About Us

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POET LAUREATE

 

"We are proud to honor Melida Rodas as Jersey City’s new Poet Laureate, a testament to our commitment to celebrating the arts and fostering creative expression within our community. Through their work, Melida will inspire, unite, and amplify the voices that make our city so vibrant and diverse," 

-Mayor Fulop.

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"The Jersey City Arts Council is thrilled to present Melida Rodas as the next poet laureate. We are confident that Melida will use this position to continue and expand her dedication to innovative projects that promote the art of poetry in the Jersey City community and beyond," 

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- Jersey City Arts Council Board Member Jeff Dessources 

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Official Press Release : Click Here 

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“The voice,” a former NJCU student and fellow writer used to call Melida—and that says it all. Melida’s voice is an exquisite instrument through which she brings her stories, her vision, and her vatic call to an audience that yearns for that delicate and powerful gift... Her voice was as musical as the exquisite arrangement of words she created on the page. We were smitten and felt blessed to be part of the remarkable space that her voice created. Performance is intrinsic to Melida’s work and her personality. There is something spiritual, transcendent about her work."

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Edvige Giunta, Ph.D.

Scholar, English Professor - New Jersey City University

Editor of "Italian American Writers on New Jersey"

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"Years ago, her artwork and writing were separate. In her work since then, she has learned to bring together her explorations in the visual arts and her writing. In her show, "Elefante," she discovered unique ways to combine ceramics and writing. She told stories with clay, with writing and photographs, with the textures of elephant skin, and words that explored her memories. It was a testament not only to Melida's own artistry, but to her imaginative engagement with the challenge of telling stories in the varied media she has mastered...”

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Ellen Gruber Garvey, Ph.D.

Author, "Writing with Scissors: American Scrapbooks

from the Civil War to the Harlem Renaissance"

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