March 28, 1953

Rosa Zagnoni Marinoni was appointed Arkansas’s poet laureate after the position had remained vacant for seven years. A Fayetteville (Washington County) resident, a prolific poet, and a tireless promoter of poetry, Marinoni was instrumental in the proclamation of Arkansas Poetry Day in 1948. The position of Poet Laureate of Arkansas was established on October 10, 1923, by concurrent resolutions of both houses of the General Assembly. In Arkansas, as elsewhere, the title of poet laureate is generally awarded on grounds not restricted to fame or literary eminence.