2021 local & state youth poet laureates
Alexandra P. Aradas - 2021 Rock Hill Youth Poet Laureate
Alexandra Aradas is the 2021 Rock Hill, SC Youth Poet Laureate, a program sponsored by the York County Library. Alex is a multifaceted artist who uses they/them and she/her pronouns and uses poetry to call attention to various issues, including mental health awareness, climate change, and LGBTQ+ advocacy. They serve as a Student Ambassador and on Executive Council for the arts and community service club at their school.
Michelle Azie - 2021 Fox Valley Youth Poet Laureate
Read UP, Wildfires Entrenched in Our Forests, and Armstrong was not the first to reach the moon.
Michelle Azie served as the 2021 Atlanta, Fox Valley Youth Poet Laureate, a program sponsored by Fox Valley Teen Writers and Artists Project. Michelle is an artist fluid in music, photography, and poetry reflective of community and culture. In her other life, she is combatting inequity in STEM and her community, and finishing a manuscript.
Sainey Ceesay - 2021 Prince George’s County Youth Poet Laureate
Read Questions, Water, and Apology Letter to My Body
Sainey Ceesay (She/they) is the 2021 Prince George’s County Youth Poet Laureate. They are a Gambian American raised in PG County and residing in Greenbelt. She seeks to find and build community through her poetry and to encourage others to write and share their stories.
Zoe Dorado - 2021 Alameda County Youth Poet Laureate
Read The Manongs wear their best suits to the dance., In Parallel, and We Breathe
Zoe Dorado is the Alameda County Youth Poet Laureate, a program supported by the Alameda County Library Foundation. As a writer and a drummer, she is interested in how rhythm & meter unfold themselves into poetry & the way storytelling integrates itself into different art forms. As a Filipina-American, Zoe’s excited to learn more about literature & music beyond the canon.
Aanika Eragam - 2021 Atlanta Youth Poet Laureate
Read They Found a Kid in the Neighborhood Pond and Tomorrow, We Leave the Motherland
Aanika Eragam served as the 2021 Atlanta Youth Poet Laureate, a program sponsored by Atlanta Word Works of VOX Atlanta. Eragam also served as the 2021 National Student Poet for the Southeast. She explores topics of family, culture, womanhood, and mental health in her work.
Myra Estrada - 2021 Oakland Youth Poet Laureate
Read Summer ‘20, Drift Away, and Stolen
Myra Estrada serves as the 2021 Oakland, CA Youth Poet Laureate. Myra considers herself an activist and utilizes her poetry as a way to express her beliefs. In addition, she believes poetry offers a connection between her and others through rhythm, prosody, and vocalization.
Ireland Griffin - 2021 Austin Youth Poet Laureate
Read Kiss the Moon Goodnight, Seasick, and House 109
Ireland Griffin is the 2021 Youth Poet Laureate of Austin, Texas, sponsored by The Library Foundation. In addition to her studies at Meridian World School and writing poems, Ireland devotes a lot of energy to volunteering for political and mental health campaigns in her community. In 2020, she was a featured speaker at the Women’s March at the Texas Capitol, where she spoke about the need to protect women’s rights.
Myra Kamal - 2021-2022 Phoenix Youth Poet Laureate
Read to the women who’ve peeled oranges for me, Learning What is Omnipresent, and chasing comets
Myra Kamal is a Pakistani-American writer based in Phoenix, Arizona. She is the Editor-In-Chief of the online youth literary magazine, the borderline. She has also been recognized by the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards and the YoungArts Foundation.
Jessica Kim - 2021-2022 Los Angeles Youth Poet Laureate & 2022 National Youth Poet Laureate Runner-Up
Jessica Kim is a disabled Korean-American immigrant from Los Angeles. She is the 2022 National Youth Poet Laureate of the West and a Youngarts Finalist in Poetry. Her chapbook L(EYE)GHT, which explores her visual impairment, has been published by Animal Heart Press in April 2022.
Danielle Obisie-Orlu - 2021-2022 Allegheny County Youth Poet Laureate
Read I AM THIS BIG, Conservatory, and ADURA
Danielle Obisie-Orlu is the 2021-22 Youth Poet Laureate of Allegheny County, a program sponsored by City of Asylum Pittsburgh. In addition to being a writer and performer, Danielle is majoring in International & Area Studies and Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh. A dedicated student leader, she is passionate about migration, belonging, and international human rights law.
Isabella Ramírez - 2021 South Florida Youth Poet Laureate & 2022 National Youth Poet Laureate of the South
Read the A(ssimilation)merican Dream, (un)titled, and the white kids in Spanish class won’t like this one
Isabella Ramírez is a queer, Latinx poet and spoken word artist who serves as the 2022 National Youth Poet Laureate of the South, a program of Urban Word NYC. She was previously the Jason Taylor Foundation’s 2021 South Florida Youth Poet Laureate and 2021 Louder Than A Bomb Florida Individual Grand Champion. Through her work, she hopes to create a platform for self-reflection, social justice, and challenging the status quo.
Reed Williams - 2021 Hampton Roads Youth Poet Laureate
Read Thalassophobia, Guncle Talent Show, and Costume Party
Reed Williams served as the 2021 Hampton Roads Youth Poet Laureate, a program sponsored by Teens With a Purpose. Reed is an award-winning transgender poet who relies upon her experiences growing up in the South to create narrative-driven free verse with the aim of evoking empathy from those consumed by transphobia. She is a student at the University of Virginia balancing her study of Politics and English Literature with advocacy for the trans community on both a local and statewide scale.
Anouk Yeh - 2021 Santa Clara County Youth Poet Laureate
Read ghazal for sixteen, ode to teenage girls, and a portrait of a thousand goodnights
Anouk Yeh is the Inaugural Santa Clara County Youth Poet Laureate. She is a firm believer in Toni Cade Cambarayou’s words: “The role of the artist is to make the revolution irresistible” and is always looking to document social and political issues — especially those that affect immigrants & teenage girls — through poetry. She is a 2022 Coca-Cola Scholar and her work has been featured by Stanford University, Planned Parenthood, the Kronos Quartet, Refinery29 and the Los Angeles Review of Books, among others.
Mimi Yu - 2021-2022 Nebraska Youth Poet Laureate
Read kitchen dialogue, Mint Majesties, and Discourses In Pink
Mimi Yu is Nebraska's Youth Poet Laureate of 2021-2022, and has grown up in Lincoln, Nebraska since she was born. As a student, Mimi has written poetry since she was 11 and enjoys both creative writing and studio art, using both fields to connect with others. Outside of school, she is an enrichment tutor for the Lincoln Chinese Academy where she teaches kids 5-8 different visual art techniques and a freelance artist at Lincoln, Nebraska's Parrish Studios.