Our Blog
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 MoreIn-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 MoreGiving 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 MoreTransitions
March 24, 2023 - By Gwen Nell Westerman
Now that the days are becoming longer than the nights, the ravine behind my house is filled with the sounds of the open river and the songs of finches, chickadees, nuthatches, owls, and eagles.
Read MoreRage 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.
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