South Dakota has a new Poet Laureate, and he’s the one the state's poetry society wanted all along.
Bruce Roseland is a rancher and poet from Seneca. His first book, "The Last Buffalo" won the 2006 Wrangler Award for "Excellence in Western Literature & Media, Poetry."
Roseland has won the Will Rogers Medallion Award in poetry three times.
"It’s an honor to stand among those who have come before me,” Roseland said. “There are many people in South Dakota who write as well as I do and most of them write better. To represent South Dakota in this form of writing poetry … I’m very happy about it. I hope to be an ambassador.”
“Bruce will be an excellent ambassador for poetry in South Dakota,” said interim South Dakota State Poetry Society President Dana Yost. “And it is good for the state to have a poet laureate — it’s an important position not only for poetry but culturally in the state."
Roseland was the South Dakota State Poetry Society’s first nominee for the office. His nomination was originally rejected by the governor’s office.
The appointment announcement comes nearly two months after the standard July 1 beginning of the poet laureate’s term.
Roseland’s term officially began on Aug. 15. The term runs through June 2027.
Roseland becomes the state’s eight poet laureate. Previous laureates were Badger Clark (1937-1957), Adeline Jenny (1958-1973), Mabel Rederick (July-October 1973), Audrae Visser (1974-2001), David Allen Evans (2001-2015), Lee Ann Roripauge (2015-2019), and Christine Stewart (2020-2021).
