Meet Victoria's New Youth Poet Laureate
January 26, 2022
The City of Victoria and the Greater Victoria Public Library are pleased to announce Eli Mushumanski is Victoria’s new Youth Poet Laureate. They will do their first reading at Thursday’s City Council meeting beginning at 6:30 p.m..
The Youth Poet Laureate serves as Victoria’s champion for youth and the literary arts, seeking to inspire and engage local youth to share their stories through written and spoken word, and serves a one-year term.
Eli Mushumanski just completed a double major in Writing and English with Honours at the University of Victoria. They grew up in Northern British Columbia on the traditional territory of the Saik'uz First Nation. At UVic, they acted as fiction editor for literary journal, This Side of West, as well as senior editor for Her Campus at UVic. Eli has poetry published in The Warren and participated in the City of Victoria's 2021 Resilient Muse reading series.
Mentored by Victoria’s Poet Laureate John Barton, the Youth Poet Laureate creates and presents new works to Victoria City Council and Youth Council, and at Greater Victoria Public Library events. They also organize a community youth poetry event. The Youth Poet Laureate seeks to give the community access to strong youth voices by engaging youth and celebrating their contribution to their community.
A Call for Nominations was held in October and was open to Capital Region poets aged 14 to 24. Applicants were required to show their involvement in the poetry community, have clear and innovative ideas for the vision of their role as Youth Poet Laureate, and be skillful in presenting their work to the public.
The Youth Poet Laureate is a one-year term position from January 1 to December 31, 2022. In addition to the year-long mentorship, the position receives a $1,750 honorarium and $2,000 of project funding. The Youth Poet Laureate position is funded by the City of Victoria and the Greater Victoria Public Library.
Victoria was the first municipality in Canada to establish a Youth Poet Laureate. For more information, click here.
