Hari Narayanan ’20 Wins First Place in Poetry Contest

This fall, newly-minted RL alumnus Hari Narayanan received a message from the West Roxbury branch of the Boston Public Library. The library staff was reaching out to inform him that he had won first place in the library’s annual poetry contest, in the high school submissions category. This year was the 31st of the Intergenerational Poetry Contest that the library hosts each spring. Because of the pandemic, the competition was postponed until the fall. “The theme for the contest this year was space,” Hari says. His winning poem, “The Liminal Space,” focuses on his transition from high school to college.

“I’ve been writing poetry for this event every year since the fourth grade, and I always attend the awards ceremony, even if I don’t win anything!” says Hari. “The judge, Professor Mary Pinard of Babson College, is a wonderfully engaging reader and speaker. Typically, she will read aloud and discuss each of the winning poems, contributed by members of the community ages five through eighty-five. The library is truly a lovely community, and it has had a profound impact on me before, during, and after my time at Roxbury Latin.”

In the high school category this year, Hari actually tied for first place with another student, Morgan Frost, who wrote the poem “covid-19.” This year, the award ceremony was celebrated on October 22 over Zoom.