The Laureate Project

Hi everyone,

A few months ago I was contacted by MATT HOISCH, an award-winning writer and broadcast journalist who graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. from Harvard University and added graduate studies at the University of Cambridge. His radio and television work have been featured on NPR and PBS stations across the U.S. He has two Emmy Awards.

Matt’s newest work he calls The Laureate Project. He says, “Most states in the U.S. have a poet laureate or a similar position. The ubiquity of this role is worth pausing to contemplate. Somehow, a significant majority of American states—regardless of location, population size, or political leaning—have decided it is worth devoting publicly funded time and resources toward selecting and supporting government-appointed authors…At a time of seemingly bottomless polarization and bitterness in so many corners of American life, what can we learn from these bards? What would it feel like to take a tour of this sprawling country via the eyes, ears, and sensibilities of its publicly-sanctioned poets? This series of audio collages is an attempt to do that. To stay up to date on the Laureate Project, subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or SoundCloud and follow me on Substack.”

Matt interviewed me at length by phone and I felt good about how it went. He is now publishing the results of his talks online. So far they have included the poets laureate of Alabama, Arkansas, California, Louisiana, and Missouri. If you’d like to know more about Matt, here is a link to his website. https://www.hoisch.com/ . If you would like to hear his interview with me, click here. https://hoisch.substack.com/p/missouri-david-l-harrison and click the arrow on the right just above my picture. If you’d like to subscribe to the series and support Matt’s work, there’s information about how to do that. My thanks to Matt Hoisch for his ambitious project and outstanding work.