ArtsFairfax Announces Angelique Palmer, 2024-2027 Fairfax County Poet Laureate

Angelique Palmer is named the 2024-2027 Fairfax County Poet Laureate, a distinguished appointment that highlights the importance of poetry and literary arts in Fairfax County. Through the designation of a Fairfax County Poet Laureate, ArtsFairfax celebrates and supports a local writer to raise the visibility of poetry, engages new audiences, and encourages the creation of poetry and other literary works in the Northern Virginia community. 

Ms. Palmer comments, “It means everything to me to be named the Fairfax County Poet Laureate. This honor will change my life, and I want to use my time to change the lives of others, too. Over the next three years, I will share freely with everyone how much I love my chosen art form of poetry!"

Angelique Palmer is a performance poet, Kindergarten teacher, and Spoken Word instructor at Wilkes University Maslow Family Creative Writing Graduate Program. A competitor with the Womxn of the World Poetry Slam, Ms. Palmer was the fifth-ranked woman poet in the world in 2015 and is currently ranked 19th among the top 96 performing poets in the world.

The Fairfax County Poet Laureate serves as a literary arts ambassador, promoting poetry as an art form in the county, region, and state. During their tenure, the Poet Laureate encourages writing and reading of poetry and all types of literature through a community service project designed for County residents. For her project, Ms. Palmer hopes to explore and celebrate the intersection of poetry with various artistic mediums.

“Angelique's vision to demystify the art form and encourage a new community of artists to interact with poetry aligns with the ArtsFairfax mission to make arts participation more accessible to Fairfax County residents. Through the Poet Laureate program, we celebrate, honor, and promote the poets and writers in our community,” says Stuart Holt, ArtsFairfax President & CEO. 

ArtsFairfax operates the Fairfax County Poet Laureate program and oversees the open call and selection of the Poet Laureate through a competitive process and deliberation by an independent panelist of reviewers. The nonprofit also funds and facilitates public programs conceived by the Fairfax County Poet Laureate. Through designated funding provided by Fairfax County, the Poet Laureate receives an honorarium of $5,000 per year. 

Ms. Palmer's first full length book, The Chambermaid's Style Guide, debuted on Sargent Press in 2016. Her second book is the 2021 follow-up Also Dark on Etruscan Press. Honored to be a part of such anthologies as The Queer Cookies Poetry Cookbook, and Sign & Breath: Voice and the Literary Tradition, she has also published online in Drunk in A Midnight Choir; Wus Good?: A POC Magazine; Borderline; and The Mud Review. The New Orleans native and Florida State University Creative Writing graduate has called Virginia home since 2010 and Fairfax County home since 2017. She makes her own ice cream, shares kindness freely, and never hesitates to bond with anyone over “The Golden Girls.”

The Fairfax County Poet Laureate is available for select weekend visits to libraries, community events, readings, workshops, conferences, and more. Requests must be made at least one month in advance on the ArtsFairfax website: ArtsFairfax.org/Poetry.

Past Poet Laureate projects include Danielle Badra's “Poetry in the Parks,” a series of free poetry readings and workshops at Fairfax County parks and interpretive sign installations at Ellanor C. Lawrence Park and Riverbend Park, as well as Nicole Tong's “Poetry Lives Here,” comprised of virtual poetry readings and a residency at the Fairfax County Juvenile Detention Center to celebrate living poets.

ArtsFairfax is the nonprofit designated as Fairfax County's local arts agency. Dedicated to the belief that arts are essential to a thriving community, the ArtsFairfax mission is to expand support for and access to arts and culture opportunities for the more than 1.2 million residents across Fairfax County, the City of Fairfax, and the City of Falls Church. By offering informational, financial, and programmatic services, ArtsFairfax promotes the role of arts and culture to deepen social engagement, create a sense of place, and fuel economic growth.

Incorporated as a 501(c)(3) since 1964, ArtsFairfax provides these services to all who contribute to and experience arts in Fairfax County, and is funded in part by the County, Virginia Commission for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as corporations, foundations, and individuals. 

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