Nigerian-American poet Daniel Somtochukwu Umemezie has been named the 2026-27 National Youth Poet Laureate of the United States, becoming the 10th recipient of the national honour and the first Iowan to hold the title.
The U.S. National Youth Poet Laureate is a national literary honour created by Urban Word to recognise young American poets for both their writing and civic engagement. The programme grew from Urban Word’s Youth Poet Laureate initiative, which began in New York in 2008, and the first national title was awarded to Amanda Gorman in 2017.
Umemezie, who grew up in Nigeria before moving to the United States at 13, was selected as the 10th National Youth Poet Laureate in April 2026.
Daniel Umemezie is a Nigerian-American poet whose work explores cultural inheritance and displacement, using bodily transformation as both metaphor and form. His poetry develops a realm between interior experience and external reality. His work has appeared in the North American Review, Scholastic, Magpie Journal, and many more. He is forthcoming in Polyphony Lit and has been recognized as the Iowa Student Poetry Ambassador, the Kenyon Young Writers Program, the Iowa Poetry Association, Humanities Iowa, and others.
Before receiving the national title, Umemezie was named the 2025 Cedar Valley Youth Poet Laureate and later served as Iowa Student Poet Ambassador for the 2025–26 academic year. He also became a Midwest regional finalist in the national competition before advancing to the final in Omaha, Nebraska. His involvement in poetry has extended beyond his own writing. Umemezie founded the Iowa Youth Poetry Council and has worked with young writers through poetry readings, workshops, and community programmes. His civic work was also considered during the national selection process.
His experience between Nigeria and the United States has become an important part of his poetry. One of his works, “I Come From Two Nigerias,” examines his connection to the country where he grew up and the experience of carrying that background after moving abroad.
In his statement as National Youth Poet Laureate, Umemezie described a vision for poetry, saying:
“I believe that when a young writer chooses to inhabit the fiery tension between who they are and how they express that identity, they embody art itself.”
Umemezie will attend Iowa State University, where he plans to study aerospace engineering. As the new National Youth Poet Laureate, he will also continue sharing his poetry through readings and workshops across the United States, drawing on themes of identity, memory, family, and his experience between Nigeria and the United States.
Congratulations, Daniel Somtochukwu Umemezie!
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