Monday, April 20, 2009

Mark DeCarteret is named
Portsmouth, NH Poet Laureate

Mark DeCarteret, whose poem “Heir” appeared in upstreet number three, has been named seventh Poet Laureate of Portsmouth, NH. He will serve for the next two years as the public face of poetry in the community and create a project that supports the mission of the Poet Laureate Program, “building community through poetry.” The Poet Laureate is selected by a committee of seven local writers, community members, and city officials from nominations made by the public.

Born in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1960, Mark graduated from Emerson College in 1990 with a BFA in Creative Writing, and was Emerson’s representative at the 1990 Boston Inter-Collegiate Poetry Festival. Since graduating from the University of New Hampshire in 1993 with an MA in English, he has been a fixture in the New Hampshire/Southern Maine poetry scene as a reader, editor, performer and publishing poet. He lives in Stratham, NH, and teaches at the New Hampshire Institute of Art. Mark’s poetry has appeared in more than 150 literary reviews, including AGNI, Atlanta Review, Caliban, Chicago Review, Cream City Review, Gargoyle, Phoebe, Poetry East, Salt Hill, and Sonora Review, and in such anthologies as American Poetry: The Next Generation and Thus Spake the Corpse: An Exquisite Corpse Reader 1988-1998. He is the author of three books: Over Easy, Review: A Book of Poems, and The Great Apology.

The Portsmouth Poet Laureate Program, established in 1997 by local arts organizers and writers, appoints and supports an outstanding local poet as Poet Laureate for the city, sponsoring events that feature area poets and authors from outside the New Hampshire Seacoast, and encouraging a love of poetry among people of all ages.

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