The Academy of American Poets has named Bianca Stone, Vermont’s current poet laureate, as a 2025 Poet Laureate Fellow. The honor carries a $50,000 award.
The fellowships recognize poets laureate for their literary excellence while enabling them to undertake impactful and timely projects that engage their communities through the transformative power of poetry. The program is funded by the Mellon Foundation.
For her project, Stone will launch “The State of Poetry,” a traveling community-building initiative with events across Vermont through 2026.
“We’re thrilled that Bianca has been chosen as an academy fellow,” said Vermont Arts Council Executive Director Susan Evans McClure. "Poetry has the power to increase empathy and provide new perspectives on the human experience. Bianca’s project will help to connect neighbors in communities across Vermont, which is especially important at this time when connection and understanding is so needed.”