Colorado Poet Laureate - David Mason

Gov. Bill Ritter recently introduced David Mason of Colorado Springs as the state’s newest poet laureate. Mason is an accomplished poet and co-director of the creative writing program at Colorado College.

“Coloradans benefit in countless ways from a rich and talented arts community,” Gov. Ritter said during a news conference on the West Steps of the State Capitol. “David Mason will be a valuable addition to this tradition as he brings the power of words to communities all across Colorado.”

Mason will serve as an advocate for poetry, literacy and literature at 10-12 events each year, which include presenting the opening poem for the legislative session, visiting local schools, participating in Arts & Humanities Month, and reading at literary festivals. Mason said he intends to travel to all 64 Colorado counties and visit schools, libraries, hospitals, business organizations and many others to share, teach and encourage poetry.

“In short, invite me to your community and I will do all I can to help you foster literacy and this art of many voices,” Mason said. He concluded the news conference by reading one of his poems, “The Picketwire” (listen to the poem by clicking here).

The Governor also thanked Mary Crow for serving as Colorado’s sixth poet laureate from 1996 through this year. The Colorado Poet Laureate honors an outstanding poet in our state, and supports his or her efforts to promote an appreciation of poetry throughout Colorado. The Colorado Poet Laureate will serve for a four-year term. He or she will give at least eight public presentations per year, including events at the State Capitol, schools, libraries and literary festivals. Colorado Humanities and the Colorado Council on the Arts will assist community hosts with scheduling such events. Read his blog about his experiences thus far as Colorado Poet Laureate by clicking here. To invite Dr. Mason to your community, please email poetlaureate@coloradohumanities.org

Colorado was the second state in the country, after California, to name a poet laureate when Alice Polk Hill was appointed by Governor Oliver Shoup in 1919. Since then, five others have served:

• Nellie Burget Miller (1923-1952)
• Margaret Clyde Robertson (1952-1954)
• Milford E. Shields (1954)
• Thomas Hornsby Ferril (1979-1988)
• Mary Crow (1996-2010)
• David Mason (2010-present)

Dr. Mason's programs scheduled for 2011

January 12th: read poem at the opening of the Colorado legislative session

January 13th: presentations for special ed students in Greeley; reading that evening at a theater in Greeley

January 14th: presentations for Mead High School in Longmont

January 29th: presentation at the new Nederland Public Library

February 2nd: Presentations in Fairplay

February 3rd: Basalt Public Library

February 4th: Library in Vail

February 11th: Lunch talk for the Smoky Hill Methodist Church in Aurora

February 15th: Presentation at the Cliff House in Colorado Springs

February 17th, reading at WES celebration for President Celeste at CC

Feb 24: Introducing a reading by Steven Hayward at Colorado College, 7 PM in Gates Common Room

Feb 28: State Finals for Poetry Out-Loud

March 2nd: Reading Dr. Seuss at Helen Hunt Elementary in C. Springs

March 24: Glasrud Lecture, Minnesota State U, Moorhead

April 1: Queen Palmer Elementary School, 3 classes

April 7: presentations at Horace Mann in Denver

April 8^th: presentations at Dry Creek Elementary in Denver

April 13: Broomfield library

April 14: introducing poet C. Dale Young in a reading at Colorado College

April 15: workshops at Trinidad Junior College

April 18: meeting a junior high class in Evergreen

April 21: Ignacio Library on the Ute Reservation

April 28: River of Words award ceremony, then talk to writers at the Center for the American West in Boulder

May 2-3: performances of Vedem, the oratorio for which I wrote the libretto, at Colorado College

May 6-8: in Seattle for the premiere of The Boys of Terezin, a film based partly on my libretto work

May 13: reading poems at The Poet Speaks, a concert in Colorado Springs

June 2: speaking at the Boulder Chautauqua

June 6-12: Teaching at the West Chester Poetry Conference in PA

July 1^st: presentation in Brush

August 10: Westcliffe reading and workshop

September 8, 6:30 pm: Woodland Park Library

September 10: reading for Columbine Poets in Denver

September 13 to October 3, traveling in Scotland

October 5: Loveland Library

October 6: Steamboat Springs Library

October 7-9: Grand Junction

October 11: Georgetown Library

October 12: Matter Bookstore in Fort Collins

October 14-15: Ouray Library and Schools

October 17^th: Telluride Public Library

November 5: Reading in Seattle