A few links for the new laureate ...

Kathryn Stripling Byer, now the former Poet Laureate of the Old North State, has a nice appreciation of new Laureate Cathy Smith Bowers up on her Laureate's blog, written on the occasion of her selection of Cathy as one of her "Poets of the Week" in October, 2009. As she puts it,

[Cathy Smith Bowers] is one of the finest poets writing today ... her work fuses narrative with exquisite lyricism, as well as wit and vulnerability.

She also helpfully provides the texts of two of Cathy's poems from The Candle I Hold Up to See You, "Cool Radio" and "Solace", which give evidence of the complex interplay of passion, compassion, and humor that defines the tonal center of her work.

Kay also has a note up today on the announcement of Cathy's selection to succeed her (though Cathy won't, as it turns out, be taking over the "Laureate's Lasso" blog that Kay has done so much good work on, but will be starting her own blog in the new few weeks).

Wendi Loomis, who's also from Cathy's hometown of Tryon, has an interview from 2008 at her Jazz and Poetry site that explores, among other things, the life transition that brought Cathy to Tryon.

More to come.

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Photo: Kay and Cathy get together at Kay's studio in Sylva to discuss the laureateship.