PRESS RELEASE - City Arts Commission Announces Search For Next Poet Laureate

The two-year ceremonial and educational role promotes literary arts and our creative community.

PORT TOWNSEND 7/01/2025 – The City is now accepting applications and nominations for poets interested in the role of 2026-2027 Poet Laureate. The Poet Laureate serves the community in ceremonial, educational, and inspirational ways, infusing literary arts into civic dialogue. The program was launched in 2023 to honor our vibrant creative community, promote the literary arts in Port Townsend, and celebrate the written word.

The 2026-2027 Poet Laureate will begin their term in January of 2026. During the two-year appointment, they will work in partnership with the Port Townsend Public Library and the Port Townsend Arts Commission (PTAC) to bring poetry to the community through events, projects, and public discourse.

The application is open now through August 31. To be eligible, poets must be 18 years of age and reside in Port Townsend or East Jefferson County. The position comes with a $1,500 per year honorarium as well as project support for programs. The appointment of the Poet Laureate will be based on a recommendation from a five-person selection panel, including a PTAC member, City Council Liaison to PTAC, Ben Thomas, and three literary artists: outgoing Port Townsend Poet Laureate Conner Bouchard-Roberts, local poet Amber Huntsman, and Clallam County Poet Laureate Nellie Bridge. The panel will make their selection in September and an announcement of the next Poet Laureate will be made in October.

Complete guidelines and the application portal can be found at: cityofpt.us/bc-ac/page/cityport-townsend-poet-laureate.

The City’s inaugural Poet Laureate, Conner Bouchard-Roberts, will complete his two-year term in December 2025. As the first poet in this role, Bouchard-Roberts has organized poetry readings, held Public Library programs bringing multiple literary artists together around a theme, has read poems at City Council meetings, and has published his work in the City magazine, with an example provided below.

Bouchard-Roberts is a local poet and publisher who collaborates with many other local literary artists. Of the opportunity, he said: “The position of Poet Laureate is about adding the language and depth of poetry to civic space. There's a certain quality of language that can come from putting poetry in a place where it doesn't usually find its way because it's often in books. Language is exciting to play with.”

Katy Goodman, Arts and Culture Coordinator for the City, is looking forward to working closely with the new Poet Laureate. “The inaugural Poet Laureate Program and Conner’s inclusive approach showed how poetry brings understanding and beauty to our community. It is exciting to see this program take on its next chapter at a time when the City is bolstering its work in the arts.”

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To learn more, apply, or nominate a poet, visit: https://cityofpt.us/bc-ac/page/city-porttownsend-poet-laureate

A Victorian Seaport and Arts Community

Hard to say

where memory and

story of memory

lay along the shore

this is of course

the gull’s call and echo

down streets

down bluffs

the stone’s weight

of time and present

in one hand,

in the other, bills

eroding cliffs 

rising sea

a long walk

to think this over

this all got going

as waves, wind, and roots—

long before she was born

Victoria’s hands were sea-water

walking the valley

again, lost names

accruing silt

and translations

forward and back

in time

Water Street

holds its name

Conner Bouchard-Roberts