Friends of the Durango Public Library

The Durango Poet Laureate acts as a representative of the poetic arts.

The Poet Laureate and the Rising Poet Laureate serve three-year terms, commenced in January 2024. They will be a constant presence at various community events, sharing their writing with the public. The laureates will recite original poetry, attend various events and community gatherings, create poetry that reflects our unique past and present, and further Durango’s creative economy through active engagement with the community. Additionally, you can look forward to a new poetry column in "The Telegraph" newspaper and captivating poetry installations on public buses, all designed to bring the magic of poetry to everyday life.

The Durango Poet Laureate Program will celebrate poetry and give a platform to diverse poets in Durango. Funds will be used to give stipends to a Poet Laureate and Youth Poet Laureate for a three-year project duration, and cover administration costs.

CongratULATIONS to the 2024 Poet Laureates

Esther is a distinguished poet who has lived in the Durango area since 1997 and has two single-volume poetry books published by the University of Arizona Press, one of which won the American Book Award in 2000.

Zoe is a senior at Durango High School who has published poetry in the Cambridge Hall of Poetry Magazine, the Durango High School newspaper. She is an Everypedal bike coach, a member of troupe 1096, a link commissioner, and a yearbook editor. She spends most of her time doing an extraneous amount of homework and dreaming about being a poet in New York City.

The Friends of the Durango Public Library are an association of persons interested in books and libraries, focusing public attention on library services, facilities, and needs, accepting donations of books, desirable collections, endowments, bequests, and money, and engaging in fundraising activities on behalf of the library.