Poetry
Urban Grace is committed to supporting arts and artists of all genres within our city. The Soul of the City Poetry Competition which identifies the year’s Poet Laureate was created and funded by Urban Grace in a community partnership with the city of Tacoma. The program is now coordinated through the City of Tacoma’s Arts Commission. Tacoma is the first mid-sized municipality north of San Francisco and west of Denver to recognize its own poet laureate, and follows the example of San Francisco in basing its Poet Laureate in residence at one of the city’s congregations.
Why? Tacoma has a thriving arts community, as evidenced by our many museums, theaters, and rich calendar of arts events. Similarly, the city has a vibrant literary scene, with regular poetry readings hosted by groups such as the Puget Sound Poetry Connection and Speak Your Soul. Naming a Poet Laureate helps to focus attention on our existing literary talent by organizing and hosting public readings and to encourage new writers by visiting schools and community organizations.
2011-13 Tacoma Poet Laureate announced
The Tacoma Arts Commission selected Josie Emmons Turner as the 2011-2013 Poet Laureate for the City of Tacoma. The Tacoma Poet Laureate program was founded in 2008 by the Urban Grace Church as a way of focusing attention on Tacoma’s literary talent by organizing and hosting public readings and workshops in local schools and at community events.
Over the next two years, Emmons Turner will provide free poetry related workshops, readings at public events, participate in Art at Work: Tacoma Arts Month each November and will help produce the 2013 Tacoma Poet Laureate ceremony to announce the next Poet Laureate.
In conjunction with National Poetry Month, the Tacoma Arts Commission will host a poetry reading event at which Emmons Turner will officially be awarded the position. The free, public event will be held Thursday, April 28, from 7 – 8:30 p. m. at Bellaballs Studio in downtown Tacoma (747 S. Fawcett St.).
Emmons Turner’s poetry has been published in 20/20 Tacoma in Images and Verse, 2010 Floating Bridge Review Number 3, In Tahoma’s Shadow, California Quarterly, and Backstreet Review. She received her Masters of Fine Arts through the Rainier Writers Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University and her Bachelor of Arts from Seattle University. She has been a creative writing educator for five years, currently with Clover Park High School.
Information about the Tacoma Poet Laureate program, which transitioned to the City of Tacoma’s Arts Program in 2011, is available on the Tacoma Arts Commission website at http://www.tacomaculture.org/arts/PoetLaureate.asp.
2011-13 Tacoma Poet Laureate announced
The Tacoma Arts Commission selected Josie Emmons Turner as the 2011-2013 Poet Laureate for the City of Tacoma. The Tacoma Poet Laureate program was founded in 2008 by the Urban Grace Church as a way of focusing attention on Tacoma’s literary talent by organizing and hosting public readings and workshops in local schools and at community events.
Over the next two years, Emmons Turner will provide free poetry related workshops, readings at public events, participate in Art at Work: Tacoma Arts Month each November and will help produce the 2013 Tacoma Poet Laureate ceremony to announce the next Poet Laureate.
In conjunction with National Poetry Month, the Tacoma Arts Commission will host a poetry reading event at which Emmons Turner will officially be awarded the position. The free, public event will be held Thursday, April 28, from 7 – 8:30 p. m. at Bellaballs Studio in downtown Tacoma (747 S. Fawcett St.).
Emmons Turner’s poetry has been published in 20/20 Tacoma in Images and Verse, 2010 Floating Bridge Review Number 3, In Tahoma’s Shadow, California Quarterly, and Backstreet Review. She received her Masters of Fine Arts through the Rainier Writers Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University and her Bachelor of Arts from Seattle University. She has been a creative writing educator for five years, currently with Clover Park High School.
Information about the Tacoma Poet Laureate program, which transitioned to the City of Tacoma’s Arts Program in 2011, is available on the Tacoma Arts Commission website at http://www.tacomaculture.org/arts/PoetLaureate.asp.