Missoula writer Chris La Tray to serve as Montana poet laureate

Montana has a new poet laureate, Chris La Tray.

La Tray, a Métis writer and storyteller who grew up in Frenchtown, wants to use his term in 2023-24 to show how relevant the form can be.

“If I have a goal as poet laureate, it’s to bring it back to the people,” he said. He feels as though the literary art form has “had a bag thrown over its head, and dragged off into the ivory tower.”

Chris La Tray, a Métis writer and storyteller who grew up in Frenchtown, was named Montana’s new poet laureate.

BEN ALLAN SMITH, Missoulian

As a reader, he values “strong images and clear writing,” work that’s “pretty blunt” instead of lost in abstraction.

While serving as a laureate for 2023-24, he wants to travel the state and teach poetry much like he does with students on the Flathead Indian Reservation through the Missoula Writing Collaborative.

Hesitancy about poetry is yet another sign that we’ve been “duped,” he said.

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