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The current Poet Laureate-elect is Billy Collins. He was born in New York in 1941 and has published six collections of his poetry, including Picnic, Lightning, and The Art of Drowning, and has another book coming out in September 2001. He's a Guggenheim fellow and a professor of English at Lehman College of the City University of New York. He was appointed Poet Laureate on June 21, 2001, and will formally begin his term in October. The out-going Poet Laureate is Stanley Kunitz, who also held the post from 1974 to 1976. He was born in Massachusetts in 1905 and has ten volumes of
poetry published. Kunitz received the National Medal of the Arts in 1993. He is a Guggenheim fellow and taught in the graduate-level writing program at Columbia University. The Poet Laureate is more accurately called the Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry. The position was created in 1937 with the name Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, but Congress retitled it in 1985. Appointed by the Librarian of Congress, the Poet Laureate serves from October of the year he or she is appointed to the following May. The Librarian consults with past Poet Laureates and distinguished poetry critics to select the next Poet Laureate. Some recent Poet Laureates are Rita Dove, Robert Hass, Robert Pinsky, and Mark Strand. So, if
you want the job, start publishing your own poetry and try to get chummy with these folks!
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