Bucks County Poet Laureate Named For 2023

BUCKS COUNTY, PA —Meet Tara Tamburello, the 2023 Bucks County Poet Laureate.

The Langhorne resident has been named the 2023 Bucks County Poet Laureate, officials at Bucks County Community College announced.

Tamburello will read from her works Sunday at Bucks County Community College in Newtown

Tamburello, a published poet who works in marketing, rose to the top of 60 entries in the 47th annual contest, said Dr. Ethel Rackin, director of the poet laureate program administered by the College. The contest is sponsored by the Bucks County Commissioners.

Tamburello was raised in Bucks County, along the bank of the Neshaminy Creek.

Her poetry and prose have appeared in Ghost City Review, Bone Parade, Rust + Moth, and other journals, as well as in anthologies by Vestal Review and Sans. PRESS.

She is a past winner of the Bucks County Short Fiction Contest and was a runner-up for the poet laureate competition in 2021.

She lives in Langhorne with her husband, two children, and her cat, and she works on the Law School Admission Council (LSAC)'s marketing team. Aside from writing, she enjoys gardening, playing video games and music, hiking, and painting. Her works can be found at taratamburello.com.

The judges this year were Philadelphia poet Courtney Bambrick and Brooklyn poet Joanna Fuhrman. Both judges commented on the strength of this year's entries.

Tamburello will be reading her poetry on Sunday at 1 p.m. in Tyler 142 on the Newtown Campus.

She will be reading with 2022 Laureate Tom Mallouk, and they will be joined by the three runners-up, Lake Angela, Kevin Taylor, and Melinda Rizzo. Courtney Bambrick will also be reading.

The Bucks County Poet Laureate program —the longest-running such program in Pennsylvania —is another way that Bucks County Community College contributes to the cultural heritage of the region.

For more information, contact program director Dr. Ethel Rackin at ethel.rackin@bucks.edu.