“Champion of Artists” Awardee Danielle Legros Georges
"Champion of Artists" awardee, Danielle Legros Georges, is an acclaimed poet and writer who has been mentoring, inspiring and supporting poets and writers in Boston and beyond.
As we lead up to 11th Annual “Artists Under The Dome” Event* and the MALC 2017 “Champion of Artists” Awards on November 8th at the State House, we are highlighting each of the five “Champion of Artists” awardees. This is the second time MALC has given these awards, which will be part of the morning program (10-11am).*
The five “Champion of Artists” awardees for 2017 are:
- State Representative Chris Walsh
- Danielle Legros Georges, Boston’s Poet Laureate
- Ashleigh Gordon, viola and Co-Founder of Castle of our Skins
- Jonathan C. Rappaport, musician, composer, conductor and Executive Director of Arts Learning
- Erin Williams, playwright, theater director, dramaturg, Cultural Development Officer for the City of Worcester and Executive Director of the Worcester Cultural Coalition
For this blog post we are profiling awardee Danielle Legros Georges, an acclaimed poet and writer who has been mentoring, inspiring and supporting other poets and writers in Boston and beyond. Her generosity is legendary.
In 2014 she was appointed Poet Laureate of the City of Boston, a position from which she acts as an advocate for poetry, language, and the arts, creating a unique artistic legacy through public readings and civic events.
She is the author of two collections of poetry, “Maroon” and “The Dear Remote Nearness of You”, and also the chapbook “Letters from Congo”. She has authored many articles, essays, reviews on contemporary American poetry, African-American poetry, and Caribbean literature and studies. Her poems have been widely anthologized. Most recently, she is the editor of “City of Notions: An Anthology of Contemporary Boston Poems”.
Legros Georges has been widely recognized. She is the recipient of the Sheila Motton Book Prize, The Pen New England Discovery Award, and fellowships from the Boston Foundation, the Black Metropolis Research Consortium, and the 2014 Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellowship in Poetry.
She teaches in the Joiner Institute’s Summer Writer’s Workshop, and as a Professor in the Creative Arts in Learning Division of Lesley University.
Legros Georges was born in Haiti and grew up in Boston’s Haitian community in Mattapan. She received a B.S. in Communication Studies from Emerson College, and holds an M.F.A. in English and Creative Writing from New York University.
Legros Georges describes her poetry as tackling a wide range of themes and asking philosophical questions that can lead to conversations about larger issues in life. Legros Georges work has been published in a wide variety of publications, including: Agni, The Boston Globe, Transition, World Literature Today, SpoKe, sx salon, The Caribbean Writer, Callaloo, Ibbetson Street, Salamander, Poeisis, Black Renaissance Noire, Macomère, The American Poetry Review and others. ~ Mayor Walsh press release, 12/17/2014 (Photo shown in this MALC blog post accompanied the 12/17/14 press release)
See this from Mass Poetry:
Danielle Legros Georges: Inspiring New Poet Laureate for Boston
http://www.masspoetry.org/bostonpoetlaureate/
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* More info on 11th Annual “Artists Under The Dome” Event and the MALC 2017 “Champion of Artists” Awards. These events are free and open to the public
Date/Time/Place: Wednesday, November 8th, from 9:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. in the State House’s Great Hall, (Boston, MA),
What: The Commonwealth of Massachusetts invites Massachusetts artists working in all disciplines (visual arts, literary, performing, crafts, new media, etc.) to thank them for all they contribute to our state’s economy and quality of life. Massachusetts is the only state in the country to hold such an event. Although not required, those attending are encouraged to register for this free event .
For more information and to register: http://www.artistsunderthedome.org/annualevent.html