Gov. Andy Beshear joined Kentucky Poet Laureate Silas House this week to announce the appointment of award-winning poet, essayist and teacher Kathleen Driskell as the 2025-26 Kentucky Poet Laureate.
“Team Kentucky is proud to announce that Kathleen will serve as our next Poet Laureate. She has made a real impact on the commonwealth’s rich literary community through her poetry and passion for teaching,” said Gov. Andy Beshear. “Kentucky boasts a wealth of great literary talent, and we’re fortunate to have Kathleen as a guiding voice, encouraging future writers and supporting Kentuckians in pursuing their dreams right here in our new Kentucky home.”
Driskell, an Oldham County native, is the author of six poetry collections, most recently “Goat-Footed Gods,” published by Carnegie Mellon University Press. Her other collections include “Blue Etiquette: Poems,” a finalist for the Weatherford Award; “Next Door to the Dead,” a Kentucky Voices selection from the University Press of Kentucky and winner of the Judy Gaines Young Book Award; and “Seed Across Snow,” a Poetry Foundation national bestseller. With Katy Yocom, she edited the anthology “Creativity & Compassion: Spalding Writers Celebrate 20 Years.”
“Writing has given me a life I never could have imagined for myself as a kid growing up in rural Kentucky, but I’m a writer and poet, I’m sure, because of my early first teachers, who include the women storytellers who sat around my grandma’s kitchen table,” Driskell said. “Many say we’re made of stardust, but I’ve always thought we’re really made of stories. I’m honored and grateful for this opportunity to serve our abundant and diverse literary arts community as Kentucky Poet Laureate and to connect with, to encourage, to share and to continue learning from other storytellers and poets across the Bluegrass.”
The poet laureate induction is a part of the Kentucky Arts Council’s annual Kentucky Writers’ Day event, which is celebrated on or around April 24, honoring the birthday of Kentucky writer Robert Penn Warren, the first U.S. Poet Laureate. This year’s ceremony will take place on Thursday, April 24, at 10 a.m. EDT in the Capitol Rotunda in Frankfort and will be followed by a public reception. Established in 1990, Writers’ Day includes the induction of poets laureate in odd-numbered years, showcasing the commonwealth’s rich literary heritage.
This year’s Writers’ Day ceremony will include readings by Driskell, 2023-2024 Poet Laureate Silas House, other former poets laureate, and the 2024 Kentucky Youth Poet Laureate, Maira Faisal, a junior at Northern Kentucky University.
Following the Writers’ Day event, the Paul Sawyier Public Library at 319 Wapping Street in Frankfort will host a Kentucky Poet Laureate reading at 2:30 p.m. The event will feature readings by Driskell, House and former Poets Laureate Crystal Wilkinson, Jeff Worley, George Ella Lyon, Frank X Walker, Maureen Morehead, Sena Jeter Naslund, Joe Survant and Richard Taylor. Both events are free and open to the public.
The Kentucky Arts Council administers Kentucky Writers’ Day and the Kentucky Poet Laureate nomination process.
For more information, visit artscouncil.ky.gov.
Governor’s Office