Alan Hill is the city’s new literary ambassador.
Hill has been named the new poet laureate for the City of New Westminster, taking over the post previously held by Candice James.
The poet laureate serves as a “literary ambassador” in the city, advocating for literary and the literary arts and helping to raise awareness of poetry, language and the arts.
Coun. Mary Trentadue, who chairs the city’s arts commission, said the city is “thrilled” to appoint Hill.
“This is a very important role for our arts and literary community, and Mr. Hill brings a wonderful breadth of experience and passion for the written word,” she said in a press release. “We are excited about his vision for outreach and his plans for bringing poetry and his love of language to the greater community.”
Hill’s work has been published in North America and Europe in a host of print and online journals, including Canadian journals such as Quills, Antigonish Review, Sub-Terrain, Event and Cascadia Review. He has also published two collections of poetry, The Upstairs Country and The Broken Word.
He steps into the post as the city’s fourth poet laureate. The first was Edna Anderson, appointed in 1998, followed by Don Benson from 1999 to 2006. James served in the post from 2010 to 2016.
