Longtime fixture of Worcester poetry Rodger Martin to be honored with Stanley Kunitz Medal

New Hampshire poet Rodger Martin "has earned the right to be called a citizen and poet of the world," says the Stanley Kunitz Medal committee of the Worcester County Poetry Association.

Martin has also earned the right to be named the 2024 Stanley Kunitz Medal recipient.

"Whether in New England, Great Britain or China, Rodger Martin’s mission is to bring poetry into the public arena," according to an April 24 announcement from the association about Martin receiving the award.

Martin will be presented his medal at a ceremony put on by the Worcester County Poetry Association at the Worcester Historical Museum, 30 Elm St., from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. July 25. The event is free and open to the public.

The Stanley Kunitz Medal originated with a bequest to the Worcester County Poetry Association from the estate of former Poet Laureate of the United States and Worcester native Stanley Kunitz (1905-2006). Martin will be the 10th recipient of the medal, which is bestowed annually on a poet with a strong Worcester County connection, "who best exemplifies Kunitz’s lifelong commitment to poetry by teaching poetry, mentoring poets, speaking poetry, publishing poetry, and supporting organizations which nurture poetry."

Martin was born in Pennsylvania, spent his childhood in England, served as combat engineer in Vietnam and is a journalism professor at Keene State College in New Hampshire, where he resides. He has won an Appalachia Award for poetry and a New Hampshire State Council on the Arts Fellowship for fiction.

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He has been active with the Worcester County Poetry Association which "grew and prospered under his leadership as president, board, and committee member," the announcement states. He served as managing editor of its poetry journal The Worcester Review for almost three decades. "As a devoted volunteer, his work in poetry communities in New England exceeds the highest standards demonstrated by medal recipients."

A seven-time recipient of the Bruce Kellner/Monadnock Fellowship, Martin mentored poets through a series of cultural exchanges between Monadnock Pastoral Poets and Writers including a collaboration among poets, colleagues from Keene State University and pastoral poets and calligraphers in China. He was co-director of New Hampshire’s Poetry Foundation’s Poetry Out Loud. He leads a poetry reading series at Del Rossi’s Trattoria in Dublin, New Hampshire.

Martin’s publications include four books of poetry, most recently "All the Tea in Zhōngguó" and "The Battlefield Guide." He currently serves as co-editor for Hobblebush Books’ Granite State Poetry Series.

Also honored with a nomination for the Stanley Kunitz Medal this year was Worcester Poet Laureate Oliver de la Paz.

For more information, visit worcestercountypoetry.org.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Poet Rodger Martin to receive Stanley Kunitz Medal