Congratulations to Lance Larsen! Tampa Press Poet Named Utah Poet Laureate.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Gov. Gary Herbert, right, announced Lance Larsen as the state's new poet laureate on Thursday, May 3, 2012, at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center in West Valley City.

University of Tampa Press poet Lance Larsen was appointed Poet Laureate in ceremonies earlier this month by the Utah Governor. Lance, who won the Tampa Review Prize for Poetry for his collection entitled In All Their Animal Brilliance (University of Tampa Press, 2005), will serve a five-year term as Utah’s Poet Laureate. The University of Tampa Press will be publishing his fourth collection of poems, Genius Loci, this fall and also previously published his third book, Backyard Alchemy, in 2009. You can read details of the appointment in the Salt Lake Tribune at this link. And you can hear a short reading by Lance at the Utah Division of Arts website.

Titles from Lance Larsen published by the University of Tampa Press include: Backyard Alchemy and In All Their Animal Brilliance. Larsen's forthcoming book of poetry Genius Loci will be available in Fall 2012.