BayToday editorialist Bill Walton named city’s first poet laureate

Accomplished author, poet and BayToday editorialist Bill Walton is North Bay’s first poet laureate.

Walton was appointed to the position during last Monday’s council meeting.

In August council announced they were striking an Ad Hoc Committee for the selection of a Poet Laureate who would serve as the City's Literary Ambassador and as an advocate for poetry, language and the arts for the city.

Walton, no stranger to literature or the arts, was the first and only candidate to toss his hat in the ring for the unpaid volunteer position.

“I’m a little surprised that I got it, cause I expected some of the university people would be applying for this … and I’m not sure why unless the volunteer aspect of it was maybe more than some people wanted to put in the time to do it,” he says of the appointment.

He explains that in the ‘old days’ in Britain the poet laureate was in charge of writing poems for the king and queen of the land for entertainment and chronicling events, but today it is a post to support the arts.

“I think it is more a reflection of the arts as we talk about council or what council is doing or what the city is doing or life in general as it may apply to city residents,” he explains.

Walton says quite a few cities across the country have a poet laureate, 17 to be exact, and each handles the position in their own way but expects his duties will include accompanying the mayor to certain occasions and even drafting a poem or two to celebrate the occasion.

“I expect that when the mayor gets a call to attend something related to the arts he may drag me along to say a few words, maybe read a little poetry or do something that sort of fits in the occasion rather than having strictly a political feel good speech … maybe hear from the artsy side a little more.”