said. “I find more people tend to be more apt to listen to and enjoy poetry or a song about an important issue than a speech or news article, which makes me feel that creative mediums like poetry are a key way to share knowledge and information and inspire hope and action.”

Poetry also gives Devoe a sense of freedom and understanding that she feels others should experience. “If poetry was taught in a way [that highlights] the freedom and possibility this form allows, it may foster a love for writing in more youth, which for the world will be fundamental for communication and expression, knowledge preservation, and societal development, and enjoyment of the literary arts,” she said.

For Devoe, being the inaugural youth poet laureate for her state signals her wish becoming a reality. “The fact that [Vermont] decided to start a youth poet laureate program feels like they’re really taking in the more intergenerational part of writing and opening up the writing community,” she said. “Being provided a platform that allows for all ages to listen to and learn from a youth opens up the opportunity for the state to see issues and their community through the lens of an identity that is not as widely heard from in my state’s culture.”

Emily Hsu
Edison, New Jersey

 Emily Hsu is a Taiwanese American artist and poet who discovered her love of storytelling at a young age. Mandarin is her first language, so she found herself at English reading levels behind her classmates with an unsupportive teacher and a tutor who would, in the third grade, only give her Amelia Bedelia books. She decided to pick up Harry Potter, and when she began to read, she understood every word. That moment both sparked and cemented her love of storytelling.

In eighth grade, she joined a slam poetry club on a whim, and that set her on a course toward poetry workshops and, eventually, becoming Edison’s poet laureate.

Hsu’s small town doesn’t have many outlets for poetry, but that’s something she hopes her inaugural position will change. “I didn’t realize that many people in my own town were interested in poetry because I never heard about that, so I just hope that this [poet laureate] program, they’ll hear about it when they grow up,” she said. “Being able to be the first one to start it and allow people to apply—I think it makes a difference.”

While her poetry is primarily in English, Hsu has started to include Mandarin, which she notes is foundational in establishing her connection between cultures. In one poem, she included types of foods, and this made her consider: does it matter what the audience can understand? “A lot of people would be like, ‘You shouldn’t think about what the audience is thinking about,’ but the justice in your poetry is if the audience can understand it,” she explained. “If your audience can’t understand what you’re saying, then there’s not much depth in that poetry.”

Poetry should also never be considered as “just writing,” Hsu said. “Poetry is so connective—it’s a type of art, and it’s connected with dance, with theatre, with voice, visual arts, photography.” That realization is inspiring, she expressed, and she hopes others can engage with poetry in the same way.

Tara Prakash
Maryland State

Tara Prakash, founder of the educational nonprofit Write to Right, became Maryland’s inaugural youth poet laureate in 2024 after holding the position for Montgomery County. Her poetry focuses on memory, aging, and time. Being a poet laureate means having a platform for her to help others be vulnerable, make writing accessible, and explore questions.

“Poetry is a really unique way of communicating, and it can do a lot that other means of communication just can’t—getting through to people, resonating with them, conveying something that you’re feeling to someone else,” Prakash said. “You’re exploring a question or something you’re wondering about with other people, and oftentimes you’re trying to figure something out through a poem and you’re sharing that exploration or journey with the audience.”

Because Prakash values this openness, teaching and promoting access have become lifelong goals , especially since she believes many young people have a narrow definition of what creative writing is and can be. “It’s so flexible; there are no parameters,” she said. “I feel a lot of [youth] think of writing as just something you do for an English class. It’s so much broader than that. It is a really powerful tool.”

Prakash emphasizes that trust and community are two important aspects of using poetry for connection and social justice. “Creating those spaces of trust and dialogue is a really big aspect of using poetry to communicate because, if you don’t feel comfortable sharing your work, there’s a really limited amount you can do with it,” she explained. “Having [a] community has been so essential in helping me broaden my sharing and be willing to use it to advocate.”

When she’s done with her term as poet laureate, Prakash hopes that the program and position that she’s cultivated will continue to bring others into poetry and support her community. “It’s my responsibility to create a title that’s robust, rewarding, and [serves] the local community,” she said. “[I’m] creating something that outlasts me, not something that, as soon as my tenure’s over, it dies out.”

Elani Spencer
Roanoke, Virginia

Elani Spencer is a Black, queer, disabled poet interning with the Roanoke Arts Commission to shape its youth poet laureate program for future laureates. Her poetry is a way for her to be open about her intersectionality and talk about stereotypes, biases, and how various identities are seen by society.

Because Spencer is originally from Rochester, New York, she expressed that holding the youth poet laureate position for Roanoke is even more humbling and meaningful. “This community is trusting [me] to represent them, and they’re literally putting their stories and their experiences in [my] hands,” she said. “Being the person to capture that within a poem and to be able to share that with the rest of the community, that has been so much fun for me.”

 Spencer noted that being a poet has started to shape her future goals, helping her discover her passion for arts administration, mentorship, and connecting with others. She said of performing, “Some [listeners] bow their heads to soak up every word, others nod and snap like every line hits home, and most lock eyes with me so it’s as if I’m talking directly to them. For just a few minutes, we are all connected in one space, and from this precious time together, a sense of belonging, understanding, and acceptance blooms.”

Her experiences have led her to believe that poetry is one of the best mediums for individual expression, and this is why more people, youth especially, should become involved. “Poetry offers a platform for you to amplify the movements and issues you care about,” Spencer said. “Now and since high school, poetry has helped me navigate hardships, process complicated feelings, and add my thoughts to the larger political conversation. It is extremely important that everyone has this kind of outlet.”

王潇/Evan Wang
National

Evan Wang sees himself as a poet, performer, and advocate, and he is the first man and East Asian American to hold the title of National Youth Poet Laureate. He values the intermingling of English and Mandarin in his poetry and strives to push the boundaries of what the medium can be.

“In this day and age, poetry can be used as a rallying cry, as a way to reach out to other art forms, and I think that’s so inspiring because we’re actively changing poetry,” Wang said.

This position, which allows him to spark change and thought, is one Wang cherishes deeply. According to him, there is no separation of work and daily life, verses and politics, and their words and everything else. “The appointment [as laureate] amplified my voice so I could speak through the silence to show young writers that there is opportunity and possibility within our local community, that here is a place for them to sing their truth,” he said.

Wang was raised by his Chinese immigrant grandparents for nine years, so it’s important to him that his writing reaches both English- and Mandarin-speaking audiences. “I love to include Mandarin within my poetry so immigrants, especially people who speak primarily Mandarin, can still find a piece of themselves within my writing,” he explained. “The Chinese government often censors contemporary Chinese poetry. I want to bring that sense of culture to America because poetry has such a longstanding history in China.”

Poetry is intimate and representative of people and culture, Wang notes, and it’s his hope that he can help others see it that way. “I want to be able to represent [my culture] in all the ways I can so that other young writers, writers younger than me, can see that and think, ‘Oh, I have to represent my culture like that as well,’” he said.

Wang summed up what I believe all the poet laureates feel about being young, inaugural poet laureates focused on connecting people and sparking change: “Let our words be a reminder that the creative spirit cannot be restrained. It is one of the most effective and efficient ways to engage with democracy, and it lets us sing through the muzzle. I hope people hear us and carry with them our words—our words, full of so much heart and sight.”

Shauri Thacker is a Folklife Storytellers Workshop intern focusing on writing and editing. She graduated from Southern Utah University last year with her bachelor’s degree in English, creative writing emphasis.