Donovan Livingston Selected as Chapel Hill’s Latest Poet Laureate

Donovan Livingston is set to serve as Chapel Hill’s latest poet laureate.

The town’s Community Arts & Culture department made the announcement on Wednesday afternoon, tabbing the spoken word poet and UNC educator for the role. Livingston will be the third poet laureate in town history, succeeding Cortland Gillam after his two-year tenure ended in 2024.

“I am delighted to join the ranks of the vaunted poet laureateship in the Town of Chapel Hill,” said Livingston through the local government, “a community where I developed a profound appreciation for poetics and the spoken word. In my tenure, I hope to continue the tradition of using the arts as a vehicle for social discourse, community research and engagement, establishing strategic partnerships, pursuing funding opportunities for arts-based initiatives, and perhaps most importantly, amplifying local youth voices through creative writing, storytelling, and performance.”

Livingston joined UNC’s Department of Music as a teaching assistant professor in Jan. 2024, teaching courses on the history of hip-hop and composition after having graduated from the university. He is also the university’s Director of College Thriving — a role that designs, implements and evaluates UNC’s updated general education course requirements for all first-year students. Additionally, Livingstone has put out two hip-hop albums under his own name: “Molasses” in 2021, and “K​.​E​.​Y​.​S: Knowledge Essential for Your Success” in 2022 — while also being featured on several other artists’ records.

Beyond his undergraduate degree from Carolina, Livingston holds master’s degrees from Columbia University and Harvard University, and a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in Educational Leadership & Cultural Foundations.

Arguably Livingston’s most high-profile moment came in 2016, when he delivered the convocation address for Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. The spoken word piece, titled “Lift Off,” went viral and led to the artist being featured on a variety of U.S. and international news outlets — and was later was published as a book.

Livingston will serve as the poet laureate for two years, with his tenure ending in the winter of 2026.

Featured photo via the UNC Department of Music.

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