Kate Leigh, Portsmouth’s 10th Poet Laureate, has focused her project on engaging youth in Portsmouth and surrounding communities, by offering classroom-based workshops and public programs throughout the Seacoast area. The emphasis of these workshops includes using poetry to contribute to a more peaceful world with specific prompts for discussing Portsmouth’s newly opened African Burying Ground, presented as an example of a good community response to social injustice.
Here is a list of Kate’s events and projects during her term.
- Kate along with Jerome Meadows Blank Page poetry at3S with local adult poets and one child October 2015
- We had the Martin Luther King Jr event at South Church in January 2016
- The Art and Poetry Show plus Reading at Ceres Bakery April 2016 which was up for the month of April
- A field trip with the kids to the Isles of Shoals in June 2016
- The Poems for Peace event at 3S in January 2017 which was recorded and Televised. View the full event on Youtube here.
- Kate was a keynote speaker for earth day at Berwick Academy April 2017
- Kate was asked by the city of Portsmouth to read a poem at the inauguration of Mayor Blalock.
- The Seacoast Peace Response asked her to write and read a poem at their August remembrance of the bombing of Nagasaki/Hiroshima
- The Portsmouth Library asked Kate to read a poem to open their event Talent Day
- Ongoing throughout this time were After School Poet programs held every 2 weeks at the Portsmouth Library
- There were monthly Youth Poetry Workshops held at 3S Art Gallery
- Kate visited any school in the seacoast that expressed interest in having her throughout her term.
Read the article about Kate by Tami Truax
Read the article about Kate by Larry Clow
In Kate’s own words:
“Before I became a poet laureate I had published a book of poems about the Isles of Shoals. One of my friends taught third grade in Newmarket and each spring she introduced her students to the isles as well as to the iconic local historical poet, Celia Thaxter.
For several years, she invited me to participate by visiting her classroom where I would read my poems and hear them read ones they had written. My friend retired and I missed going into her classroom, so I decided to use my laureateship to re-enter classrooms and work with children on poetry. Also, Portsmouth had just completed our African Burying Ground so I used that dedication as my theme.
Later on, I included the Isles of Shoals and Celia, as we were exploring local history. Both themes worked to spark our imaginations about fairness, equality, and love of the natural world. This is the essence of my project, to encourage self-expression through poetry early, and cultivate confidence and artistry in young people.”
