Jellystone Robinson

New York City – on April 28, at the historic Federal Hall on Wall Street, the 5 finalists for the National Youth Poet Laureate title performed in front of a packed audience. Patricia Frazier, Chicago’s Youth Poet Laureate since Fall 2018, was chosen by a panel of esteemed judges, which included former U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera, as the nation’s Youth Poet Laureate. Frazier was chosen from a field of 41 other youth poet laureates from 32 different states.

“The youth poet laureate program is important because it celebrates young poets who utilize their powerful voices to impact social change,” says urban word executive director, Michael Cirelli. “Patricia was chosen not only because of her elegant, timely, and necessary poetic voice – but because her work aims to elevate the intersection between artistic excellence and social justice.”

Frazier is a filmmaker, activist and student. She was born and raised in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood. She studied and honed her craft in the highly-regarded young Chicago authors program where she was a member of its most rigorous program for young writers; Louder Than A Bomb Squad. Frazier’s writing addresses the intersections of young, queer, and colored identities living in marginalized areas. Her work has appeared in Breaking The Chains Magazine, South Side Weekly, and “Voices of the East Coast” anthology. She was also recently profiled by Vogue Magazine. Her first poetry chapbook, Graphite, will be released by Haymarket Press this fall. Frazier has performed her work at the Library of Congress and New York’s Federal Hall. Frazier is a member of Assata’s Daughters, an intergenerational grassroots organization of women and femme-identifying people working to deepen, sustain and escalate the black lives matter movement. She is a Davis-Putter Scholar and currently attends Columbia College Chicago where she is studying cinema arts and sciences.

“I’m really honored to represent Chicago as the nation’s Youth Poet Laureate,” says Frazier. “I’m looking forward to using this platform to amplify the noise of the causes I believe in.”

Following the incredible inaugural year of naming a National Youth Poet Laureate, Patricia will give readings across the united states, at a number of venues including the library of congress.