Christina VarvisThe term “Poet Laureate” may be unfamiliar to many Edmontonians, but University of Alberta students might want to get acquainted, because the city’s newest one may be one of their classmates.
Charlotte Cranston, a sociology major at the University of Alberta, began her one year term as Edmonton’s first Youth Poet Laureate on June 1, 2015, beating out 20 other applicants for the position.
Historically, a poet laureate’s job was something like a state historian—chronicling events and history. Today, a poet laureate reflects the life of a city through poetry, writing and performing for various city events.
“I think the Poet Laureate’s job is to connect poetry to the rest of the community, and to bring poetry into the greater public sphere as opposed to just inside its own little scene,” Cranston said.“As the Youth Poet Laureate I think my job is similar. It’s to bring poetry into the public eye, except in my case, I want to create more opportunities for young people.”
Edmonton hired its first poet laureate in 2005 to “confirm the city’s support for the arts in general, and for the literary arts in particular.” Five poets laureate have served in the city since the position was created, with Cranston being the first to specifically promote poetry among youth.
Cranston, who wrote her first poem at 4-years-old, has since been published by Glass Buffalo literary magazine, and competed nationally with Breath In Poetry Collective — group of “poetry enthusiasts” who promote spoken word around the city. She said she hopes to make poetry more accessible for youth, who she says don’t need to be told to write poetry but just need a way to get it out there.
“That’s my mission, to give them as many platforms as I can,” Cranston said.
Cranston also said she hopes her role empowers young people, who are at a vulnerable stage of their life.
“(As a youth) you’re old enough to understand the complexities of the world, but you’re also young enough that you’re experiencing the most raw and the most human time of your life,” she said.
“I really want to celebrate young people’s poetry because it is so honest.”
Cranston has been directly impacted by former poets laureate, having taken classes at YouthWrite, a multidisciplinary writing camp, taught by Edmonton’s fourth and fifth poets laureate Anna Marie Sewell and Mary Pinkoski. Pinkoski will serve as Cranston’s mentor throughout her term and created the Youth Poet Laureate position as a legacy project to continue impacting the community of young people.
“Mary’s always bringing me back to: ‘OK, you can draw on other people’s ideas and styles, but who are you exactly? Because you are the only you and you are the only person who can tell this particular story,’” Cranston said, recalling Pinkoski’s advice.
For the city’s first Youth Poet Laureate, poetry is a way to bring people together and learn from one another’s experiences — something she hopes to continue throughout her term.
“Honestly I think poetry makes people better — it makes the world better,” Cranston said. “It sounds idealistic and all, but when you go to a poetry event whether it’s a slam or a reading or a panel or anything like that, you’re in a room full of people sitting there with this mutual understanding that whoever is speaking or reading — their voice is important.”
