Minnesota Poet’s Laureate
Gwen Nell Westerman
About the Poet Laureate
The Poet Laureate of Minnesota promotes and encourages appreciation of and engagement with poetry. Through poetry, the Poet Laureate celebrates the state’s rich and vibrant cultural heritages, engages young people, and inspires all generations of poets and readers.
After receiving recommendations from Minnesota Humanities Center (MHC), the Governor must appoint a state Poet Laureate (Minnesota Statutes 2017 4.60). The person appointed as Poet Laureate continues to serve in this position until the Governor appoints a new Poet Laureate. In 2021, Governor Tim Walz appointed Gwen Nell Westerman Poet Laureate of Minnesota.
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About Gwen Nell Westerman
Gwen Nell Westerman is a poet, visual artist, and scholar. Her roots are deep in the landscape of the tallgrass prairie and reveal themselves in her art and writing. She is an enrolled citizen of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, and her father’s family is from the Heipa District. Her mother’s family is from the Flint District of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. Neither of her parents spoke English when they were sent as small children to boarding schools in Oklahoma and South Dakota. Singing and writing for as long as she can remember, Gwen understands from experience the important ways language and the land shape who we are.
Westerman’s roots are deep in the landscape of the tall grass prairie, and reveal themselves in her art and writing through the languages and traditions of her family, including Dakota and English. She has two poetry collections Songs, Blood Deep (2023) and Follow the Blackbirds (2013). Her poems are included in the permanent exhibit “Native Truths: Our Voices, Our Stories” at the Field Museum in Chicago, and have been published in Yellow Medicine Review (Fall 2022), When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry, edited by Joy Harjo (2020), POETRY (June 2018), and New Poets of Native Nations: 21 Poets for the 21st Century, edited by Heid E. Erdrich (2018).
From the Blog
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.
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Find upcoming events with Minnesota’s Poet Laureate.
Roles and Responsibilities
In her role as Poet Laureate of Minnesota, Westerman will:
- Promote and encourage appreciation of and engagement with poetry
- Engage marginalized voices in poetry
- Celebrate the state’s rich and vibrant cultural heritages
- Engage young people within and across lived experiences
- Inspire all generations of poets and readers
- Champion poetry and spoken word across the state
- Support children’s mental health and well-being and an inclusive state workplace
More Details
History of the Poet Laureate
MHC is named in state statute (Minnesota Statutes 2017 4.60) as the responsible organization to solicit nominations and applications for the Poet Laureate appointment and make recommendations to the Governor. After receiving recommendations from MHC, the Governor must appoint a state Poet Laureate and conduct appropriate ceremonies to honor the person appointed. The person appointed as Poet Laureate continues to serve in this position until the Governor appoints a new Poet Laureate.
Minnesota’s Poet Laureates
Poet Laureate/Year Appointed/Appointed By
Gwen Nell Westerman, 2021, Gov. Tim Walz
Joyce Sutphen, 2011, Gov. Mark Dayton
Robert Bly, 2008, Gov. Tim Pawlenty
Westerman’s new collection spans the seasons
Mankato Free Press, October 20, 2023
Reading Gwen Nell Westerman’s forthcoming collection of poetry, “Songs, Blood Deep,” is a rare pleasure. The poems dive into the depths of family, heritage and both the natural landscape and the historical Native American landscape of the Midwest.
“Winter Solstice” by Gwen Nell Westerman
For a few hours
once a year,
we are in alignment
moon earth sun
mind body soul
and can look back into the center
of our galaxy.
For a few hours
once a year,
we are the closest
to the center
of our galaxy
and in alignment
with the
source of life
source of spirit.
In an instant,
it seems to us,
the sun stands still
and we are in
transformation
a concentration of power
as we see
into the center
and know our place
in the stars.
