“Rhythm and Revolution”: The America at 250 Poetry Project by Alayne Hopkins

September 5, 2025 - By Alayne Hopkins

Our country is approaching a significant milestone: the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Along with libraries, humanities, and historical organizations across the country, The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library has been thinking about what this anniversary means to our community today. In March 2024, the Minnesota…

Read More

Celebrating Junauda Petrus, Minneapolis’ Next Poet Laureate

February 6, 2025 - By Casey DeMarais

The appointment of Junauda Petrus as Minneapolis’ next Poet Laureate is a moment to celebrate. The City of Minneapolis’ Arts & Cultural Affairs Department and The Loft Literary Center deserve recognition for this outstanding selection. Junauda—a visionary writer, playwright, and multidimensional performance artist—follows in the footsteps of the remarkable Heid…

Read More

In-Na-Po Retreat

November 1, 2024 - By Annie Wenstrup

In June 2024, seventeen Indigenous poetry fellows from thirteen Native Nations gathered with distinguished Indigenous faculty at the Minnesota Humanities Center. The retreat launched our #LanguageBack initiative, a movement that supports poets working with their traditional language(s).

Read More

Giving Voice to the Latino Community Through Poetry

October 31, 2024 - By Lupe Castillo

Latinos continue to help fuel our economy and enrich our nation as entrepreneurs, athletes, artists, teachers, nurses, entertainers, scientists, public servants, and much more. Artists are critical in creating consciousness of interwoven Indigeneity, political and personal elevation of the LatinE/X experience. To add to our political power, think about this, every…

Read More

Transitions

March 24, 2023 - By Gwen Nell Westerman

Minnesota Poet Laureate Gwen Nell Westerman shares with us her thoughts on this transitional season and gives an insight into her writing process.

Read More

Rage and the Minnesota Poet Laureate

April 30, 2021 - By Athena Kildegaard

A few days ago a jury found Derek Chauvin guilty of killing George Floyd—a murder that feels simultaneously as if it happened yesterday and as if it happened years ago.

Read More