Indiana Poet Laureate

About the Poet Laureate 

During his 35 years in southern Indiana, Matthew Graham has been a respected and recognized writer, teacher, and advocate for poetry and the arts. Having recently retired from the University of Southern Indiana (USI), he has taught all levels of creative writing, contemporary literature, and worked with multicultural and international students in freshman composition. Among other community service Graham has worked with diverse writing groups such as high school students and community writing groups. 

Matthew Graham is the author of four books of poetry, most recently The Geography of Home (Galileo Press, 2018). His work has earned numerous national, regional and local honors and awards, including a Pushcart Prize, an Academy of American Poets Award, two grants from the Indiana Arts Commission, and the Artist of the Year Award from the Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana. 

While at USI, Matthew co-founded and co-directed (with Thomas Wilhelmus) The Ropewalk Writers' Retreat, a summer program that brought national and international writers to New Harmony, Indiana for 22 years, and the Ropewalk Visiting Writers Series, which brought prominent fiction and non-fiction writers and poets to the USI campus for free public readings. The list of participating writers includes the present U.S. Poet Laureate, Joy Harjo. 

Graham will begin his two-year term as Indiana Poet Laureate, January 1, 2020 and will continue serving through December 31, 2021. He succeeds current Poet Laureate Adrian Matejka.

INverse Poetry Archive

INverse celebrates and preserves the diverse range of Indiana poetry for future generations of Indiana writers and readers. It is a collaboration of Indiana Poet Laureate Adrian Matejka, the Indiana State Library and the Indiana Arts Commission. Residents of Indiana are encouraged to submit poems to the archive annually between February 1 and April 30. 

Click here for more information.

Former Poets Laureate

Please note: In 2012 the Indiana Poet Laureate started serving a calendar year, two-year term.  

• Joyce Brinkman, July 2005 through June 2007 (interview)
• Norbert Krapf, July 2008 through June 2010 (website)
• Karen Kovacik, 2012, 2013 (website)
• George Kalamaras, 2014, 2015 (website)
• Shari Wagner, 2016, 2017 (website)
• Adrian Matejka, 2018, 2019 (website)

News

• Southern Indiana's Matthew Graham selected as new Indiana State Poet Laureate
• Meet the Indiana professor who will change the way you think about poetry
• The driving force for Indiana's poet laureate Shari Wagner

For information regarding the Indiana Poet Laureate please contact Stephanie Haines at shaines@iac.in.gov.