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Lafayette Alumni News, September 1999 – During an “Evening of Poetry” in May, Yolanda Wisher ’98 was named the first poet laureate of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Wisher and the runners-up read their works.

Wisher, who majored in English and black studies, noticed the application for the post at a bookstore while visiting her mother. The competition was sponsored by the Indian Valley Arts Foundation and Montgomery County Community College. Joanne Leva, founder and director of Poetry Forus, served as executive director of the poet laureate search.

Wisher is working with Leva to develop official duties for the poet laureate. “I had a problem with the fact that there was nothing expected of the poet,” she says. “So, we’ve decided to do children’s workshops in Ambler, to surround the children with knowledge and encourage them in their creative writing.”

Wisher hopes to name the workshops after her grandmother, who, with her mother, encouraged her writing. One goal is to make the workshops affordable. “That’s why we picked Ambler, it’s between Willow Grove and Landsale and accessible to children from different economic backgrounds. I’m thinking of a six-week workshop that will cost $10 per child. That way it’s easier on parents.”

Wisher is working on a master’s degree in creative writing at Temple University. Her focus is poetry. She uses her talents as a volunteer in the community, working with Panoramic Programs, a nonprofit organization dedicated to social and artistic goals.

“I got involved in their fund-raiser, which is a poetry reading. Eventually, I began to host the reading. Now I mostly do workshops in community centers for children around the age of 12,” she says.

Wisher also edits “us verse,” a broadside publication of Panoramic, for which she interviews Philadelphia artists.

Categorized in: Alumni Profiles