JoAnn Balingit: poet laureate press

Delaware’s Poet Laureate

Dover, May 14, 2008

JoAnn Balingit is Delaware’s 16^th Poet Laureate, appointed in 2008 by former Governor Ruth Ann Minner. As state poet laureate, JoAnn reads her work and teaches in schools and community organizations to promote the art of poetry. Her residencies and visits are co-sponsored by the Delaware Division of the Arts. She has led workshops at the Writers Retreat at Cape Henlopen, the annual Delaware Book Festival, The 2008 Diamond State Reading Association Conference, and the 2009 Delaware Literary Connection Writers Conference. In 2009 she gave readings at the Delaware Arts Summit, for the University of Delaware’s Speakers Series, and for local affiliates of the AAUW and the International Reading Association. In January 2009, she presented along with 12 native speakers from Delaware’s multiethnic communities, a collage poem at the state’s Inaugural Celebration of the Arts, to welcome Governor Jack Markell into office. JoAnn supports Delaware’s Poetry Out Loud contestants during their finalist competition. She writes a column on poetry and First State poets published occasionally by The News Journal (Wilmington, DE) [see columns here].