POET LAUREATE OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA 2020-22
http://www.luisaigloria.com/
Luisa A. Igloria is the author of 14 books of poetry and 4 chapbooks. She is a tenured Professor of Creative Writing and English and was Director of the MFA Creative Writing Program at Old Dominion University. She was selected as the Poet Laureate of Virginia in 2020 which she describes as a "unique position for service and engagement through poetry…and to have many conversations with others, and to find meaningful ways to support and promote…the work of poets and poetry in general as an important part of living in these times."
She was a Visiting Humanities Scholar in 1996 at the Center for Philippine Studies at the UH Manoa. She also taught briefly at De La Salle University where she was program director of the Bienvenido N. Santos Creative Writing Center. Originally from Baguio City, she has received awards from both the Philippines and the USA for her poetry. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of the Philippines Baguio and her M.A. in Literature at Ateneo de Manila University, Manila, Philippines. She received her Ph.D. in English/Creative Writing from the University of Illinois at Chicago in July 1995 as Fulbright Fellow. While in Chicago, she was an active member of PINTIG, a Filipino-American cultural and theatre group, and she was a member of PINTIG's cultural and education committee.