Dr. Laura Tohe Named Arizona’s Second Poet Laureate, Pledges Rural Outreach

Governor Katie Hobbs named award-winning poet and educator Dr. Laura Tohe Arizona’s Poet Laureate on January 21, 2026. The appointment makes Tohe only the second person to hold the state post and signals a statewide push to expand access to literary arts, with a stated emphasis on reaching smaller and rural communities.

Dr. Laura Tohe is a Navajo Nation native and professor emerita at Arizona State University. She served as Navajo Nation Poet Laureate from 2015 to 2025, experience state officials cited as central to her plan for community-based poetry programming. State leaders framed the appointment as part of broader efforts to decentralize cultural offerings and extend arts programming beyond metropolitan centers.

For Yuma County residents the announcement has practical implications. Rural towns and unincorporated communities around Yuma have fewer arts resources than Phoenix or Tucson, and outreach led by the state poet laureate could bring school visits, workshops, readings, and curriculum partnerships to local libraries, community centers, and K-12 classrooms. Local educators and arts organizers may find new opportunities to collaborate with statewide initiatives designed to boost literacy, cultural representation, and civic engagement through poetry and storytelling.

The appointment also raises institutional questions about how the state will resource and sustain expanded programming. The poet laureate role is a gubernatorial appointment, and its impact depends on coordination with the Arizona Commission on the Arts, school districts, tribal governments, and community organizations. Implementation will require logistical planning for travel, staffing, and funding to ensure programming reaches remote and underserved places on a regular basis rather than as one-off events.

From a civic perspective, cultural outreach can intersect with broader governance goals. Programs that increase access to language and storytelling can strengthen civic participation by elevating underrepresented voices and enhancing cross-cultural understanding. In a border county like Yuma, with agricultural and migrant communities, locally tailored literary initiatives can contribute to civic literacy and community cohesion while highlighting regional histories and multilingual expression.

Dr. Tohe’s decade as Navajo Nation Poet Laureate provides a model for culturally grounded outreach, but success will depend on measurable follow-through. Local arts councils, libraries, school districts, and tribal cultural centers will be primary partners and should expect to engage with state officials to shape programming schedules and priorities. Tracking where events occur and who they serve will be important for evaluating whether the appointment genuinely narrows access gaps between urban and rural Arizona.

For Yuma County readers, the appointment means a likely increase in opportunities to host poets, join workshops, and incorporate poetry into classrooms and public life. Residents should watch for announcements from local libraries, school districts, and the Arizona Commission on the Arts about upcoming events and partnership opportunities as the state moves to operationalize Dr. Tohe’s outreach plans.