October 15, 1948

Governor Ben Laney proclaimed the first annual Poetry Day in Arkansas in recognition of the tireless efforts of Rosa Zagnoni Marinoni to encourage the appreciation of poetry and poets. Governor Winthrop Rockefeller proclaimed this date to be Rosa Zagnoni Marinoni Day. Marinoni, a native of Italy, was a prolific writer of poetry and short stories and was a fervent promoter of her adopted home state of Arkansas.