Louisiana State University Press poet Jane Gentry has been named Kentucky’s next Poet Laureate. She will be inducted in a ceremony on April 20 at the Kentucky State Capital.
In 1990, new legislation was enacted in Kentucky to provide for the appointment of the Kentucky Poet Laureate by the governor for a two-year term. The Kentucky Poet Laureate is selected following a call for nominations coordinated by the Kentucky Arts Council. A nominee for this position must be a resident of Kentucky who has a long association with the commonwealth, and is the published author of a critically acclaimed body of work that is informed by living in Kentucky. A panel then reviews the nominations and submits its recommendation to the Governor.
During her tenure, Gentry will travel throughout Kentucky to promote the importance of writing and literature in the state.
Gentry is the author of the poetry collections A Garden in Kentucky (LSU Press, 1995), A Year in Kentucky: A Garland of Poems (2005), and Portrait of the Artist as a White Pig (LSU Press, 2006).
Four other LSU Press authors are current poets laureate in their home states: Brenda Marie Osbey (Louisiana), Marilyn Nelson (Connecticut), Kathryn Stripling Byer (North Carolina), and Al Young (California).