Austin has a new youth poet laureate

Ella Kim has been named the 2024 Austin Youth Poet Laureate. Kim, who is a 17-year-old senior at St. Stephen’s Episcopal School, “has been editor and graphic designer for The Bell, the school’s newspaper, and involved in theater, acting in numerous plays and musicals. She recently won First Prize in Princeton University’s Lewis Center of the Arts Ten-Minute Play contest. … Her poetry, which sometimes explores her Korean heritage, was lauded by the judges for its ‘command of language and exploration of the poetic line,'” according to the Library Foundation. During her term, she will serve as a representative for youth voices and will have her poetry published in a chapbook and the National Youth Poet Laureate anthology. The program, which is an initiative between the Library Foundation and the National Youth Poet Laureate Program, is supported by Austin Public Library and open to writers ages 13 to 18 years old. This year’s finalists were: Saaya Accapadi, 16, Anderson High School; Aly Clark, 16, Classical Conversations Cedar Park; Astrid Gothard, 17, Liberal Arts and Science Academy; Michelle Li, 16, Westwood High School; and Beatrix Lozach, 16, McCallum High School.