Poet Laureate
The Baton Rouge Poet Laureate Program (BRPLP) was the brainchild of Mayor Sharon Weston-Broome. In 2019, her office partnered with the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge to launch & fund the program.
BRPLP celebrates Baton Rouge’s rich culture and diversity through the work of a poet who will represent Baton Rouge by creating excitement about poetry through outreach, programs, teaching, and written work. The term of service is one year
Poet Laureate
Dr. Taylor Scott
2023-2024
Dr. Taylor Scott is a Professor of English at Southern University teaching Composition and African American Literature. Scott graduated from Louisiana State University with her doctorate in English (specialty: Culture & Writing). Her teaching and research interests include Afro-pessimism, Black affectivity, and popular culture. In addition to teaching, her passions include creative writing, performance art, and community building.
"I am proof that programs such as Poetry Out Loud, Forward Arts, Humanities Amped, the Pinkie Gordon Lane Poetry Contest, and the Baton Rouge Youth Coalition matter. Good mentors and good teachers matter."
Poet Laureate
Jonathan Mayers
2021-2023
Mayers is a native of Baton Rouge. The visual artist, writer, and cultural activist earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Studio Art with a concentration of painting and drawing from Louisiana State University, and earned his Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of New Orleans.
“As a Louisiana Creole, my hopes in this position are to share language and perspectives, opening up a dialogue on multilinguialism and bridging communities through poetry.”
Poet Laureate
Brittany Marshall
2020-2021
Brittany is an LSU alumna and high school English & Literature teacher, born and raised in North Baton Rouge.
“This year I am looking forward to the life I will continue to live and sharing poems with the people of Baton Rouge!”
Poet Laureate
Cubs the Poet
2019-2020
“Since 1989, I have been writing poems. Later in life, I studied psychology in school and began thinking for myself. It wasn't long before I decided to study life outside of the classroom. I began typing poems on a typewriter, in the middle of the French Quarter on Royal Street, in New Orleans, Louisiana.”
Christian “Cubs the Poet” Davenport
Sponsored by
Luke St. John McKnight
Chief Operations Officer
225.344.8558 ext. 222
lmcknight@artsbr.org