Meet Branford's 1st Poet Laureate Judith K. Liebmann At Blackstone

BRANFORD, CT —A public reception celebrating the inauguration of the office of Branford Poet Laureate, and of Judith K. Liebmann as its first occupant, will be held in the Reading Room at the James Blackstone Memorial Library Saturday at 3:30 p.m.

The town, in cooperation with Blackstone Library trustees, established the office of Poet Laureate. A selection committee was then formed and, "after a careful review of applications and interviews with the finalists" the Committee selected Judith K. Liebmann as the first to hold the position of Poet Laureate.

Liebmann brings decades of experience writing, publishing, teaching and sharing poetry with others to the position, and plans to dedicate her three-year appointment to using her experience to open the world of poetry to Branford residents of all ages – in workshops, lectures, readings and mixed media events.

Liebmann’s work has been widely published, in numerous literary journals as well as New York Times and Scientific American and has been anthologized in the short story collection The Safe Deposit Box. A new collection of poems, Ekphrasis, was published in December, 2023 (PreSSrappel, New York City).

In addition to writing poetry and fiction, Liebmann earned a Ph.D. in Literature from Yale University, where she taught for a number of years. She then became the Director of the Writing Program at the Center for Independent Study there. She has received many awards, including a Fulbright Fellowship, a Germanistic Society of America Grant, a German Academic Exchange Grant, and a grant from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts. She is a Fellow of Davenport College at Yale and served two terms on the Board of Governors of the Yale Alumni Association.

In Branford, where she has lived for more than 30 years, she has been an active member of the community having served as a Director on the Boards of the Wightwood School, BCTV, and the Historic Branford Center Cemetery.

In cooperation with Branford Public Works, Branford Land Trust, and the Pine Orchard Association, she has designed the landscaping for several “pocket parks,” including the Triangle Park in Pine Orchard.

The Poet Laureate can be contacted at: poetlaureate@branford-ct.gov.