LOCAL EVENTS
This March marks the second consecutive year of the Hays Youth Poet Laureate program and chapbook publication prize, which was launched by the local literary nonprofit Infrarrealista Review with vital support from The Burdine Johnson Foundation. Adelie Donovan is this year’s winner. The Infrarrealista Review editors and staff are preparing for Donovan’s book launch celebration Friday, March 21, where Amanda Johnston, the 2024 Poet Laureate of Texas, and SG Huerta will also read. The event is from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Price Center. It is free and open to the public.
“Despite poetry being an undervalued form of expression, youth are waking up to its power — because where there is death, illness, war, climate change, mass shootings, uncertainty, the need to define ourselves, and place our pain within the larger context of the world, grows,” stated this year’s Hays Youth Poet Laureate Proclamation.
The 2024 to 2025 judge was beloved, award-winning poet Naomi Shihab Nye, who chose Epitaph for my Fireflies by Kyle resident Adelie Donovan as this year’s winner. Naomi praised the work in her introduction to Donovan’s book saying, “With tender care and honest bravery, Adelie fashions a body of work created from experience. I’m touched by her instinctive sense of tangible details.”
The program consists of twelve poetry workshops designed to generate a manuscript and taught by established poets. These classes borrow models from the reputable and nearly century-old institution, the Iowa Writer’s Workshop. A fundamental component of the HYPL workshops is the gravitas placed on creative writing and above all, helping students realize their talent. The goal is not merely a poetry manuscript but rather building the belief that literature is a staggeringly indispensable tool for change within themselves and in the external world.
In November 2024, the editors at Infrarrealista Review received poetry manuscripts from all over Hays County, written by youth ages 13 to 19. As with last spring, these writers waited to hear back on the status of their applications to have 200 copies of their manuscript published, win a thousand dollar cash prize and represent their county. The application requirements were no feat, including a statement of purpose and a 15 to 20 page poetry manuscript.
Epitaph for my Fireflies includes some serious poems dealing with trauma from sexual assault, homelessness and religion. She lays out these difficult subjects in poems like, “me and bittersweet” and “I come from/ my dad living/ in his car and/ having my teddy bear/ to kiss and to hold instead of/ me.” Despite her tribulations, Adelie has the voice of a youthful but wise spirit stating in her poem “Sweetest Boy,” “Maybe one day a boy won’t push and pull me back and forth.” Adelie attended the HYPL workshops hosted at Centro Cultural Hispano in San Marcos and was under the guidance of her instructor SG Huerta. Huerta is the author of two poetry chapbooks and the nonfiction chapbook “GOOD GRIEF” (fifth wheel press 2025) and has a poetry collection called “Burns” forthcoming with Sundress Publications in 2026.
“I learned so much about poetry from the young people in our community. I’m thrilled for Adelie to share her creativity, enthusiasm and empathy for other humans,” Huerta said.
The HYPL 2025 Proclamation should have passed again this year at the next county commissioners meeting on March 25. (Editor’s note: date of publication is before the meeting date.)
Epitaph for my Fireflies is available for purchase online at infrarrealistas. org/support/ and in person at the Price Center on Friday March 21.
