AURORA, Colo. — Aurora native Ahja Fox has been selected as the city's new Honorary Poet Laureate.
Fox is the third person to hold the position. She was selected out of six candidates by a panel that included the two former city poets, Jovan Mays and Assetou Xango, State Poet Laureate Bobby LeFebre and City Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky.
Her duties include raising awareness of the power of poetry and the spoken word, according to the City of Aurora's website, helping Aurora residents share their own poetry and stories, celebrating the diversity of Aurora in community outreach programs and commemorating city and national events in poetic format.
"My goal is to teach others and to also inspire others to do the same thing," Fox told 9NEWS. "And to introduce them to poetry because it's a very powerful thing."
Aurora's Honorary Poet Laureate program started in 2013 as an Aurora Public Library initiative to recognize the importance of literature as a vital part of the city's shared and diverse culture, the city's website says.
“We are happy to resume the Poet Laureate Program, especially with the selection and appointment of Ahja Fox,” said Midori Clark, Aurora's director of library and cultural services, in a statement. “Ahja brings a unique combination of an extensive background in poetry and education. With her emphasis in making poetry available to everyone, I am confident she will be a great champion for literature and literacy.”
Fox graduated from the University of Colorado Denver with a bachelor of arts degree in English/creative writing and a minor in psychology. Her work has been published in various online and print journals. She also participates in events across Colorado and co-hosts the reading series Art of Storytelling.
She has also served as managing editor of Homology Lit, assistant poetry editor for Copper Nickel and editor, professor and academic director for Poetix University.
Fox said her experiences in Aurora have inspired her poetry.
"Being raised here, I've gone through a lot of things," she said. "I went through the school system, I know a lot of people in the neighborhood. It feels like a little encapsulated world that I can tap into whenever I want because I live here, and I love having that in my work."
Her term runs until August 2026.
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