Jay Snider

Jay Snider is a poet and recording artist born and raised in a ranching and rodeo family in southwestern Oklahoma. He will serve as Oklahoma’s poet laureate through 2024. 

Snider is a frequent contributor to programs presented by the Chisholm Trail Heritage Center & Garis Gallery of the American West in Duncan, Oklahoma, and other museums and cultural centers across the state. Among the national and regional events featuring Snider, he has appeared at the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Nevada, the Texas Cowboy Poetry Gathering, the Arizona Cowboy Poets Gathering, and the Cochise Cowboy Poetry and Music Gathering.

In 2006, Snider earned Cowboy Poetry Recording of the Year from the Academy of Western Artists for his album Of Horses and Men. In 2008, he was recognized as Cowboy Poet of the Year by the Academy of Western Artists. His latest album, The Old Tried and True, is a compilation of his favorite poems written by cowboy poets of the past.