Online voting runs through Feb. 9

New London native and poet Kathleen M. Heideman is one of five nominees for the honorary position of “U.P. Poet Laureate” in Upper Michigan.

According to the award’s criteria, the nominated authors demonstrate a strong connection to the Upper Peninsula, and expressed their willingness to promote an appreciation of poetry and the region during their tenure.

This is Heideman’s third nomination for U.P. Poet Laureate.

Online voting is open now through Saturday, Feb. 9 on the Sault Ste. Marie Evening News website. People can vote once per day.

The four other nominees are Marty Achatz, Sally Brunk, Eric Gadzinski and Margaret Noodin.

Heideman grew up on a dairy farm in Sugar Bush. After graduating from New London High School, she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and a Master of Arts degree from Northern Michigan University.

She describes herself as a “writer/artist/environmentalist working in the wild U.P.”

She has completed artist-in- residence programs with a variety of watersheds, forests, private foundations, the National Park Service and the National Science Foundation’s Antarctic Artists and Writers Program.

She is the author of “Psalms of the Early Anthropocene,” released in 2017, and two previous poetry chapbooks.

In 2018, her poems were featured in “The Night Psalms,” an original vocal cantata by composer Griffin Candey, which received its world debut in a performance by the Marquette Choral Society at Northern Michigan University.

Heideman’s work appears in several recent anthologies, including “And Here: 100 Years of Upper Peninsula Writing,” “Isle Royale from the AIR,” “Maiden Voyage” and in literary magazines.

Heideman is the recipient of a 2018 Freshwater Hero Award and the Michigan Sierra Club’s 2019 White Pine Award for environmental activism. She serves on the board of directors of the Upper Peninsula Environmental Coalition.

Heideman will return to New London to serve as judge for the Wolf River Art League’s Mid-Winter Art Show. The 49th annual art show will take place Feb. 9-10 at Crystal Falls Banquet Facility, 1500 Handschke Drive, New London.