D.J. Rogers Named Durham’s First Poet Laureate

DURHAM, NC – In May 2021, at the request of the Durham City Council, the Durham Cultural Advisory Board (DCAB) received a presentation from local poets regarding the creation of a Durham Poet Laureate. DJ Rogers, a poet, spoken word artist, editorialist, and essayist, was selected to serve as Durham’s first poet laureate. Born and raised in the Triangle, Rogers has been teaching poetry and facilitating workshops for nearly a decade in and around Durham. He has been published in Black Nerd Problems Magazine and Freezeray Press. 

Poet Laureate programs are opportunities for jurisdictions or entities to formally recognize poets’ contributions to literary culture and society, while also providing educational opportunities to residents. Communities across North Carolina appoint or support poet laureates, who serve as advocates for the literary arts. In August 2021, after consideration during its June and July monthly meetings, DCAB leadership drafted a letter to recommend the appointment of a Durham Poet Laureate. DCAB shared its letter of recommendation with City Council on August 29, 2021. City Council approved the Poet Laureate Pilot Program on October 4, 2021.  

The goal of the poet laureate pilot program is to champion the art of poetry and spoken word in the City of Durham and provide free, educational opportunities for all.  

About D.J. Rogers

D.J. Rogers is a poet and spoken word artist born in Raleigh, NC, and residing in Durham, NC for over ten years. Rogers began writing poetry at 9 years old, after being exposed to the work of Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance by his third-grade assistant teacher, Ms. Morris. From there, Rogers entered various competitions and was published through his high school, and kept writing into his college years. 

At UNC Chapel Hill, he was in the creative writing program, graduating from its poetry track in 2011. In 2010, his life would change when two things happened: he entered his first poetry slam, at the behest of the management of the theater company where he was a work-study student, and when he connected with the nonprofit, Sacrificial Poets. 

After this, Rogers began performing and working as a teaching artist in earnest. In the process, he was part of the group Building Bonds, Breaking B.A.R.S., where he was part of the group’s inaugural year at UNC, and a part of Ebony Readers/Onyx Theatre, as a spoken word collective in collaboration with UNC’s Black Student Movement. Rogers has appeared on national stages as a poet and educator, at the Individual World Poetry Slam and as an educator/coach for the College Unions Poetry Slam Invitation, or CUPSI. 

He has worked as an English Language Arts and Creative Writing teacher for the Orange County YMCA, Durham Public Schools, and the KIPP Network. His work can be found on Freezeray Press, Black NerdProblems, and forthcoming from Wingless Dreamer Press.