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Poet Laureate News

Norbert Krapf Chosen as New State Poet Laureate

The Indiana Arts Commission (IAC) has selected Indianapolis resident Norbert Krapf (pronounced "crop-f") as the Indiana State Poet Laureate.

Krapf, a native of Jasper, Indiana, is a graduate of St. Joseph’s College, Rensselaer, Indiana, and received his M.A. and Ph.D. in English from the University of Notre Dame. He was selected from a field of 19 poets nominated early this year for the two-year appointment. The Poet Laureate selection committee comprised of faculty representing seven Indiana higher education institutions recommended Krapf’s nomination to the Commission for approval at its recent quarterly meeting in Fort Wayne.

"I am moved and honored to be named Indiana Poet Laureate," Krapf said. "This is the right time for me to make a contribution to the life of poetry in our state. I wish that my Indiana-loving parents were still alive to savor the unexpected honor."

When Krapf moved from Indiana to the New York area in 1970 he began to trace his family history, study German, and write poems.  He taught at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, and directed the C.W. Post Poetry Center. He twice served in Germany as a Senior Fulbright Professor of American Poetry, and he was also a U.S. Exchange Teacher at West Oxon Technical College, England.

Since 1976, Krapf has written or edited 21 books, two of which are his translations from the German. This fall, IU Press will release his latest work, Bloodroot: Indiana Poems, a selection of 175 poems written between 1971 and 2007. In 2007, Acme Records of Bloomington, Indiana released Norbert Krapf and jazz pianist-composer Monika Herzig’s CD Imagine – Indiana in Music and Words. Recently the Indiana Historical Society Press released Krapf’s prose memoir, The Ripest Moments: A Southern Indiana Childhood.

"All these projects have deepened my contact with the landscape and the people that figure in so many of my poems," Krapf said.

In addition to his work as a poet and educator, Krapf became a board member of Etheridge Knight, Inc. which promotes the arts for youth, youth at risk, adults, seniors, disabled and incarcerated individuals, as well as residents traditionally underserved by the arts community. E.K. Inc. pays tribute to the arts community and the legacy of the late African American Indianapolis poet Etheridge Knight by providing a diverse artistic environment in the interdisciplinary arts for people of all cultures.

Krapf will represent the State of Indiana and the art of poetry through the development and implementation of programming to the education community and general public. The Poet Laureate makes formal presentations at various educational facilities and offers advice to the Commission concerning ways to further the art of poetry in Indiana. Krapf’s term as Indiana Poet Laureate begins immediately and will continue through calendar year 2009.

The Poet Laureate selection committee included representatives from Indiana University, Ball State, Purdue, Valparaiso, DePauw, ISU, Butler, and the University of Southern Indiana.

Increasing the awareness of poetry and the power of written and spoken verse was the inspiration for legislation signed into law in 2005 by Governor Mitch Daniels. Sponsored by Sen. Teresa Lubbers (R-Indianapolis) and Earline Rogers (D-Gary), the Poet Laureate legislation provides for the development of specific educational programming coordinated between the Indiana Arts Commission, the Indiana Department of Education, and the State Poet Laureate.

Joyce Brinkman was the first State Poet Laureate chosen to direct this program. During her two-year term, Ms. Brinkman not only hosted several public and in-school poetry programs and activities, she also coordinated Sporting Words, the 2007 National Gathering of State Poets Laureate.

For further information, visit http://www.krapfpoetry.com/.

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