Following in a grand, yet rare, presidential tradition, Graywolf Press poet Elizabeth Alexander will be the inaugural poet when President-elect Barack Obama is sworn in next month.
The publishing twitter-sphere has been abuzz ever since the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies made the announcement this afternoon. The Graywolf Press Twitter feed reports that they are already planning reprints of Alexander’s work.
From the Washington Post report: “Alexander, 45, would be only the fourth poet to read at a swearing in after Frost, who read at John F. Kennedy’s in 1961; Maya Angelou, who read at Clinton’s in 1993; and Miller Williams, who read in 1997, according to government officials.”