Join Albuquerque's literary and arts community in celebrating PW covington, newly named 2026-27 U.S. National Beat Poet Laureate by the National Beat Poetry Foundation.

A poet, performer, publisher, activist, and longtime Albuquerque resident, PW is the seventh writer to hold this national title. They previously served as New Mexico’s inaugural Beat Poet Laureate and have spent more than three decades carrying poetry beyond conventional literary spaces—from the Havana International Poetry Festival and San Francisco’s Beat Museum to public, community and tribal libraries throughout New Mexico.

PW’s work champions the outsider, the uncredentialed, the working class, the queer, the outlaw and the underground. As National Beat Poet Laureate, they will continue building artistic community and reminding audiences that Beat poetry is not merely a historical movement, but a living and still-evolving tradition of self-determination, autonomy and choice.

Come celebrate this remarkable national recognition for one of Albuquerque’s own—and the poetry, people and possibilities still waiting beyond the mainstream.

“The days ahead will require poetry and miracles. Let’s expect both.”