Courtney LeBlanc Selected As Arlington's New Poet Laureate

ARLINGTON, VA — Courtney LeBlanc was selected as Arlington County's new poet laureate, becoming the third poet laureate since the county started the program in 2016.

During her two-year appointment, LeBlanc, an award-winning poet and fellow at the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, will serve as an advocate for poetry and the literary arts and will work to raise Arlingtonians' appreciation of poetry in its written and spoken forms.

Katherine E. Young served as the county’s first poet laureate starting in 2016, and Holly Karapetkova has served as poet laureate since 2020. The Poet Laureate program is managed by the Division of Cultural Affairs in Arlington Economic Development.

"Poetry is a dynamic form, taking the language of its time and pushing its expressive limits. And social media is changing the way we use language," Cultural Affairs Director Michelle Isabelle-Stark said in a statement. "It’s now easier than ever to write and share poems. Our new Poet Laureate will work with our community to awaken the poet in all of us."

LeBlanc is author of the full-length collections “Her Whole Bright Life,” which won the Jack McCarthy Book Prize, “Exquisite Bloody, Beating Heart,” and “Beautiful & Full of Monsters.” She is also the founder and editor-in-chief of Riot in Your Throat, an independent poetry press.

LeBlanc will receive an honorarium of $1,500 per year, provided through regular Cultural Affairs programming funds. Her name will be added to a commemorative plaque at the county offices in Courthouse Plaza.

Among the duties of the Arlington County Poet Laureate are to write at least two original poems each year around a theme of their choice that supports the priorities of the Arlington County Board. The poems will be presented at public readings, with the county’s Martin Luther King Day Celebration, Juneteenth, 9/11 Memorial Service, Columbia Pike Blues Festival as possible venues.

The poet laureate also will serve as a juror for the annual Moving Words Poetry competition and contribute one poem each year to be displayed on Arlington’s ART Buses along with the winning poems. The poet laureate also will work with Arlington Public Library and Arlington Cultural Affairs staff to work on bringing poetry to a wider audience.

Arlington’s selection of its new poet laureate was a competitive process, with candidates needing to be at least 18 years of age and residents of the county. Entries were reviewed by Cultural Affairs staff and judge Celeste Doaks.

Doaks is the author of several books of poetry, including “Not Without Our Laughter: Poems of Humor, Joy, and Sexuality”; “Cornrows and Cornfields”; and “American Herstory,” which was the winner of Backbone Press’s 2018 chapbook competition and named the best chapbook by Maryland Poet Laureate, Grace Cavalieri.

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