Launching: VA Poets Database

Dear Friends and Poets in the Commonwealth,

As 20th Poet Laureate of Virginia, I'm excited to inform you of the launch of one of my cornerstone projects, made possible with support from Old Dominion University Provost Austin Agho, ODU's  Perry Library and Digital Commons Platform,  as well as a fellowship from The Academy of American Poets ~
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The Virginia Poets Database is a digital archive of Virginia poets meant to serve as a literary and educational resource. 

This archive is structured using eight Virginia regions. While it makes no claims to be the definitive or exhaustive resource on this subject area, the goal is to provide a centralized location of such information that will grow and develop over time, and that may be useful to students, teachers, and the general public.

The Virginia Poets Database aims to collect and feature information on Virginia-born poets, poets who are current residents, and poets who have spent significant time doing literary work in Virginia (for the archive to represent poets of the state as fairly as possible, poets must have resided in the state for more than the duration of their time in a university program).

We want to feature historically recognized or established poets alongside emerging poets, as well as spotlight those from underrepresented communities. More importantly, the goal is to gather information that shows the richness and diversity of poetry and poets in our state.

The Virginia Poets Database aims to create a growing and relevant repository of information on Virginia poets, but by doing so it is *not* making claims about literary merit. However, since any archive must have clear organizational criteria for it to be meaningful, it asks potential contributors to review the guidelines/criteria for submitting their information for inclusion.

The hope is for this archive to be inclusive, but I acknowledge it cannot be exhaustive. That type of goal cannot be met through a website alone.

Please consider making a submission to the archive, and thank you for helping us build a rich and viable repository of information on poets in Virginia. 

~ Luisa A. Igloria