City of Norwich
New London is only city in area with honorary post
is considering creating the position of honorary poet laureate.
Norwich — Local poets, sharpen your pencils.
Norwich soon could become the second southeastern Connecticut city to create an honorary poet laureate position to add creative touches to local events and solemn ceremonies and to reach out to work with students to get their creative juices flowing.
The Southeastern Connecticut Cultural Coalition is advocating that all local cities and towns create a poet laureate position. The Norwich Creates Collaborative, a group of 21 local businesses, civic and arts organizations and individuals, agreed to take on the project.
The coalition will ask the City Council on Tuesday to support a resolution sponsored by Mayor Deberey Hinchey, a member of the cultural coalition, to create an honorary poet laureate position, with the coalition offering to establish a selection committee with representatives from local schools and Otis Library to review applications.
The council meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall.
The five-member committee would have representatives from the Norwich Creates Collaborative, Otis Library, Three Rivers Community College, Norwich Public Schools and Norwich Free Academy. The committee would make a recommendation to the City Council on the appointment.
Wendy Bury, executive director of the Southeastern Connecticut Cultural Coalition, said she hopes every town in the region appoints a poet laureate. There are eight municipal poet laureates in Connecticut thus far, but locally, only New London has created the post. New London appointed veteran local poet Rhonda M. Ward to the threeyear position of city poet laureate in April with a small stipend of $300 raised by contributions from community members and groups.
Carrie Dyer, chairwoman of Norwich Creates Collaborative, said the group used New London’s process as its template and hopes to solicit donations for a similar stipend.
Bury said while the poet laureate would not be paid by the city, the city should provide a space for the appointee and require that the poet laureate participate in key public events.
Hinchey, who said she is a “big fan of poetry,” envisioned the person taking part in frequent ceremonies held at City Hall plaza to mark holidays and major events, good and bad. The annual Martin Luther King Day march in January starts at the plaza, and in recent years, vigils in response to national tragedies have been held there.
She also wants the poet laureate to work with students to get them excited about writing and poetry.
“I just think it’s a really neat thing,” Hinchey said. “I was so excited about it, and everybody I talked to thinks it’s a great idea.”