William Ward Butler, an English teacher at Saint Andrew’s Episcopal School in Saratoga, was named Los Gatos’s next poet laureate.
Butler, who will serve a three-year term ending in 2027, will be sworn in as poet laureate at an April town council meeting. The Los Gatos resident said he hopes to invite local poets and authors to the Los Gatos Library for readings and panels as well as conduct classroom visits to encourage students to give creative writing a try. His first day in the honorary position was Jan. 1 of this year.
Butler said he hopes to continue the annual poetry contest that former Los Gatos poet laureate Jen Siraganian hosted in previous years. He added that he wants to use his position to help expose people who may not normally be interested in poetry to the art form.
“I think it’s really interesting to think about expanding the audience for poetry and consider that a lot of people think they don’t like poetry, but if they were to find themselves at an event that had poetry as a component, I think there would be something for them to enjoy,” he said.
For the Mill Valley native, the art form has been front of mind since high school, when he was first introduced to slam poetry. His interest persisted through his time as an undergraduate at UC Santa Cruz, where he attended poetry workshops, organized slam poetry events and worked for the school’s literary magazine.
Now, Butler said the work he does as an English teacher encouraging students to get excited about poetry will go hand-in-hand with the work he hopes to accomplish as poet laureate.
“For the poet laureate position I’m really interested in creating things that are recurring, things that could possibly be an event that happens every year or like twice a year and could ideally be something that is passed off to the next poet laureate,” he said.
He added that he wants to find ways to showcase or publish poetry written by Los Gatos students. “I’m always trying to think of different opportunities to have sort of a publication experience for students,” he said.
Butler has been surprised by how many members of the public will turn out to other poetry events he has attended across the Bay Area, and hopes to draw similar crowds in Los Gatos.
“I think it says a lot about the town where a poet laureate position is kind of respected and something that is established, because it shows a commitment to the arts and it shows that poetry is something that is respected in the community,” he said.
