City will pay poet $10K to hold performances, workshops

Seattle’s first civic poet can look forward to a $10,000 stipend for two years of her work.

Claudia Castro Luna will serve as an ambassador for the city’s “rich literary landscape.”

“Claudia brings a fresh perspective and a deep commitment to engaging the community through her poetry,” Mayor Ed Murray said. “We are a literary city and we’re excited to have an accomplished poet that will celebrate and inspire us through her creativity.”

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Luna will perform at the 2015 and 2016 Mayor’s Art Awards. She will also hold five community performances and workshops in the city, as well as participate in the Seattle Public Library’s Sharing Our Voices project.

Luna will serve a two year term, beginning this month. The Civic Poet program is administered by the city’s Office of Arts & Culture.

“I thank Mayor Murray and Office of Arts & Culture Director Randy Engstrom for creating Seattle’s Civic Poet program,” said council member Nick Licata. “A post inaugurated by the Poet Populist program in 1999. Claudia’s poems ‘Wake’ and ‘Choking My Vernacular,’ performed during one of the Council’s 2013 Words’ Worth readings, were moving and I am pleased to welcome her as our first Civic Poet.

“Words can change the world and no one knows the power of words better than a poet,” he said.

Luna was born in El Salvador and came to the U.S. as a young teenager fleeing civil war. Since then she has completed a Master of Arts in Urban Planning, a teaching degree, and a Master of Fine Arts in poetry.