Where The Wildest Dreams Come From

Hockaday teen shares love of writing as Youth Poet Laureate of Dallas

Naisha Randhar, the city of Dallas’ youth poet laureate, says her passion for writing began in elementary school.

“I thought I was going to be the next J.K. Rowling,” Randhar said. “So as an 8-year-old, I made myself write nine hours a day every day!”

Randhar recently finished the ninth grade at The Hockaday School, where she’s been involved with debate and Model UN, running track, and volunteering weekly as a tutor at Joe May Elementary.

Mayor Eric Johnson presided in May as Randhar’s one-year term as youth poet laureate began.  She will work with Dallas Poet Laureate Dr. Mag Gabbert to encourage youth poetry.

“I’m honored to give Dallas youth a platform to use their voice and express their poetic skills,” Randhar said. “I want to connect people in the library and the world to feel safe to write and share their own poetry.” 

As the author of a fantasy story at 12, prose was her first love but poetry is her passion.

After discovering spoken word and slam poetry in eighth grade, she began crafting her own poems for the stage. She participates in open mics around Dallas, including one hosted at Meow Wolf in Grapevine. 

“I recently did an open mic and it was like an out of body experience,” Randhar said. “My dad videoed (it) and literally shows it to anyone who will watch.” 

In her role as Youth Poet Laureate, Randhar will work to encourage and support the literary talent of young people in Dallas. 

Duties include filming a promotional video for Express Yourself! Youth Poetry Competition (the competition where the Poet Laureate was announced), participating in public reading and speaking engagements, visiting with elementary classes about poetry, and working closely with the Dallas Poet Laureate to create programs and initiatives to engage youth in poetry. 

She is also planning to work with a youth summer camp that encourages students to write poetry about field trips they take throughout Dallas. 

In her free time, Randhar hangs out with family and her beloved dog, swims, cooks (sometimes), listens to music, and travels. 

“But writing is pretty much everything,” Randhar said. “In my wildest dreams, I’ll be a writer when I grow up. My goal is to write for the rest of my life.”

At a recent spoken work open mic, Randhar performed her work titled “The Truth About Being a Girl.” She said she was terrified someone would call her out for being dramatic or invalidate her feelings. She worried some people would think her poem was too progressive or woke.

“After performing the poem, this girl came up to me after I got off stage, crying, and told me how much my poem meant to her, and then I was crying too and we hugged for a long time,” Randhar said. “I think that experience gave me the reassurance I needed that risking my heart in poetry was the worthiest cause I would ever have the privilege to pursue.”