Regie Gibson will be our inaugural Nantucket Book Foundation Visiting Poet. His visit will be in support of Nantucket High School’s first foray into the national competition "Poetry Out Loud."

It will be a visit centered on the singular nature of poetry and the universal and timeless nature of words shaped to convey story. Regie Gibson’s gift is a unique presentation melding musicality to the structure of a poem. Language is our means to unify; to come together in a shared experience. As Gibson wrote: “We’re bound together in community based on love, not just what we fear. What we run toward not just what we run away from.”

Regie Gibson will be visiting the island on Thursday, January 9 for two events. The first will be an All-School/High School Assembly in the afternoon. English teacher Elizabeth Reinemo explained that Regie would be reaching approximately 530 students -- “an incredibly diverse group of students, who are creative, spirited and truly engaging. They represent the fastest growing English Language Learner population in the state. The issues that students are currently facing involve immigration, a changing island demographic, race, and adolescence in general.”

Gibson will then step up as participant and judge in "Poetry Out Loud." The competition will be incorporated into the High School’s Wintertide Arts Festival, which highlights the vocational departments including art, music, culinary, and woodworking. “It is really a wonderful evening to honor and celebrate our kids,” said Reinemo.