Ann Fisher-Wirth, a distinguished poet and Oxford resident, has been appointed Mississippi’s new Poet Laureate, the Mississippi Arts Commission announced Thursday.
Governor Tate Reeves made the official appointment, selecting Fisher-Wirth to serve a four-year term as the state’s official poet. In this role, she will be responsible for composing and presenting poetry at state events, promoting literacy initiatives, and representing Mississippi’s rich cultural heritage through her literary work.
Fisher-Wirth arrives at the position with an impressive literary record. She has earned three Mississippi Arts Commission Poetry Fellowships, received the Mississippi Institute of Arts Poetry Award, and been nominated fifteen times for the prestigious Pushcart Prize.
In 2023, Fisher-Wirth was honored with the Governor’s Arts Award for Excellence in Literature and Poetry by the Mississippi Arts Commission.
Her extensive body of work includes numerous poetry collections, with recent highlights such as Into the Chalice of Your Thoughts — a poetry and photography collaboration with Wilfried Raussert that also features Spanish translations by the Women in Translation collective. Other notable works include Paradise Is Jagged and Mississippi, a collaborative poetry and photography project with Maude Schuyler Clay.
For more information about Ann Fisher-Wirth and the Poet Laureate program, visit the Mississippi Arts Commission website at arts.ms.gov/poetlaureate.
