Poet Laureate

Richard Hague is the 2025-2027 Cincinnati and Mercantile Library Poet Laureate. The Poet Laureate program began in 2016, with Pauletta Hansel as the inaugural poet. Manuel Iris succeeded Hansel in 2018. Yalie Saweda Kamara, Ph.D served as the 2022 - 2025 Poet Laureate.

The Poet Laureate promotes poetry throughout the city, reads poems at events, and leads programming for all ages and backgrounds. Hague holds regular office hours at the Mercantile for anyone to join on the second Saturday of each month. Check the calendar for dates & times.

About Office Hours:

Second Saturday of each month, 12 noon-2pm. We will begin each session with One Poem At A Time, a close reading of a classic, noting matters of form, figures of speech, diction, and other features relevant to both readers and writers of poetry. Then a poetry-writing prompt and discussion, followed by thirty to forty minutes of drafting. Each session will end with a voluntary read-around of drafts, with general pointers for revision. Richard will also entertain questions about any aspect of the poetry game: submitting, publishing, networking, reading, performing. Occasionally, participants can take the opportunity to recite from memory a poem of their choice for the general delight of the group, if they so desire.

Upcoming Poet Laureate Events:

Join us on April 30 for a Poetry Month celebration with Poet Laureate Richard Hague and fellow poets.

Cincinnati poets Ellen Austin-Li, Phoebe Reeves, Kyra Liedtke, Dick Westheimer, and Sara Moore Wagner respond imaginatively to the 1848 Panorama. A reading accompanied with live music by the band Tangled Roots and visuals from the famous daguerreotype of the Cincinnati riverfront. Organized and narrated by Cincinnati and Mercantile Library Poet Laureate Richard Hague.

6 pm reception/6:30 pm program

Free & open to the public. Registration required.

The Poet Laureate program is partially underwritten by The George & Margaret McLane Foundation, The Mercantile Library, the City of Cincinnati, & Anonymous.