Stateside's conversation with Semaj Brown. The American Academy of Poets has chosen Flint’s Poet Laureate, Semaj Brown, as one of twenty-two 2021 Poet Laureate Fellows. Brown will receive $50,000 for her literary work. Brown intends to put the award toward the Poetry Pod Project, or P3. The virtual programming series, a project of her own design, aims to support literacy in Flint. “We know a healthy community is a literate community , and what better way to support literacy than through poetry?” Brown said. “Because poetry is fun, it’s musical, it’s relevant, it’s historic, it’s all those things wrapped into one.”