A Liberian born writer is named Philadelphia’s Poet Laureate

The City of Philadelphia has a brand new Poet Laureate. Trapeta Mayson, born in Liberia but raised in North Philadelphia and Germantown, will serve as the city’s 2020-2021 Poet Laureate. The post involves ceremonial and community-outreach duties, including at least one reading at the Free Library. The Poet Laureate position is conferred on those who demonstrate a commitment to the power of poetry to engage and inspire people throughout the communities and neighborhoods in the city. She will also serve as a mentor to the city’s youth poet laureate, Mia Concepcion of South Philadelphia. The post comes with a $5,000 stipend paid by the Free Library to support a community project that the Poet Laureate will design.

A graduate of Temple University, Bryn Mawr University and the Villanova School of Business, Ms. Mayson’s poetry focuses on the challenges and triumphs of the immigrant experience. She is a recipient of a Pew Fellowship in Literature and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. In addition, she is an Emerging Writer’s Fellow with the Aspen Institute. She is also the author ofSheWasOnceandMochaMelodies,a paperback booklet of poems.

A licensed Clinical Social Worker with a strong non-profit background, she currently is employed at a community mental health agency. As a teaching artist, Ms. Mayson has worked with hundreds of young people in schools, cultural institutions, correctional facilities and shelters using her poetry to inspire creative expression and to promote healing.