Louisiana Poet Laureate Dr. Mona Lisa Saloy

Poetry Reading

Meet Louisiana’s Poet Laureate, Dr. Mona Lisa Saloy, an award-winning author, folklorist, educator, and scholar of Creole culture. Registration required.

The state poet laureate is Louisiana’s literacy ambassador, who encourages others to explore and engage with poetry.

Dr. Mona Lisa Saloy will present a poetry reading to celebrate Creole culture. She writes on the significance of the Black Beat poets, especially Bob Kaufman; on the African American toasting tradition; Black talk; and on keeping Creole alive today. Her poems document and celebrate Creole culture in New Orleans, food, language, music, and more. Dr. Saloy documents Creole culture in sidewalk songs, jump-rope rhymes, and hand-clap games to discuss the importance of play.  

Currently, Dr. Saloy is the Conrad N. Hilton Endowed Professor of English at Dillard University in New Orleans. Her first collection of poetry, Red Beans & Ricely Yours, won the T.S. Eliot Prize for Poetry and the PEN/Oakland Josephine Miles Award. She has lectured on Black Creole culture at Poets House-NYC, the Smithsonian, Purdue University, the University of Washington, and Woodland Patterns Book Center.

To register, call (225) 673-8699.

This program is funded under a grant from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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