Gabrielle Walker is the 2023–24 Youth Poet Laureate of Cincinnati, selected by WordPlay Cincy. A current senior at The Seven Hills School, Walker is the city’s second Youth Poet Laureate, succeeding Rimel Kamran of Mason, Ohio, a rising freshman at The Ohio State University. Walker was selected by a committee of experts in the sectors of creative youth leadership; library sciences; literary arts; secondary, post-secondary and graduate education; and community arts.

Much of Walker’s work examines identity pertaining to her Cameroonian-American heritage, as well as the intersections of race, gender, nationality, ethnicity and class. Previously, Walker has also received awards in the statewide speed writing competition, “Power of the Pen,” and the National Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. This past summer, she received a national gold medal for her essay “How to Make Ends Meet: Metamorphosis and Safeguarding Tradition in Jamaica Kincaid’s ‘Girl.’”