BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The city of Birmingham and Create Birmingham will begin accepting applications Aug. 17 for the city’s next poet laureate, a two-year appointment that carries a $5,000 honorarium and calls for public programming, civic appearances and poetry projects across the city.
Applications for the 2027-28 City of Birmingham Poet Laureate are due by 11:59 p.m. Central time Sept. 30. The selected poet will be recommended by a community review panel and appointed by the mayor, according to the announcement.
The poet laureate is expected to lead workshops for Birmingham City Schools students, participate in official city events, write poems for significant civic occasions and develop projects that invite public participation and reflect Birmingham’s diverse communities. Additional support may be available for approved community-engagement activities.
Applicants must be at least 18, live within Birmingham’s city limits during the application process and appointment, have a record of publishing and publicly presenting original poetry, and be available for public programs throughout the two-year term. Application materials will be available at BirminghamPoetLaureate.org.
“This program celebrates the artists who help us better understand ourselves, our neighborhoods, and our shared future,” Viola Ratcliffe, Create Birmingham’s senior director of creative enterprises, said in the announcement. “We are excited to welcome applications from poets who are passionate about serving their community and using their work to inspire civic pride, creativity, and connection.”
Birmingham launched its municipal poet laureate initiative in 2023 through a partnership between the city and Create Birmingham. The Alabama State Council on the Arts selected Birmingham and Mobile for inaugural city poet laureate programs, and the initiative received support from the state arts council and the Birmingham City Council’s cultural-arts committee.
Salaam Green was selected in December 2023 as Birmingham’s first poet laureate and began serving in 2024. Her appointment was initially announced as a 2024-25 term, but subsequent program and professional biographies describe her tenure as extending through 2026.
Green, who is from Greensboro and has lived in Birmingham for decades, is the founder of the Literary Healing Arts Foundation and a Road Scholar with the Alabama Humanities Foundation. She holds an English degree from the University of Montevallo and a master’s degree in education from the University of North Dakota. Her books include the 2025 collection “The Other Revival: Poems and Reckonings” and the chapbook “Once Upon a Magic City.”
During her tenure, Green has appeared at city and community events, literacy programs, poetry showcases and school-related activities. Her work as laureate has included public readings, youth engagement, workshops and original poetry connected to civic life, according to Create Birmingham.
Create Birmingham, the nonprofit administering the program with the city, was founded in 2004 as the Cultural Alliance of Greater Birmingham. It adopted its current name and organizational model after publishing a 2014 report on the city’s creative industries. The organization says its mission is to promote economic development across nonprofit and commercial creative fields, including arts, culture, media, design and culinary arts.
The city’s next laureate will be asked to build on the program’s emphasis on poetry as a vehicle for education, civic dialogue and community connection.