Deborah Cooper is Duluth's new poet laureate

Poet, chaplain, editor and teacher Deborah Cooper has been named Poet Laureate of Duluth, succeeding Sheila Packa. She will receive an honorarium of $3,000 for her two-year term and will organize five public events.

Her inaugural reading will be at 7 p.m. Nov. 17 at Somers Lounge at the College of St. Scholastica, one of the sponsors of the project. The poet laureate was established in 2005 and is also funded by the Friends of the Duluth Public Library and the Arrowhead Reading Council.

Cooper's books include "Between the Branches," "Redirection of the Heart," "Between the Ceiling and the Moon," and "Under the Influence of Lilacs." She was a co-editor of the anthology, "Beloved on the Earth: 150 Poems of Grief and Gratitude," published by Holy Cow! Press.

Cooper has long worked collaboratively with visual artists, musicians and dancers, and her Nov. 17 event will feature music by Sara Thomsen and Paula Pedersen.