BELFAST — Arielle Greenberg, a full time resident of Belfast, an internationally renowned poet, mentor and educator was elected, from a roster of very strong applications, as the 10th Poet Laureate of Belfast, Maine.

Her appointment was ratified by the Belfast City Council (the Poet Laureate is a City position) on December 18, at the regular meeting, and her term will be for two years, 2019 and 2020.

She is a professional educator, a college professor who has taught in undergraduate and graduate creative writing programs for almost 20 years, and holds an MFA in poetry. She has taught in local schools, including writing workshops at Cornerspring Montessori and Troy Howard Middle School. She also teaches at College of the Atlantic and one-on-one, and has many students in the Belfast area.

In her application, Greenberg wrote:

“I’m a practicing poet with numerous national publications, including three full-length poetry collections published by national presses and two more forthcoming, and many anthology inclusions, including Best American Poetry; I have also co-edited several nationally-published poetry anthologies. A theory I originated about feminist poetics, the Gurlesque, has gained international traction, with symposiums organized in Sweden and England.

“I would be eager to extend programs with which I already have experience: to bring back the National Poetry Month Poems Downtown program, and to do more with local schoolchildren. I would like to work with—or start—a local branch of the state’s Poetry Out Loud program, and to offer free poetry-related activities aimed at middle and high school students. I would also of course rejoin the Belfast Poetry FestivalCommittee.”

Members of the Belfast Poet Laureate Outreach Committee are elated to have Greenberg as the next Poet Laureate, according to a news release. She’d been nominated several times in recent years and now feels she has the time to devote to the post. 

Brenda Harrington, Belfast Free Library, said in the release: “Arielle Greenberg has many great ideas and is enthusiastic in her approach to poetry programming. I look forward to working with her.”

Mayor Samantha Paradis said: ”I think Arielle Greenberg is the best candidate for the position. I am excited about the possibilities of Poetry Out Loud and poems being published in the Republican Journal.”

Ellen Sander, past Poet Laureate of Belfast, said: “I am excited to have Arielle Greenberg as our next Poet Laureate. Her talent and prominence bring a lot of inspiration and prestige to the Belfast poetry community, her ideas and resources are priceless, and she is a virtual firecracker getting things done.”

Tom Moore, the outgoing Poet Laureate of Belfast, will lead the performance celebration inducting the new Poet Laureate at an event on New Year's Eve, at The Playhouse, at 6 p.m.

FMI: ellen@ellensander.com

To reach Greenberg: arielle.greenberg.bywater@gmail.com
 
There is official information on the position of Poet Laureate at the City of Belfast's website.