Poet Laureate

The City of Urbana’s Mayor’s Office and the Urbana Arts & Culture Program are proud to announce the inaugural Poet Laureate in City of Urbana history, Will Reger.

Will Reger was born and raised in the St. Louis, Missouri area. He obtained his Ph.D. in History from the University of Illinois and lives in Champaign, Illinois, with his wife and two youngest children. A co-leader of CU Poetry Group, Reger has lent his energies towards initiatives such as MTD Poetry, CU Haiku in the News Gazette, and Poets at the Post, a monthly open mic held at the Iron Post in Urbana. Reger teaches within the Department of History at both Illinois State University and Parkland College and has read his poetry work at The Urbana Free Library, Boneyard Arts Festival, Imbibe Urbana’s Love for All Poetry Crawl, SPEAK Café, Respect the Mic, and as part of an annual reading at Danville Correctional Center.

His one-year term begins immediately. Reger was selected through a competitive application and interview process by a panel of literary experts. The poet laureate receives a $2,000 honorarium for the one-year term, funded by the City of Urbana’s Arts and Culture Program. For more, go here.

The City invites the public to a reception to celebrate inaugural Poet Laureate, Will Reger, on Wednesday, July 10th from 5pm-6:30pm in Analog Wine Bar in Urbana.