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About Lauren

As New Mexico Poet Laureate (2022-25), Lauren Camp created the New Mexico Epic Poem Project, a community-centered, crowd-sourced initiative designed to help people in rural and arts-underserved communities express themselves. Undertaken in partnership with New Mexico Arts, the Project has reached 25 of New Mexico’s 33 counties. Letterpress broadsides of each community poem will be printed, disseminated across the state, and exhibited at the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe.

Lauren is the author of eight poetry collections, most recently In Old Sky (Grand Canyon Conservancy, 2024), which grew out of her experience as Astronomer-in-Residence at Grand Canyon National Park. Since this time, Lauren has brought “Poetry Under the Stars” programs to four national parks and monuments, voicing poems about the dark from across time and cultures to audiences in the dark. These readings, followed by a laser-guided constellation tour, are designed to encourage people to slow down, look and listen, and to advocate for preserving our dark skies.

Lauren has also collaborated with many divisions of New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs to create a free coloring book, entitled “Imagine Nature,” with poetry and activity prompts from Lauren and illustrations commissioned by fifteen artists from around the state. The book has been distributed to more than 50,000 people across New Mexico.

She is the recipient of fellowships from the Academy of American Poets and Black Earth Institute, and has been awarded a Dorset Prize and a New Mexico Book Award. Other honors include finalist citations for the Arab American Book Award, Housatonic Book Award, Big Other Book Award, and Adrienne Rich Award for Poetry. She has been writer-in-residence at Lowell Observatory, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Hedgebrook, Denver Botanic Gardens, Storyknife, and The Taft-Nicholson Environmental Humanities Center.

Her poems and essays have appeared in many journals and anthologies, including Kenyon Review, Prairie Schooner, Orion, Missouri Review, and Poem-a-Day. Her work has been translated into Turkish, Mandarin, Serbian, Arabic, French, and Spanish.

She pivoted from a successful career as a visual artist (1996-2008). Her portrait series, “The Fabric of Jazz,” traveled to museums in ten cities. More artwork can be found in cultural centers, hospitals, museums, U.S. embassies, and other organizations around the world. For 15 years, she was a producer and host for Santa Fe Public Radio.