Award-winning author, creative writing teacher named Salt Lake City's first poet laureate

SALT LAKE CITY — An award-winning author, poet and long-time creative writing teacher has been selected as the inaugural poet laureate for Utah's capital city.

The Salt Lake City Arts Council and the Mayor's Office named Joel Long to the brand-new position on Tuesday, as the city says it wants to add to its arts and culture commitments. Long, of Sugar House, has taught English and creative writing at Rowland Hall, a private pre-K-12 school, for over two decades. He has also published seven books, including five poetry collections.

His work has won him a White Pine Press Poetry Prize in New York, and he was previously given a Salt Lake City Mayor's Award for Literary Arts in 2009.

"Joel has spent decades uplifting Salt Lake City's literary community, and now he'll help us write the first chapter of something entirely new," Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall said. "As our first Poet Laureate, he'll help bring poetry beyond the page and into the everyday life of our city, while creating a strong foundation for this program for years to come."

Salt Lake City launched its search for a poet laureate in April, seeking to find someone to serve as a "cultural ambassador" for the city for a three-year term. The goal was to have someone who can create original civic poems for events and public readings to help unify residents, city officials said at the time.

The poet laureate would also be asked to develop a "signature community project" during their term as part of the job, as well as overseeing neighborhood readings, workshops, collaborations with community organizations, and other types of events. The position includes a $5,000-per-year honorarium.

It attracted the attention of sixteen people, including Long, who has taught at Rowland Hall since 2004. Before that, he received an educator of excellence award in 2001, according to his staff biography at the Salt Lake City school. He also has a master's degree specializing in poetry from the University of Utah in addition to his published works.

"Salt Lake City has a tremendous wealth of poets to celebrate, talented poets from many communities, with diverse voices and experiences," he said. "I look forward to sharing that literary and living wealth with those who love poetry and those who haven't yet discovered that they love poetry, too."

His term as the city's first poet laureate will run through June 2029.

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