Wallingford Poet Laureate Announced

The Wallingford Public Library is pleased to announce that Tarn Granucci has been selected as Wallingford’s first Poet Laureate. The appointment is effective immediately and the official installation ceremony will coincide with the Wallingford Public Library’s annual meeting on October 26, 2015.

Tarn Granucci is a highly regarded community leader. He serves on the boards of the Quinnipiac Chamber of Commerce and the Better Business Bureau. Tarn owns a consulting business that focuses on planning and leadership development, and is the editor of Wallingford Magazine. In addition to being a lifetime resident of Wallingford and an accomplished businessman, Tarn is a gifted poet and writer. An active member of Wallingford’s Saturday Mornings with Poetry collective, Tarn has also participated in several national poetry conferences run by Robert Bly, noted American poet, author, activist and leader of the mythopoetic men’s movement. Closer to home, Tarn participates in a local group of male poets and writers, and has delivered a number of standing room only presentations about the history of Wallingford. His latest book, Legendary Locals of Wallingford, is due for release by Arcadia Publishing in September 2015.

Poetry and literature have been mainstays in Tarn’s life from his earliest days. His mother read classic poetry aloud to the family while he was growing up. His aunt, Mary Crews, has been a published poet, writer, and writing teacher for over 40 years in Charlotte, NC. And his sister, Alison Granucci, is an agent to poets and writers, including several of the United States Poet Laureates.

The mission of Wallingford’s Poet Laureate program is to communicate the value and use of poetry as a means to inspire, inform, and entertain the community at large. As the Poet Laureate of the Town of Wallingford, Tarn will serve as the ambassador of our town’s vibrant literary life and promote poetry as a form of literature that has deep roots among people of all ages and cultures. He will encourage the reading and writing of literature and poetry and strive to inspire an emerging generation of critical thinkers and writers. He will also represent Wallingford in the Connecticut Coalition of Poets Laureate.

Karen Ciosek, Director of the Library-sponsored poetry group Saturday Mornings with Poetry, was a strong supporter of Tarn Granucci’s candidacy for Wallingford’s first Poet Laureate. She said, “Tarn writes poetry from numerous perspectives that are unique and personal and he always has poetry to share. Through his local business and community associations he is a natural ambassador for the promotion of poetry within Wallingford. He is at ease with dialogue and presentations that can further promote poetry as an essential literary arts link for our community.”

Wallingford Public Library Director, Jane Fisher, was equally pleased to learn of Tarn’s selection as Wallingford’s first Poet Laureate. “Tarn has a wonderful way of using poetry to conjure up vibrant images,” she says. “He is always prepared with a poem in his pocket, and he uses poetry as a tool for fostering communication and building community.” She also noted that Granucci is not the first businessman-poet in Connecticut. American Modernist poet Wallace Stevens who won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his Collected Poems in 1955 spent most of his life working as an executive for an insurance company in Hartford, Connecticut.