Call for Nominations: Dallas Poet Laureate

JULY 14th, 2025— The Dallas Public Library and the City of Dallas Office of Arts and Culture are seeking nominations for the 2026-28 Dallas Poet Laureate and the 2026 Dallas Youth Poet Laureate. Applications will be accepted through December 15th, 2025 for the Dallas Poet Laureate and December 31st, 2025 for the Youth Poet Laureate.

Founded in 2021, the goal of the Poet Laureate program is to encourage greater literary awareness in the Dallas community. A local poet is honored with the poet laureate title to recognize a career in writing exemplary poetry and their role in sharing poetry with the greater community. The Poet Laureate will receive an honorarium of $20,000 over a two-year term to support their work as an artist-in-residence at the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library. At the end of their two-year term, they will have the opportunity to publish a poetry collection with Deep Vellum. The Poet Laureate will also be expected to assist the Dallas Public Library and the City of Dallas Office of Arts and Culture in community outreach and act as an ambassador of the literary arts and the City of Dallas by creating and reading poems and presenting their poems at public schools, city council meetings, county board meetings and other community organizations. More information about the application process and Poet Laureate expectations can be found on the submissions page.

The Dallas Public Library, the Office of Arts and Culture, and Deep Vellum created the Dallas Poet Laureate Program in 2021, seeking to engage diverse voices, activate the community and broaden perspectives in shaping and furthering the literary arts and culture through creative expression. The first Dallas Poet Laureate was Joaquín Zihuatanejo, author of Occupy Whiteness, who served for the 2022-24 term. Mag Gabbert is the present Dallas Poet Laureate. You can find her poetry in Poetry Daily, Poetry Magazine, The Arkansas International, or on her website; her full-length collection is forthcoming from Deep Vellum next year.