Howard County, known for its peaceful landscapes, has added a new cultural highlight by introducing its first Youth Poet Laureate. County Executive Calvin Ball has awarded the title to Mai-Anh Nguyen from Oakland Mills High School, celebrating the voices of the younger generation, as detailed in a recent announcement from Howard County.
Nguyen, juggling her time between the Youth Climate Institute, the National Art Honors Society, and other academic and extracurricular activities like tennis and theater, isn't just about a resume that could make grown professionals blush. She's also raked in accolades like winning the Jack Chalker Young Writer's Contest and being a finalist for notable honors in the poetry sphere, which includes the Nancy Thorp Poetry Contest and the Bennington Young Writers Awards, "Congratulations to Mai-Anh on her appointment as Howard County’s inaugural Youth Poet Laureate," Ball said, in a county press release.
As the first to don the laurels of the Youth Poet Laureate, Nguyen is charged with the lofty task of rekindling the community's love affair with verse, and she's not shying away from the challenge, stating, "Through this position, I look forward to (hopefully) making poetry cool again," according to a statement she delivered at the appointment event, detailed by county's press release. The Howard County Arts Council and the Howard County Poetry & Literature Society (HoCoPoLitSo) partnered to launch this whole Youth Poet Laureate shebang and are banking on Nguyen to lead this literary charge.
HoCoPoLitSo, celebrating 50 years of promoting contemporary literature, organized a panel of respected poets and educators to support the Youth Poet Laureate initiative. They praised Mai-Anh Nguyen's impressive poetry, which shows maturity and skill. Coleen West, the Arts Council's Executive Director, believes her talent for connecting people through her writing is an excellent example for young voices in the county.
