On the evening of May 20, Cossitt Library felt like a room that knew it was part of something.
High school students from the Memphis Jazz Workshop opened the program with D’Angelo’s “How Does It Feel.” Writers, educators, and creatives filled the downtown library as the City of Memphis prepared to name its first poet laureate, a role the city had never held before and one that signals a deepening investment in Memphis’ literary life.
When Mayor Paul Young announced the selection, the name was Bria Saulsberry.
“I couldn’t have imagined my little feelings and my little poems would make room for me in the ways that it has,” Saulsberry said in her acceptance speech. She thanked finalist Jasmine Settles, her teacher and creative sparring partner for a decade, and closed by reciting Lucille Clifton’s poem “Won’t You Celebrate With Me.”
The Process Behind the Moment
Saulsberry’s selection came at the end of a four-month process spearheaded by the City of Memphis Office of Creative and Cultural Economy, starting with 24 candidates and narrowed by a committee of local educators and artists, including Memphis Youth Poet Laureate Aasritha Butti. Finalists Aisha Raison and Jasmine Settles each received mayoral proclamations and a $500 stipend in recognition of their work. All three were celebrated throughout the evening.
What Comes With the Title
The laureate position carries a $20,000 honorarium and a two-year term. DeMarcus Suggs, director of the city’s Office of Creative and Cultural Economy, laid out what the role actually requires.
“A poet laureate is a community’s official ambassador for poetry,” Suggs said. “The poet laureate helps keep the art of poetry alive, accessible and woven into the fabric of our city.”
That means classroom visits, workshops, and original work that reflects Memphis’ shared experience. Mayor Young, a self-described lover of hip-hop and spoken word, grounded the evening in the city’s longer story.
“Memphis has always been a city of storytellers,” he said.
Read the full story at the Daily Memphian.
