FARMINGTON — Wesley McNair, award-winning poet and University of Maine at Farmington professor emeritus and writer in residence, was recently appointed by the governor as Maine’s poet laureate. McNair accepted the honor at a ceremony at the Poetry Out Loud State Finals — a national competition for high school students sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation.

McNair is the author of 18 books, including poetry, prose and edited anthologies. His most recent collection of poems, “Lovers of the Lost: New & Selected Poems” (Godine, 2010), was launched at UMF’s Visiting Writers Series in 2010.

At UMF, he directed the creative writing program and shared his love of poetry with his students, colleagues and the wider community. In addition, Wes was instrumental in inviting Alice James Books, an award-winning poetry press, to take up residence at UMF. He was the recipient of both the UMF Distinguished Faculty Award and the Libra Professorship and currently serves as a guest faculty member for UMF’s Longfellow Mountains Young Writers summer workshop.

Maine has had three poet laureates since the post was established in 1995, including Kate Barnes, Baron Wormser and Betsy Sholl. Each laureate serves a five-year term and may be appointed for a second term.