SULLIVAN COUNTY – The Sullivan County Poet Laureate Project is proud to announce that Kim Thai has been chosen as Sullivan County’s 2026-2028 Poet Laureate. An inauguration ceremony will be held on Saturday, May 16^th at Ethelbert B. Crawford Public Library at 10:30am, the public is welcome and invited to attend. The ceremony will take place in the outdoor stage at 10:30am. In case of rain, the ceremony will be moved indoors. 

Outgoing Poet Laureate Kevin Scott Graham will be in attendance to pass the torch to Kim, who will be reading an original poem inspired by Sullivan County. 

After her first encounter with poetry during her undergraduate studies, Kim went on to attend Columbia Journalism School where she deepened her commitment to storytelling as not only a craft but also a responsibility. Kim went on to build a nearly twenty-year career as an Emmy Award–winning storyteller across journalism, documentary, and creative media. Her work has appeared in outlets including the Associated Press, FORTUNE, USA Today, MTV, and Discovery Channel. A central focus of her work throughout these many achievements has been to center and highlight voices that are too often left unheard, as a Queer woman and daughter of Vietnam War refugees. 

Regarding her vision to help poetry and storytelling flourish in Sullivan County, Kim had the following to say:

“As Poet Laureate, it would be no greater gift to use this beautiful form as a way to awaken, delight, empower and heal those around our county who might not believe they have a story worth telling or a voice worth speaking — to create and cultivate spaces across Sullivan County where poetry is lived and shared.” 

Since coming to Sullivan County, Kim has deepened her mindfulness practice, guiding individuals and communities in returning to themselves through presence, reflection, and the written and spoken word which has led her on a path of study in Zen Master Thích Nhất Hạnh’s Buddhist tradition. Across workshops, retreats, and public spaces, she creates environments where people are invited not only to speak, but to be heard.

Taking inspiration from poets such as Louise Glück, Audre Lorde, Ocean Vuong and Mary Oliver to name a few, Kim looks forward to guiding the Poet Laureate Project and reaffirming poetry as a centering, healing force that has the power to help us process our experiences, saying: “Poetry is made to inspire, made to help us understand our suffering; it is the precision of this medium, the shape of it that helps us capture the intricacies and turbulences and joys of our humanity. And in a world that often feels fractured, poetry provides the gasp of air we need to keep breathing. This is what I mean when I say poetry is medicine.” 

The Poet Laureate position is made possible in large part with grant funds secured by former Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther. The Project is administered by the Sullivan Public Library Alliance, with additional support from libraries, the Friends of local public libraries and individual supporters of the arts. The Ethelbert B. Crawford Library is located at 479 Broadway in Monticello. For more information, call The Fallsburg Public Library (845) 436-6067.