By Audrey Lyons, The Daily Tar Heel | Sep 18, 2026 | City & State
Photo courtesy of UNC Media Relations/Grant Halverson
The Town of Chapel Hill is in the process of selecting its next poet laureate. Applications for the two-year term closed Monday, and the new poet will be chosen in November to start in January.
Previous laureates have read at Town events, created poetry to represent their experience in Chapel Hill and led events for community members to perform and learn about poetry, CJ Suitt, the Town’s first poet laureate, said. Suitt described the role as an “unofficial arts Town mayor.”
Finalists for the upcoming term will present their plans for the role, along with a selection of original poetry for a panel of Town leaders and previous laureates in October. Donovan Livingston, a music professor at UNC and the current poet laureate, said he is looking for applicants to be original in their presentations and dream big, understanding that the role comes with funding and support from the Town.
“I remember mine like it was yesterday,” Livingston said. “I was super nervous, but it was the opportunity of a lifetime, and I can’t thank the Town of Chapel Hill enough for giving me a chance to live out one of my dreams.
Finalists will each receive $200, and the selected poet laureate will be paid $6,000 in disbursements throughout their tenure. Suitt said potential laureates should want to build relationships with the community.
“I can’t stress that enough, that this is a public-facing position,” Suitt said. “It’s not for a brooding writer who’s sitting in a corner somewhere working on their poetry.”
The position is personalized to the goals of each laureate, Darien Cropper, the communications coordinator for Chapel Hill Community Arts and Culture, said. Cropper has been involved with the poet laureate program since 2023 and said she is excited to see how the next poet shapes the position.
Livingston has continued The Poet is a Verb, an annual poetry showcase at the Chapel Hill Public Library started by 2023-24 laureate Cortland Gilliam. Livingston has modified it to include performances from poets and an open mic section.
“It’s this really cool open mic where everyone feels very open to just sharing their own work and expressing themselves, so that’s been really cool to watch that program grow over the years,” Cropper said. “I think the community has really responded well to it.”
Livingston has also initiated several projects, including poetry workshops at Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews and local high schools and a partnership with the Carolina Prison Music Initiative, where he teaches songwriting at the Orange Correctional Center.
Livingston said the Carolina Prison Music Initiative holds a concert at the end of each class term, and some students are able to get temporary release from the correctional center to read poetry.
“That’s also been really dope to see how poetry acts as a source of hope for incarcerated folks and others,” Livingston said.
To close out his term, Livingston is creating Talk of the Town: Chapel Hill Mixtape — a set of poems from a range of Chapel Hill residents that Livingston is arranging to music. The mixtape will be released at a listening party in November.
“I’m actually just finished bouncing some of my final mixes of those songs, and really excited to share that with everyone as a reminder that poetry is a thing that brings us all together,” Livingston said.
Livingston said his experience as poet laureate has been transformative.
”This is an opportunity I’m thankful for because it reminds me that this world is worth saving,” Livingston said. “It’s worth waking up every day and being hopeful about the future.”