Poet Laureate and Youth Poet Laureate Announcement
Kulturally LIT
LIT Fest at ConnCAT
New Haven
Oct. 4
Yexandra “Yex” Diaz and Henry Mead were crowned New Haven poet laureate and youth poet laureate, respectively, at Kulturally Lit’s sixth annual LIT Fest Saturday afternoon.
The announcement came after finalists from each age category performed spoken word poems on LIT Fest’s outdoor stage at youth and adult education nonprofit ConnCAT.
Mead graced the stage with a clear voice blending humor with a solid, calm pace, adding drama in phrasing like “kick away the left-behinds” and “in Him, neck-and-neck, we trust.” He guided the audience smoothly from everyday high school scenery to dire scenes of war and ruthless competition.
Diaz gripped hearts with a poem about being a self-proclaimed “Hood Mama” in New Haven, using what she learned growing up to step into a vital role for the next generation. “And I was raised by the stoop,” she recited, “so becoming a step-parent to the neighborhood is a rite of passage.”
As someone who has listened to Diaz’s poetry on stages all over the city over the past several years, I knew from the moment she took the mic that she would take it to new heights. Diaz’s rhythm and control over her voice turned the poem into an all-encompassing experience, capturing the essence of the spoken word.
Diaz will be the second New Haven poet laureate in the city’s history, following Sharmont “Influence” Little, who has held the title since 2022. The laureate program itself is a partnership between the city and Kulturally Lit, the African-diaspora-centered literary organization behind LIT Fest.
According to the official designation from the city, the New Haven Poet Laureate holds a two-year term and is “encouraged to nurture appreciation of poetry and literature by conducting public readings, workshops, lectures and presentations in neighborhoods, schools, institutions of higher learning, and other public settings in geographically diverse areas of the city.”
The youth poet laureate program, put together by literary arts program The Word, is also in its second round this year. Each youth poet laureate has a one-year term and is encouraged to exercise leadership and civic engagement in the city.
Both Little and Diaz are in Connecticut poetry slam team Verbal Slap, which competes (and wins!) on a national level. Along with solo pieces, the team performs group pieces in perfect harmony. Little passing the baton to Diaz felt like the community giving the longtime poet her flowers.
Mead is in his senior year at Wilbur Cross High School and ACES Educational Center for the Arts (ECA). He said he is excited to get to work spreading poetry in the city—not just in his youth poet laureate tenure, but “for a while to come, hopefully.”
Little came to the stage after the two new awardees were named, asking them to “look inside and take advantage of this opportunity.” They are already doing the work, he said, but in this world, a title opens doors. He hopes that, as in his inaugural poet laureate term, the year ahead will see the poets “kick open doors wider for other people.”
Kulturally LIT founder IfeMichelle Gardin also took the mic to honor Mead and Diaz, first taking a moment to remember lifelong activist Assata Shakur, who passed away in exile in Cuba two weeks ago. In remembering Shakur’s role as a woman fighting for justice, Gardin situated the moment in a long context of political action.
The announcement concluded a jam-packed day of Kulturally LIT festivities inside and outside the building, including musical performances, workshops, panel discussions, and a keynote speech. As Gardin and her team wrapped up another LIT Fest for the books, DJ Dana Game played the familiar refrain from Public Enemy’s 1990 hip hop anthem “Fight the Power.”
When I asked Mead how he felt about receiving the title of New Haven youth poet laureate, he replied, “Amazing, elated.” We both giggled about his unique word choice; it was clear he was ready to put his youth poet laureate skills to work.
