Dr. Hiram Larew

Dr. Hiram Larew is an award-winning poet, advocate, and leader in the Arts and Poetry community. He is the author of four poetry books. His award-winning poems have been included in many anthologies and prestigious poetry magazines, online. His poetic reach is extensive; his strong leadership as a visionarian and advocate for the Arts is recognized throughout Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia.

Dr. Larew is responsible for the creative and artistic process for the Prince George’s Poetry Poster Project. He developed this unique initiative which includes six Prince George’s County Poets’ poems as part of an exhibit of (poetry) art in black frames, on white paper with black fonts for each poem. He created a tour of many opportunities for reading events throughout Prince George’s County, as well as, the Maryland area.  These highly anticipated events Dr. Larew sponsored, included readings from the Poetry Poster Project Poets, Open Mic Poets, and the community, at large. Dr. Larew worked diligently and continued to engage with key officials at the House of Delegates to have the Poetry Poster Project included as an exhibit at the House of Delegates.  On January 30, 2020, the Poetry Poster Project was celebrated as a historical milestone and exhibited at the House of Delegates in Annapolis, Maryland. Dr. Larew has walked each of the 12 framed poems into and out of every exhibited space, hung each one of them, took each framed poem down, and place each of them neatly away for the next exhibit. Such dedication to the ARTs, and to incorporate poetry in places that it’s never been displayed before, demonstrates his love and advocacy for poetry.   

Dr. Larew has been an integral bridge in developing key relationships, advocating diversity, and dedicating his continuous efforts to include poetry and the arts throughout the DMV. He is the founder of the Poetry x Hunger project which has not only been recognized in Prince George’s County, but, internationally, as well.  The Maryland State Arts Council provided him with a Creativity Grant so that he could set up the Poetry X Hunger website; this is in addition to the support from the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization which allowed him to offer the 2018, 2019 and soon the 2020 World Food Day Poetry Competition to poets in the DMV.  

Dr. Larew received a writer residency from The Inner Loop to visit Woodlawn, a historic plantation estate in Fairfax, VA.  He extended an invitation to four poets to visit for a day.  The resulting work has been presented by the four poets, to include Dr. Larew as Voices of Woodlawn, as a way to reflect and give powerful voice to the largely unknown enslaved community at Woodlawn. 

Lastly, Dr. Larew was instrumental in petitioning for the Poet Laureate position for the Prince George’s County Poet Laureate. His work as a poet and advocate is stellar and should be recognized as a Poet of Excellence.