St. Louis Poet Laureate Task Force adds alternate candidate after two withdrawals, sets live Zoom interviews and follow-up schedule

The St. Louis City Poet Laureate Task Force on March 24 said two applicants withdrew from consideration and voted to interview an alternate candidate to restore a three-person interview slate, while agreeing on a process and schedule for live public interviews.

Task force members approved the minutes from the March 17 meeting by voice vote and then discussed logistics for next week’s candidate interviews. Christine (staff member) reported that “Aaron Williams has withdrawn his application,” and that “Dwyer Frasier also withdrew her application,” leaving the panel with fewer confirmed interviewees. The group agreed to invite Corinne Wolford Mason, who had ranked fourth in the earlier scoring, to fill the third interview slot.

Why it matters: The task force’s recommendation will go to the Board of Aldermen and could affect who serves as an official, city-appointed poet representing St. Louis at public events and outreach. Members emphasized fairness and consistency in the interview process to allow defensible scoring and equal opportunity for each candidate.

Members agreed several procedural points to guide the interviews. Anne Hobert proposed a set of candidate questions, which she summarized as asking candidates about their vision for the term, how they would connect poetry and outreach to the city, anticipated challenges and opportunities during a term, and why their body of work makes them the best candidate. Hobert read the core question set aloud: "What is your vision for your term as Saint Louis Poet Laureate? How do you envision your poetry and outreach as connecting with and making an impact upon your audience? How do you plan to use your platform as Poet Laureate to promote poetry and literature?" She added, "What do you think might be the biggest challenges and opportunities to your term as poet laureate?"

Members said they would anchor interview questions to the task force’s rubric so panelists could score consistently. Nikki Smith described the approach as a way to give the scoring "some defensibility," and several members urged that each interview use the same base questions with a limited number of follow-ups. One member said she would begin the interviews with a technical question about craft to make candidates comfortable.

The task force set these logistical decisions during the meeting: Christine (staff member) will reach out to the alternate candidate to see if she can be scheduled next Monday along with the other two candidates; interviews will be held live on Zoom and viewable by the public; the task force does not plan to accept live public testimony during the interviews given time constraints; and a tentative follow-up meeting was added to the calendar for 4:00 p.m. on April 7 if members need to discuss the recommendation before forwarding it to the Board of Aldermen. The group also noted the swearing-in ceremony for the incoming poet laureate could be on the fifteenth (month not specified).

The panel agreed to create a shared document to align questions and rubric categories. One member suggested a Google Doc template mapping rubric categories to a "questions" column so the panel could draft consistent questions; Christine said she would manage both Google and Word versions so members who prefer Word could participate.

Votes at a glance - Motion to approve March 17, 2025 minutes: approved (voice vote; unanimous among members present). - Motion to adjourn: approved (voice vote; unanimous among members present).

The task force ended the meeting noting they would finalize the interview questions and order by email, hold the live Zoom interviews as scheduled, and reconvene as necessary the week of April 7 to produce a formal recommendation to the Board of Aldermen.