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Natalie Graham is Orange County's first poet laureate not just because of her evocative and widely appreciated poetry, but because of her fervent belief that her work, and the work of all artists, needs to interact with its community.
"Since I moved here eight years ago, so much of the work that I've done involved going into communities and creating spaces for poetry and other art forms like painting and photography," said Graham, associate professor and department chair of Cal State Fullerton's African American studies department. "I really like the idea of integrating art. It's really exciting for me to have this platform."
The position of poet laureate was created by LibroMobile Arts Cooperative in partnership with Orange County Public Libraries and the National Youth Poet Laureate Program. The Aug. 28 announcement of Graham's appointment also named Tina Mai, 16, of Newport Beach as Orange County's youth poet laureate. Graham and Mai were selected by a panel of judges that included author and LibroMobile founder Sarah Rafael García, OCPL librarians and Orange County-based community advocates.
Graham's community-oriented approach seems well suited to the purposes and philosophy of the program. "The goals of the (poet laureate) program are to inspire residents through transformative community engagement and the positive impact of poetry; provide opportunities to engage in literary arts and write or perform poetry; bring poetry to a variety of settings in the community; and ultimately support a civic and literary leader for generations to come," said a statement from Orange County Public Libraries in April announcing the creation of the position.
“Natalie and Tina were chosen not only because of their polished, timely and necessary poetic voice, but because their work elevates the intersection between artistic excellence and social justice in a region that is 60% people of color … where most literary and arts institutions do not reflect the majority,” Garcia said in a statement announcing the selection.
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