Central Indiana Woman Selected As New Indiana Poet Laureate

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A central Indiana woman who is the author of two poetry books has been selected as the new Indiana Poet Laureate.

The Indiana Arts Commission announced the selection of Shari Wagner of Westfield. She teaches poetry and memoir writing at the Indiana Writers Center and literature for Butler University's religion, spirituality and the arts seminar.

Her poetry books are The Harmonist at Nightfall: Poems of Indiana and Evening Chore. Her poems have been featured in Ted Kooser's syndicated column, American Life in Poetry and in Garrison Keillor's radio program, The Writer's Almanac.

Wagner will begin her two-year term as Indiana Poet Laureate on Jan. 1. She says she looks forward to traveling Indiana promoting Indiana poets and fostering the writing and reading of poems in a variety of settings.