Susan Lilley served as Orlando’s inaugural poet laureate, beginning her term in October 2017, and her appointment was officially confirmed by the Orlando City Council on October 23, 2017. She held the position until 2021, after which she was succeeded by Shawn Welcome, who was appointed in October 2021. Lilley, a University of Central Florida (UCF) alumna, was recognized for her contributions to the literary arts and was named the city’s first poet laureate through a partnership between the City of Orlando, United Arts of Central Florida, and Burrow Press.
She has been a published poet, with her work appearing in journals such as American Poetry Review, Gulf Coast, and The Southern Review, and she has received accolades including the Rita Dove Poetry Award and a Florida Individual Artist Fellowship. Her full poetry collection, Venus in Retrograde, was published in 2019 by Burrow Press. In 2022, she participated in “A Celebration of the Orlando Poet Laureate” at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, alongside the then-current poet laureate, Shawn Welcome. While she was no longer serving as poet laureate in 2022, her legacy as the city’s first official poet laureate remained prominent in Orlando’s cultural landscape.
