The White River Valley Herald

Vermont Poet Laureate Receives National Honor


The American Academy of Poets announced today that Mary Ruefle, Poet Laureate of Vermont, has been selected as a national 2020 Poets Laureate Fellow by the Academy.

Ruefle is one of 23 state or local Poets Laureate nationwide to be honored.

Poets Laureate Fellows receive a $50,000 award in recognition of their literary merit and to support their civic poetry programs.

For Ruefle’s project, in collaboration with the Vermont Arts Council, Ruefle will personally mail out handwritten poems written by other poets to 1,000 residents of Vermont, randomly chosen from the phone book.

“I was thrilled to receive the grant, both for myself and the state. And the timing couldn’t have been better—I support myself by traveling around the country and giving readings and talks and my entire 2020 itinerary was canceled,” Ruefle said.

“I actually began mailing out poems locally before I got the grant, but receiving the grant will enable me to reach my goal of 1,000 poems,” she continued. “I know most will end up in the trash, but I hope 10% of them will reach people whose day will be made a little brighter, richer, deeper.”

For Mary Ruefle’s full statement upon receiving the award, visit vermontartscouncil.org/blog/mary-ruefle-academy fellow

A writer of worldwide recognition, Ruefle is the author of many books of poetry, including “Dunce” (Wave Books, 2019), finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize and long-listed for the 2019 National Book Award in Poetry. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and a Whiting Award. Ruefle was named the Poet Laureate of Vermont in October 2016. She lives in Bennington and teaches at Vermont College.

Through its Poets Laureate Fellowship program, the Academy has become the largest financial supporter of poets in the nation. The fellowship program is made possible by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which, in January of this year, awarded the Academy $4.5 million.