Chris Vitiello, AKA the Poetry Fox, in The Bulletin

If you know Communication Strategist Chris Vitiello only as your colleague who writes many of the news stories, social media posts, and event promotions you read on the Libraries website, you may not recognize him if you see him outside of work. Because he just might be dressed in a full-on, mascot-style fox costume. For the past decade or so, Chris has been sharing his writing craft as the Poetry Fox, creating on-demand poems for people at weddings, corporate events, festivals, farmers markets, and more, on vintage manual typewriters. This week in The Bulletin, NC State News featured Chris in an article about his alternate life as a fox, including the backstory, where he got the costume, and his work at the Libraries.

In the article, Chris shared stories of the more than 50,000 poems he has hammered out for folks over the years—poems to delight, provoke thought, or even soothe broken hearts. He also talked about his love of libraries and gave some advice to anyone looking to, like him, stoke that creative spirit they might have outside of their nine-to-five.

“If people have a practice they’re interested in, a hobby or some type of artwork that they want to do, you have to make room for it,” Vitiello said. “If you exert a little will and desire into it, it’s worth going after it, whether it turns into a business or if it’s just something you enjoy doing. It’s about being intentional and taking initiative.”

To read the full article, and to find out where he got that fox costume, click here.

Congratulations, Chris!