Tucson Poet Laureate

Inspiring the Literary Arts

The Tucson Poet Laureate serves as an ambassador to the literary arts and reflects the spirit of the community by promoting the artistic spirit of communities and raising the national consciousness to an appreciation for the poetic experience of the land known as Tucson.

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Overview

The City of Tucson, in partnership with the Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona and the University of Arizona Poetry Center, is pleased to announce the open call for the next Tucson Poet Laureate. This three-year honorary appointment begins March 1, 2026, and includes a $15,000 honorarium to recognize the Laureate’s artistic and public contribution.

The Tucson Poet Laureate program honors outstanding literary achievement and supports poets in engaging the public through creative expression, education, and community connection. It aims to strengthen the relationship between the arts and civic life, while encouraging poetry as a source of reflection and inspiration throughout the Tucson community.

All nominations are reviewed by a community panel administered by the Arts Foundation. The final review will result in a ranked list of three individuals outlining the panel’s recommendations for the Poet Laureate. The City of Tucson Mayor makes the final selection from the panel’s recommendation of finalists.

Application now closed. See Request for Qualifications.

Tucson Poet Laureates

LOgan Phillips

2026-2029 Tucson Poet Laureate

Logan Phillips works in poetry and culture. He is the author of the books Reckon (University of Arizona Press, 2026), Sonoran Strange (University of New Mexico / West End Press, 2015), and the ongoing NoVoGRAFíAS series. Phillips is known for compelling bilingual readings and multimedia performance art. Holding collaboration as a core creative practice, he has contributed to a wide range of publishing, music, education, and community-centered, land-based projects in the US, Mexico, Colombia, and beyond. His books, tour dates, and newsletter can be found at Dirtyverbs.com.

TC TOLBERT

2017-2025 Tucson Poet Laureate

TC Tolbert was appointed the Tucson Poet Laureate in 2017, reflecting the spirit of the community by promoting literary education in schools and communities and bringing poetry to the people in Tucson who have limited access or exposure to the literary arts.

TC Tolbert is a transqueer poet and educator, nationally recognized with an Academy of American Poets’ Laureate Fellowship for his work with over a thousand trans, non-binary, and queer folks as Tucson’s Poet Laureate (2017-2025). TC is author of the award winning The Quiet Practices (Beloit, 2023), Gephyromania (Nightboat Books, 2022) and five chapbooks. S/he is co-editor of Troubling the Line: Trans and Genderqueer Poetry and Poetics (Nightboat Books, 2013), the first anthology of its kind. TC founder and facilitator of Trans/Space, a free online poetry series for trans and queer writers.

Rebecca Seiferle

2012-2016 Tucson Poet Laureate

In 2012, Mayor Rothschild named poet, translator, and editor Rebecca Seiferle Tucson’s Poet Laureate.

Rebecca earned a BA from SUNY and an MFA from Warren Wilson College. Her collections of poetry include The Music We Dance To (1999), winner of the Cecil Hemley Award from the Poetry Society of America; Bitters (2001), which won both the Western States Book Award and a Pushcart Prize; and Wild Tongue (2007), winner of the Grub Street National Poetry Prize. She has translated the works of poets such as César Vallejo, Alfonso D’Aquino, and Ernesto Lumbreras.

You can read a full article about Rebecca Seiferle’s impressions as Tucson Poet Laureate here.