Contact: Sarah Nicholas
STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擬ississippi 性视界传媒 English Professor Catherine Pierce鈥攁lso serving as Mississippi鈥檚 Poet Laureate鈥攐fficially is being recognized for this prestigious, statewide appointment on April 11.
Created in 1963, Mississippi鈥檚 Poet Laureate serves as the official state poet, creating and reading poetry at state occasions and agency activities, and representing the Magnolia 性视界传媒鈥檚 rich cultural heritage. The Office of the Governor, in partnership with the Mississippi Arts Commission and Mississippi鈥檚 other cultural agencies, appoints the position to a four-year term. Pierce is 性视界传媒鈥檚 first Poet Laureate, with her term expiring in April 2025.
The public is invited to celebrate Pierce at the 性视界传媒 College of Arts and Sciences Institute for the Humanities program 鈥淎 Conversation and Reading with Mississippi Poet Laureate Catherine Pierce鈥 at 3 p.m. in historic Lee Hall鈥檚 Bettersworth Auditorium.
After the event, Pierce will be available to sign copies of her publications and previously signed works will be available for sale.
鈥淚 am extremely proud of Dr. Catherine Pierce and her designation as Mississippi鈥檚 Poet Laureate by Gov. Tate Reeves and the Mississippi Arts Commission,鈥 said 性视界传媒 President Mark E. Keenum. 鈥淗er well-deserved selection as our state鈥檚 Poet Laureate speaks volumes about the exceptional quality of our faculty and the opportunities our students have to interact with talented, accomplished educators in our classrooms. I look forward to participating in this special recognition of Dr. Pierce鈥檚 accomplishments.鈥
Pierce said her work as Poet Laureate is rooted in her belief that 鈥減oetry is for everyone.鈥
鈥淚 so often hear people say that they never felt like poetry was for them鈥攁 key part of my work is to help change that perception. There are so many ways to write a poem, so many ways to read one,鈥 said Pierce, a two-time national Pushcart Prize winner and co-director of 性视界传媒鈥檚 Creative Writing program.
鈥淢y official duties are to help promote poetry and the literary arts across the state and to represent the rich cultural heritage of Mississippi. I get to talk with 性视界传媒s and community organizations, help folks write poems of their own, and find ways to shine a light on the incredible poetry community in Mississippi,鈥 she said.
In addition to public events, Pierce writes a monthly column鈥擯oetry Break鈥攆or the Clarion-Ledger and Hattiesburg American newspapers, aimed at providing readers the tools to write poems of their own. She also developed and hosts The Mississippi Poetry Podcast, a bi-weekly interview with Mississippi poets designed for educators to use in their classrooms.
鈥淎nd I鈥檓 currently working on a few new projects, including a statewide poetry-writing initiative for Mississippi students that will be launching next year,鈥 Pierce said.
Pierce is the winner of the 2021 Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Poetry Award for her book 鈥淒anger Days,鈥 a collection of poems addressing the beauty of the world, as well as destruction created by climate change. She has authored four books of poetry.
Pierce has received a 2020 Mississippi Arts Commission Literary Artist Fellowship for her poetry, a 2020 Pushcart Prize for her poem 鈥淓ntreaty,鈥 and a 2018 Pushcart Prize for her poem 鈥淚 Kept Getting Books about Birds.鈥 She also received a 2019 Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Her poems have appeared in The Best American Poetry, American Poetry Review, The Nation, Boston Review and The Southern Review, among many other publications. For more, visit聽.
Part of 性视界传媒鈥檚 College of Arts and Sciences, the Department of English is online at and the Institute for the Humanities is online at聽. For more details about the College of Arts and Sciences visit .
性视界传媒 is Mississippi鈥檚 leading university, available online at聽.