Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda

Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda (born 1946) was named Poet Laureate of Virginia by the Governor, Tim Kaine, on June 26, 2006. She succeeded Rita Dove and served in this position from June 2006 – July 2008. While serving as Poet Laureate, Carolyn started the "Poetry Book Giveaway Project" and added the "Poets Spotlight" to her webpage highlighting one poet from the Commonwealth each month, in addition to traveling widely to promote poetry in every corner of Virginia.
Carolyn is a lifelong educator and has received numerous literary and academic honors. She gives poetry readings in public and private settings and offers workshops in museums, libraries, and universities. Her service-oriented projects include stints in nursing homes and homeless shelters. From 2010 to 2011, she served as a Literary Arts Specialist with former Virginia Poet Laureate, Claudia Emerson, on a Metrorail Public Art Project conceived by the Art-in-Transit Program of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. Juried poems by Virginia writers, including past and present Poets Laureate of Virginia, will be integrated into artistic works by Martin Donlin, Barbara Grygutis, and David Dahlquist at three Tysons Corner metro stations, Tysons East, Tysons Central 7, and Tysons West.
Carolyn is an abstract colorist painter, and her paintings have been featured in solo exhibitions throughout northern, central, and eastern Virginia.
Kreiter-Foronda was born in Central Virginia in 1946. She spent her youth in Crewe, Pulaski, and Sandston, Virginia. As a young child, Carolyn avidly read poetry and wrote her first poem prior to entering elementary school. Encouraged by her parents, who were both educators, to hone her creative skills, she devoted hours to writing poetry and fiction. Her parents also influenced her decision to become an English and creative writing teacher. Her mother, Lucille Kreiter, was her teacher in fifth and sixth grades. Her father, Victor Kreiter, Sr., was her high school principal at Highland Springs High School. While attending high school, she developed an interest in journalism and became a staff member of the school newspaper, Highland Fling. She also served as a Youth Page correspondent for the Richmond News Leader, the city's afternoon daily newspaper. She was inducted into Quill and Scroll, National Honor Society, and the Beta Club. She also belonged to the Interclub Council and Future Teachers of America. During her sophomore year she received a Citizenship Award, and as a senior she was awarded a Future Teachers of America Scholarship and the Dr. Joseph Haven Hoge Memorial Scholarship for university study. Her parents encouraged her to attend Mary Washington College (now the University of Mary Washington), the women's division of the University of Virginia.
A member of Hoofprints, Carolyn won several first-place awards in horse shows and was selected a Reserve Champion, Intermediate Level, in the 1967 Spring Horse Show. During her senior year she served as president of the Student Education Association and as vice-president of the Student Virginia Education Association. In 1969 she graduated with a B.A. in English (Mortar Board). In 2008 she was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa (Kappa of Virginia) as an alumni member.
In August 1969, Carolyn started her teaching career at West Springfield High School in Springfield, Virginia. While teaching full-time, she received a Master of Arts, a Master in Education, and a Ph.D. degree from George Mason University, where she studied creative writing under the award-winning poets, Peter Klappert and Ai. In 1983, she was awarded the first doctorate presented by the school. She won a Scholarship and Service Award and a Letter of Recognition for Quality Research from the Virginia Educational Research Association for her dissertation, Gathering Light: A Poet's Approach to Poetry Analysis. In 2007, she was named Alumna of the Year by both the University of Mary Washington and George Mason University.
Educational - After retiring from a 31-year career in education, Carolyn developed a statewide poetry-in-the-schools program at the request of the Poetry Society of Virginia to promote poetry at all instructional levels (K-University). She co-edited with Edward W. Lull an instructional guide, entitled Four Virginia Poets Laureate: A Teaching Guide and secured grant funding to place copies of this book in various educational settings and libraries. She also led an effort through the Poetry Society of Virginia to fund an endowed poetry prize for deserving creative writing students at Virginia colleges and universities. To date, the College Prize, under the auspices of the Academy of American Poets, has been established at the College of William and Mary, the University of Mary Washington, Old Dominion University, the University of Richmond, and Virginia Tech.
After being appointed Poet Laureate in July 2006, Carolyn launched a Poetry Book Giveaway Project. White Pine Press, University of Arkansas Press, and the Poetry Society of Virginia have contributed books, poetry DVDs, and CDs to this effort. Carolyn has distributed these educational materials to universities and high schools throughout Virginia. She set up a Poet's Spotlight Page on her website (www.carolynforonda.com) to highlight the work of poets who have a strong Virginia connection. She devoted countless hours on the road giving poetry readings and workshops throughout the state. During her term as Poet Laureate, the Virginia State Board of Education honored her efforts with a Resolution of Appreciation for her recognition as Poet Laureate and for “her sustained leadership and devotion to promoting the writing and reading of poetry among Virginia's young people and to raising the study of the Arts to the highest level.”
Artistic - Carolyn also works as an abstract artist. She studied art for 17 years in northern Virginia under the award-winning painter, Irene Wood-Montgomery. Her paintings and sculpture have been exhibited in galleries, educational settings, and nursing homes throughout the state of Virginia. Carolyn is an abstract colorist, whose preferred medium is acrylic. Influenced by the non-representational style of Jackson Pollock and by the Washington, D.C. color field painter, Sam Gilliam, Carolyn experiments with color effects to evoke an emotional response from the viewer. Inspired by the late work of Henri Matisse, Carolyn creates textured cut-outs to achieve a representational effect.
Carolyn and her husband reside in the River Country region of Virginia, where they have established a Backyard Wildlife Habitat, certified by the National Wildlife Federation. During their leisure time, they enjoy kayaking, Latin dancing and American-style ballroom dancing.
Carolyn has written poetry, a teaching guide, news articles, book chapters, a booklet; and her work was included in the 2009 Rappahannock Art League Calendar which features 11 poems from River Country.
Carolyn has published poems widely throughout the country and abroad in magazines, journals and anthologies, including:
After Shocks: The Poetry of Recovery for Life-Shattering Events; Anthology of Magazine Verse & Yearbook of American Poetry; Antioch Review; Autumn Sky Poetry; Bay Splash; Beltway Poetry Quarterly; Best of the Literary Journals; Black Water Review; Blood to Remember: American Poets on the Holocaust; Comstock Review; The Dead Mule; Dominion Review; Eclectica Magazine; El Quetzal; Gloucester Gazette Journal; Hispanic Culture Review; Hungry As We Are; Image/Word: A Book of Poems; Mid-American Review; Negative Capability; Nimrod International Journal; Passages North; Phoebe; Poet Lore; Prairie Schooner; South Florida Poetry Review; Southside Sentinel; Sporting Words Anthology; Terrain.org; The Other Voices International Cyber-Anthology; The Ghosts of Virginia, Vol. XIII; The Ledge; The Sound of Poets Cooking; Virginia Living; WPFW 89.3 FM Poetry Anthology; among others
Carolyn's first poem written in Spanish and English appears in her book, Gathering Light. Other poems have since been translated into Spanish by Rei Berroa, professor of Spanish and Latin American Studies at George Mason University, and appear in the anthology, Cauteloso engaño del sentito, edited by Dr. Berroa, as part of Colección Libros de la Luna, Vol. No. 2, Santo Domingo, República Dominicana, 2007.
Her works on collaborations with Joyce Brinkman, Poet Laureate of Indiana (2002–2008), and other poets throughout the world. Tipton Poetry Review (Fall 2010, Issue #19) contains a kasen renga written by Carolyn and Joyce, in collaboration with Kae Morii, who translated the poem into Japanese.
Paintings and sculpture have been exhibited in galleries, educational settings, and nursing homes throughout the state of Virginia, including the Paul R. Cramer Arts Gallery at the Steward School in Richmond (solo); Petersburg Public Library (solo); Fredericksburg Center for the Arts (solo); Yates House Gallery; The Tides Inn; Labor Day Show in Kilmarnock; Rappahannock Art League; Bay School; Sunrise Gallery, and many others. Paintings displayed at the Yates House and Blue Skies Gallery events were inspired by her poems.
Kreiter-Foronda has also served as a judge of regional arts shows in eastern Virginia, including art exhibits at The Bay School of the Arts in Mathews, Virginia, Yates House in Deltaville, Virginia, and Blue Skies Gallery in Hampton, Virginia.
Carolyn is an educator's educator, providing workshops for professionals on how to improve and incorporate literature, especially poetry, into the curriculum. She has provided sessions to teachers, as well as administrators, from Kindergarten through 12th to University levels. Topics include: