Rebecca Meredith named first Redmond Poet Laureate

At Tuesday’s Redmond City Council meeting, the council approved the appointment of Rebecca Meredith as the Redmond Poet Laureate for the period of Jan. 1, 2010 to Dec. 31, 2011. Meredith was recommended to the council by the Redmond Arts Commission.

After the council established a Poet Laureate position, the arts commission sent an open call to poets to apply for the position. Three poets were selected and interviewed by a committee consisting of arts commissioners Tom Flynn, Eva Moon, and Jill Krusinski; the managing director of the Redmond Regional Library, Christine Livingston; and Samuel Green, Washington State Poet Laureate. The committee submitted their recommendation of Meredith to the arts commission, who supported it unanimously.

Meredith is the first Redmond Poet Laureate, a position established to promote the literary arts through workshops, public readings and special events throughout the city.

“During my years as coordinator and president of Redmond Association of Spokenword, I found great pleasure in finding venues for those who love poetry to hone their own craft, take the risk of reading it aloud in the encouraging atmosphere we worked to create and to publish their writing,” Meredith commented. “As Poet Laureate, I will promote the extension of those venues as well as help design a program where I could not only teach poetry, but mentor others to teach as well.”

Organizations and poets interested in workshops and public events with the Poet Laureate should contact rac@redmond.gov.