The Florida State Poets Association Inc. (FSPA) is a non-profit literary association chartered in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

and affiliated with the

National Federation of State Poetry Societies The National Federation of State Poetry Societies, Inc. (NFSPS) is a national organization of state poetry societies in the United States. It was established in 1959 and now includes affiliates in 32 U.S. states. The federation hosts conferences a ...

The association fosters poetry in the state and helps select the Florida State Poet Laureate.

History

The Florida State Poets Association was founded as a non-profit in October 1974 by Henrietta Kroah and Hans Juergensen. The society affiliated with the National Federation of State Poetry Societies in the same year, and was chartered by the State of Florida in 1979. Beginning with a single chapter in Deland, the association grew to include ten chapters in 2020. Including members-at-large, the membership included more than 200 poets in that year. In 2015 the society hosted the NSFPA national conference in the city of

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

Activities

The association organizes biannual poetry conferences in the state. In 2015 FSPA established a Chancellor Program, which identifies poets of esteem for attendance at events and conferences, and established a Speaker Bureau to provide poetry presenters on request. The society was instrumental in inauguration of a Poet Laureate position in the State of Florida, and maintains Chairs for Youth Contests, Student Contests, and a

Slam poetry A poetry slam is a competitive art event in which poets perform spoken word poetry before a live audience and a panel of judges. Poetry slams began in Chicago in the 1980s, with the first slam competition designed to move poetry recitals from a ...

coordinator. It operates an annual national contest and publishes the ''Cadence'' anthology that presents the contest winners and selected submissions of poetry and photography from around the state. In 2015 FSPA accredited ''The 12 Chairs'' education program established by member Al Rocheleau. The program provides a three-year intensive poetry curriculum that has been adopted by English teachers throughout Florida.

References

External links

*{{Official, https://www.floridastatepoetsassociation.org Poetry organizations based in the United States Literary societies 1974 establishments in the United States Non-profit organizations based in Florida 501(c)(3) organizations