The Poetry Foundation has named American writer Jacqueline Woodson as the Young People's Poet Laureate.

The $25k title is awarded every two years, and is given to a living writer in recognition of a career 'devoted to writing exceptional poetry for young readers'. Poetry Foundation president, Robert Polito, commented 'Jacqueline Woodson is an elegant, daring, and restlessly innovative writer. So many writers settle on a style and a repertoire of gestures and subjects, but Woodson, like her characters, is always in motion and always discovering something fresh. Her gifts, adventurousness and generosity, suggest she will be a terrific young people's poet laureate'.