Zoltavia Poet Laureate

In 2018, I was honored to be named Poet Laureate of Zoltavia, a conceptual country that Alex Yudzon began as an art project to examine nationhood.

Zoltavia is “a country for all those that have no country, a fictitious nation that exists only in the mind to act as a virtual homeland for all the exiles, refugees, displaced peoples, nomads, or simply for anyone who feels that their current environment is antithetical to what they think of when they think of home.”

Derived from the Russian word zoloto, Zoltavia literally means “golden country.” It is a place without borders, without a geographic location and without political affiliation.

In July, 2018, Alex and I collaborated on my official poet laureate portrait.