The City of Victoria and the Greater Victoria Public Library are pleased to announce Marie Metaphor Specht as Victoria’s new Poet Laureate and Irena Datcu-Romano as Victoria’s Youth Poet Laureate.
Selected by a nomination and peer evaluation process, Specht and Datcu-Romano will serve two-year terms in honorary positions that celebrate the contributions of literature and poetry in the capital city.
Specht is a spoken word poet and multidisciplinary artist whose work has been published in Oratorealis, Untethered Magazine, The Chestnut Review, The Hellebore and Room Magazine among others. She regularly performs at a wide variety of venues ranging from arts festivals to literary events and poetry slams. Specht has collaborated with musicians, filmmakers and lighting technicians to create complex and interactive works. Her first full-length book of poetry, Soft Shelters, will be published with Write Bloody North in fall 2023.
Datcu-Romano is an artist of Romanian heritage in her second year of a double major in Religions and Cultures and Writing, with a concentration in Poetry and Creative Non-Fiction, at the University of Victoria. Datcu-Romano’s poetry has been published in Work in Progress Mag and VOICES/VOIX Poetry Journal, and her litzine Chess Game was shortlisted for Broken Pencil’s Canzine Awards in 2021. Datcu-Romano is currently the Poetry Editor for This Side of West magazine.
The Poet Laureate and Youth Poet Laureate will produce new work and organize a community poetry event each year. Along with sharing their own literary talents with the community, they will also find ways to collaborate with and celebrate other local poets.
The “people’s poet” is a position that was established by City Council in 2006 to honour, celebrate and reflect the life of the city through poetry. The Poet Laureates act as local champions for poetry, language and the arts through public readings and civic engagements.
Specht and Datcu-Romano will give their first readings in their new roles at the City Council meeting on April 27, 2023 at 6:30 p.m. All are welcome to attend.
For more information, please visit the Poet Laureate page.