Meet Andrea Gibson, Colorado's new poet laureate
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Photo illustration: Axios Visuals; Photo: Courtesy of Megan Falley
Andrea Gibson, a Boulder-area resident for nearly 25 years, is aiming to inspire awe and dreams of a better world.
Driving the news: This month, Gov. Jared Polis named Gibson as Colorado's new poet laureate, a two-year role created to advocate for the arts and connect with the community.
As laureate, Gibson will visit schools, libraries and literary festivals across the state championing poetry, literacy and literature.
- The award-winning writer, spoken word poet and queer activist has traveled the world sharing their craft, authored six poetry collections, and is a four-time Denver Grand Slam Champion in poetry.
- Now Gibson is working on a memoir, they told us.
What they're saying: "I think one of the jobs as a writer is to imagine a more beautiful world. Because I once heard that we can't go where we haven't first imagined," Gibson said.
The intrigue: Their light-filled perspective was shaped from dark times. Gibson was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2021, but they've found a silver lining.
- "For about 17 years, I was constantly on the road" for poetry performances and competitions, but Gibson's cancer diagnosis has kept them mostly at home, which opened up new opportunities.
- "If I had still been touring, I never would have been able to do something like [poet laureate]," Gibson said. Now, "I'm more involved with the community than I was when I first started writing poetry."
Zoom in: We recently caught up with Gibson to get to know them better.
🧘 Morning routine: Yoga, then off to Boulder's Baby Goat cafe, where Gibson gets an extra-strong yerba mate that's "hard to get anywhere else exactly the way they make it."
- Gibson typically pairs that tea with a drive down scenic country roads. "It's a time where I just want to be and take in the beauty. It starts my day in a really expansive place."
📚 Reading list: "Falling Back in Love With Being Human" by Kai Cheng Thom and "Living Untethered" by Michael A. Singer (the audiobook version)
🎵 On repeat: "Jericho" by Iniko and "2 of Us" by thomboi
❤️ Most revered poet: Mary Oliver. "I've been in love with her poetry since I was probably 19 or so," Gibson said.
- Gibson's favorite Oliver poem is "The Uses of Sorrow," which they can easily recite by heart.
🖊️ Writing process: It's "very weird," Gibson said with a laugh, and resembles a songwriter's.
- "I don't write sitting down. I write pacing around the room, sometimes making sounds that aren't even words — because I often know the sound of a poem before I know the words to it."
🕯️ One thing on their desk: A candle that reads "Homesick" with an image of Maine, Gibson's home state and where their family lives.
✨ Local spots that inspire: In Denver, it's the Mercury Cafe, where they first started doing spoken-word poetry. In Boulder, it's the Boulder Book Store and Chautauqua Auditorium.
- Across Colorado, it's just about "every hiking trail"— except 14ers, which Gibson hasn't yet climbed.