Bucks County does not hand out many countywide arts titles that stick in people’s heads. This one might. According to a LevittownNow report citing Bucks County Community College, Applebachsville farmer and writer Lynda Gene Rymond has been named the county’s 50th poet laureate after entering the contest seven times before and finishing runner-up three times.
How Lynda Gene Rymond became Bucks County Poet Laureate
Rymond won with a submission of 10 poems, and the college said those poems rose to the top of a field of 90 entries. Professor Ethel Rackin, who directs the competition at Bucks County Community College, told the college this year’s field was especially strong. That is the sort of quote every contest uses, sure, but 90 entries for a county poetry competition is still a real turnout. People are clearly writing here.
According to LevittownNow and the college, Rymond lives on a small farm in Applebachsville in Haycock Township, just north of Lake Nockamixon. She told the college she does not own a television and instead hears “25 species of birds sharing local news and gossip” while she gardens. That line alone probably tells you more about her work than any bio could. The final judge, poet Jeanne Marie Beaumont, said Rymond’s poems pay close attention to the natural world, from “glints of mica” to “rover ants,” while also tying that world back to human life.
Rymond also told the college that her writing comes from “deep roots in the land itself,” and that tracks with the scraps of biography released with the announcement. She grew up in Feasterville, studied art at Bucks County Community College, and later earned a B.F.A. from California College of Arts and Crafts, according to the report. None of that sounds packaged by a publicist. Good. It sounds like a Bucks County writer who kept at it until the judges finally stopped making her wait.
The contest drew 90 entries and a final judge picked four writers
The college said this year’s announcement does more than name one winner. It also marks the 50th time Bucks County has named a poet laureate, and Rackin described it as the longest-running poet laureate competition in Pennsylvania. As background, Bucks County Community College has long played a bigger local role than just offering classes. It acts as a county gathering place for readings, forums and public events, something the school presents on its website and that fits its place in the county’s public education network under Pennsylvania’s education system and broader state government.
According to the college and LevittownNow, the Nov. 14 celebration will also include 2025 Bucks County Poet Laureate Madeline Marriott of Holland, along with preliminary contest judge Michelle Messina Reale. Beaumont also selected three runners-up who will appear at the event: Kevin Kaiser of Warrington, Natalie Mera Ford of Doylestown, and Camille Norvaisas of Feasterville.
There is something refreshingly unflashy about that setup. No velvet rope. No giant gala. Just a public college, a room full of writers, and a county still making space for poetry while everybody else is yelling about elections and traffic.
What This Means for Bucks County Residents
For residents, the direct payoff is simple. This is a free public event with a local winner, local runners-up and a county institution behind it. You do not need to buy a ticket to Philadelphia or pretend to enjoy some stiff literary panel in a hotel ballroom. You can just show up and listen.
There is also a bigger local point here, and it does not need a slogan. Bucks County is usually discussed through tax fights, development hearings, school disputes and campaign cash. That is fair enough. Readers who follow our Bucks County news coverage see plenty of that. But the county is also full of people making art in less obvious places, on farms, in classrooms, in libraries, and at kitchen tables after work. A poet laureate program does not fix a pothole or lower a bill, but it does give a public microphone to one corner of county life that often gets shoved off the page.
Rymond’s selection brings an upper Bucks voice into that spot. According to the college, her work is rooted in land, seasons and creatures, and she has said nature was a refuge for her as a child. That is Bucks County too. Not the brochure version. The real one, with fields, woods, old habits, hard years, and people who keep making things anyway. If you want more of that side of the county, it belongs right alongside our more local stories, not somewhere off in a cultural side room.
Where to hear the Bucks County Poet Laureate in Newtown
According to Bucks County Community College and LevittownNow, Rymond will be honored at a reading and reception at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 14, in Tyler Hall on the college’s Newtown campus. The campus sits in Newtown Township, an area that turns up often in our Newtown coverage, and it is an easy enough central spot for a countywide event.
If you want the practical version, here it is: the event is free, the public is invited, and the college says Rymond, last year’s laureate and the runners-up will all take part. Check the college website before you go in case the school posts room or parking updates.
Sources and Further Reading
- LevittownNow – report on Lynda Gene Rymond being named Bucks County’s 50th poet laureate
- Bucks County Community College – official website of the college that runs the poet laureate competition
- Pennsylvania Department of Education – official state education agency
- Commonwealth of Pennsylvania – official state government portal
- Newtown Township – official township website for the area around the college’s main campus
- Bucks County Government – official county government website
