Monday, February 1, 2021

RACC Announces Anthony Orozco as 9th Berks County Poet Laureate.

Anthony Orozco photo by Mateo Toro

 (Photo Credit: Mateo Toro)

Reading Area Community College recently announced that Anthony Orozco has been named the 9th Berks County Poet Laureate for 2021 and 2022.

We as Berks Bards are absolutely elated and so grateful to hear this news. In recent years, we've watched Orozco's unique and heart-driven force of goodness through his way with language in how he lifts people up through his performances of poetry. And we've also loved seeing him delve into teaching poetry workshops at Barrio Alegría in the City of Reading, often with a packed classroom of enthusiastic students eager to learn from his craft, to help them on their paths in finding strength in their own language and turns of phrasing.

In 2019, as a journalist who is seasoned in documenting stories and memories from the people he meets, he curated a breakthrough project of community-weaved voices through local writers in Pen Street: City of Poems, inspired by Penn Street in downtown Reading.

And his poem ''A Restless Glimmer'' especially matches a great need in the world since 2020 into now, in how it brings recognition to what we feel inside and the hope we want to have, collectively. See it online here on YouTube.

Last month, we highlighted Orozco as our January 2021 featured poet in bringing you all into a very different kind of new year, feeling that he was the perfect fit for this in what his energy and vision offers. If you weren't able to be there for the poetry reading on Zoom, feel free to check it out here on our YouTube channel; and if you're open to new ideas in 2021, we recommend watching poetry readings while you enjoy dinner, to savor the artistry of a poet while you nourish yourself and maybe also while spending time with loved ones, to share these experiences alongside one another, with a fork or spoon in hand.

Learn more about Berks County's poet laureateship sponsored by RACC and also about Orozco through BCTV.

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