PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — Governor Glenn Youngkin announced today Mattie Quesenberry Smith is the Commonwealth’s new Poet Laureate.
Smith is a professor at Virginia Military Institute and an award-winning poet. She recently earned a PhD from Virginia Polytechnic University and State Institution.
“Today, I have the privilege of announcing that I am appointing Mattie Quesenberry Smith as Poet Laureate of Virginia,” Governor Glenn Youngkin said in a statement. “For thousands of years, poets have taken the everyday joys and lamentations that humans experience and expressed them through verse and prose. Poetry is an important art form worldwide, and I have no doubt that Ms. Smith will be an excellent ambassador of its virtues. On behalf of the Commonwealth, Suzanne and I extend our sincere congratulations to Ms. Smith and her family.”
Since 1988 the Governor has appointed the honorary position of Poet Laureate of Virginia. Smith will serve a two-year term.