Melissa Mitchell presents the poetry of Ocean Vuong.
A poet, author, journalist, screenwriter, and the 2024-2026 Fort Collins Poet Laureate, Melissa has been a Fort Collins community member for over 20 years and has a bachelor’s degree in creative writing from Colorado State University. As a long-time writer and collaborator, Melissa strives to build community through creativity. Her focus is on the raw and untended spaces of the heart and mind. As an experienced writer and artist, Melissa has had the privilege of working on a variety of projects throughout her career. She has contributed to music magazines, served as an essayist for an online teen advice column, and developed technical training materials for both classroom and e-learning environments. Melissa was co-writer and producer of the animated children's web series, "Little Roar & His Big Family," and has coordinated and facilitated numerous community art projects and workshops. Melissa served as program director for local music and arts magazine, "Scrapped," and is honored to now hold the position of Fort Collins' newest poet laureate.
Writer, professor, and photographer, Ocean Vuong is the author of On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, winner of the American Book Award, The Mark Twain Award, and The New England Book Award. The novel debuted for six weeks on The New York Times bestseller list and has since sold more than a million copies in 40 languages. A nominee for the National Book Award and a recipient of a MacArthur "Genius" Grant, he is also the author of the poetry collections, Time is a Mother, a finalist for the Griffin prize, and Night Sky with Exit Wounds, a New York Times Top 10 Book, winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize, the Whiting Award, the Thom Gunn Award. A Ruth Lilly fellow from the Poetry Foundation, his honors include fellowships from the Lannan Foundation, the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, The Elizabeth George Foundation, The Academy of American Poets, and the Pushcart Prize.
Presented by the Loveland Poet Laureate Program.