Dutchess County Executive Sue Serino announced she has appointed Beacon resident Ruth Danon as the County’s 2025 Poet Laureate, bringing poetry to residents of all ages throughout the county.

County Executive Serino said, “Poetry has a unique way of bringing people together – it encourages empathy, sparks meaningful conversations, and helps us see the world through each other’s eyes. We are grateful to Arts Mid-Hudson for continuing to champion this important program and extend our congratulations to Ruth on being named this year’s Poet Laureate!”

“It is a great honor to be named this year’s Dutchess County Poet Laureate. As a Bard College graduate and a resident of Beacon, NY I have a deep love of this region”, said Ruth Danon. “In all my work, whether writing, teaching, or curating, my desire has been and will continue to be the creation of community. During these difficult times, community is more important than ever. We cannot allow ourselves to feel alone or powerless. Writing and performing poetry helps us connect to one another and to the world; it also opens avenues to inner experience — so important to reclaim in a world dominated by social media and its many falsehoods and distractions. Poetry asks us to pay attention, and when people pay attention, positive changes can occur. In my role as Poet Laureate, I plan to develop readings and workshops that will situated within existing community organizations and that will be open to diverse and multigenerational audiences. Workshops will be playful, utilizing a variety of artistic modes as aids to generating writing. These will culminate in participant readings. I will also curate readings in larger venues that will connect poets from within the region to writers beyond Dutchess County.”

Ruth Danon’s fourth book of poetry, Turn Up the Heat, was published by Nirala Series in 2023. Her prose and poetry have appeared in many publications in the United States and abroad, most recently in On the Seawall, Noon: The Journal of the Short Poem, Sunday Salon Zine, The Nu Review, and The CAPS 25th Anniversary Anthology. Her work is forthcoming in Pratik, The Beltway Quarterly, and the Poetry is Bread Anthology, She has performed her poetry across the United States and abroad and has appeared in many podcasts and Zoom readings For 23 years, she taught in the Creative and Expository Writing Programs she designed and directed for NYU’s School of Professional Studies. Founder of Live Writing: A Project for the Reading, Writing, and Performance of Poetry, she teaches for Live Writing and the New York Writers Workshop. A Bard College graduate, she now lives in Beacon, NY, where she curates literary events and works to create a community of poets. She was one of the founding curators of the BeaconLitfest at the Howland Cultural Center. More about her and her poetry and career can be found at https://www.ruthdanon.com/

The Dutchess County Poet Laureate program was instituted in 2016 by former County Executive Marc Molinaro. Poet Laureates serve a one-year term. Arts Mid-Hudson manages the public call for nominations, facilitates a panel composed of literary professionals and community members to select from the nominees, and provides support and promotion for the Dutchess County Poet Laureate’s work during their year of service.

“Arts Mid-Hudson is thrilled to announce the appointment of Ruth Danon as the 2025 Dutchess County Poet Laureate. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to County Executive Sue Serino for her unwavering support of this initiative,” said Melissa Dvozenja-Thomas, Executive Director for Arts Mid-Hudson. “Poetry has the power to make us feel acknowledged, understood, and connected, even amidst diverse backgrounds and challenges. We are eager to collaborate with Ruth this year, as she inspires partnerships through this impactful art form.”

Information about the Dutchess County Poet Laureate and the upcoming programs can be found at www.artsmidhudson.org/dc-poetlaureate