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Youth Poets Laureate Of St. Louis Share Their Own Timely Pieces On Heels Of Inauguration

This interview will be on “St. Louis on the Air” over the noon hour Monday. This story will be updated after the show. You can listen live.

Like many other Americans this past Wednesday, 17-year-old St. Louisan Grace Ruo found herself transfixed by inaugural poet Amanda Gorman. Ruo, an accomplished young poet in her own right, found the 22-year-old’s poem “The Hill We Climb” beautiful — and Gorman’s presentation on Capitol Hill also got her creative juices flowing.

“It definitely made me want to write my own perspective on the last four years,” Ruo said.

Earlier in the week, Ruo had experienced a different pivotal transition, one that also put poetry and the power of words in the spotlight: She became the 2021 St. Louis youth poet laureate on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in an induction ceremony spearheaded by UrbArts.

Passing the literary torch her way was fellow 17-year-old Sarah Abbas, the 2020 St. Louis youth poet laureate. Both teens were part of this past year’s international-championship-winning poetry slam team under the direction of UrbArts.

On Monday’s St. Louis on the Air, Ruo and Abbas will talk with host Sarah Fenske about why they enjoyed seeing poetry get its due in recent days. They’ll share their hopes for bringing written and spoken words to bear on society, and read timely poems of their own.

What is it about young voices like Amanda Gorman’s that is resonating with you right now? Tweet us (@STLonAir), send an email to talk@stlpublicradio.org or share your thoughts via our St. Louis on the AirFacebook group, and help inform our coverage.

St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is hosted by Sarah Fenske and produced by Alex Heuer, Emily Woodbury, Evie Hemphill and Lara Hamdan. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.

Copyright 2021 St. Louis Public Radio. To see more, visit St. Louis Public Radio.

Evie Hemphill joined the St. Louis on the Air team in February 2018. After earning a bachelor’s degree in English literature in 2005, she started her career as a reporter for the Westminster Window in Colorado. Several years later she went on to pursue graduate work in creative writing at the University of Wyoming and moved to St. Louis upon earning an MFA in the spring of 2010. She worked as writer and editor for Washington University Libraries until 2014 and then spent several more years in public relations for the University of Missouri–St. Louis before making the shift to St. Louis Public Radio.