A Poet Laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government and is mostly expected to compose poems for state occasions and other government events.
In England, the term has for centuries been the title of the official poet of the monarch. Nowadays many cities in the world have adapted this idea of poet laureate to a city poet laureate, mostly appointed for a period of 1 or 2 years.
In Antwerp (Belgium) the first poet appointed as city poet was Tom Lanoye in 2003. After him came Ramsey Nasr, Bart Moeyaert, and Joke Van Leeuwen.
All these poets are expected to write about 12 poems about the city of Antwerp. The first poem of Joke van Leeuwen HOE IS’T, dating from January 2008, explicitly refers to Paul Van Ostaijen (1896-1928), another poet of Antwerp. It was not published on paper but in a digital manner.
In this project pupils of the IMMACULATA INSTITUUT of Oostmalle have made about 20 digital animations of poems written by the Antwerp city poets laureate and by Paul van Ostaijen.
POETS LAUREATE of ANTWERP 