SMU assistant professor Mag Gabbert has been named the second Dallas poet laureate. Photo: Courtesy of Dallas Public Library
Dallas has named an SMU assistant professor its second-ever poet laureate.
Why it matters: The position is a cheerleader for literacy in the community, inspiring Dallasites to put their thoughts, feelings and experiences into words.
The latest: Mag Gabbert — author of "Sex Depression Animals" and a Booker T. grad — was appointed last week to a two-year term as the Dallas poet laureate.
Naisha Randhar, a ninth-grader at The Hockaday School, was named the youth poet laureate, a one-year title.
Flashback: Joaquín Zihuatanejo, a Woodrow Wilson graduate, was named the city's first poet laureate in April 2022.
Zihuatanejo recently published "Occupy Whiteness," which contains the poem "View From The Fifth Floor of The Adam Hats Building" about brown erasure in a neighborhood, per the DMN.
Zoom out: An Austin-based poet has started a petition to get the city to establish a poet laureate residency like other large cities in Texas.
How it works: Gabbert will present her poems at community events and will keep artist-in-residence office hours at the Central Library.
She will also work with Randhar to promote youth poetry.
