Karla K. Morton

Karla K. Morton is a professional speaker, award-winning author, photographer, songwriter, the 2010 Texas Poet Laureate and a member of the Texas Institute of Letters.

Described as "one of the more adventurous voices in American poetry," she has been featured on Good Morning Texas, NPR, PBS, ABC News, CBS News and in countless newspapers, blogs and magazines.

As a speaker, poet, songwriter and photographer, Karla’s work spans many subjects and forms. She is a Betsy Colquitt Award Winner, Eric Hoffer Award Winner, Western Heritage Award Winner, Montaigne Medal Finalist, a two-time Indie Book Award Winner, a North TX Book Festival Award winner, a nominee for the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame and a Pushcart Prize nominee.

Widely published in literary journals, she is also the author of twelve books of poetry, including the award-winning Redefining Beauty (now in its 3rd printing), Wooden Lions (Western Heritage Award winner) and Constant State of Leaping and Accidental Origami. A traveling photography/poetry exhibit and book, No End of Vision: Texas as Seen by Two Laureates, features Ms. Morton’s black and white photographs and poems by fellow Texas Poet Laureate Alan Birkelbach. Her latest project is a 3-year Words of Preservation National Parks Tour, culminating in a book due out in November 2020: The National Parks: A Century of Grace (TCU Press).