Dr. Genea Brice is an American poet. She was the first

Poet Laureate A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ...

Vallejo, California Vallejo ( ; ) is a city in Solano County, California and the second largest city in the North Bay region of the Bay Area. Located on the shores of San Pablo Bay, the city had a population of 126,090 at the 2020 census. Vallejo is home to the ...

Biography

Genea S. Brice was born in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

and raised in Vallejo, California. She is a graduate of Hogan Senior High School in Vallejo. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies with a concentration in English Literature and a Teaching Credential from

Patten University Patten University is an online college in Oakland, California. Its parent organization, Patten Educational Foundation, was founded in 1944 by Bebe Patten as a bible college, and went through several stages in its history, variously under the nam ...

. She went on to the Sacramento Theological Seminary and Bible College to earn her Master of Arts and doctorate in Theological Studies. In addition to becoming Vallejo's first poet laureate, she served on the Commission on Culture and the Arts. Following her service as poet laureate she briefly relocated to

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...

in 2018. She currently resides in

Vacaville, California Vacaville is a city located in Solano County in Northern California. Sitting approximately from Sacramento and from San Francisco, it is within the Sacramento Valley. As of the 2020 census, Vacaville had a population of 102,386, making it ...

Poetry

A poetry aficionado since her youth, Brice advocated for the founding of the poet laureate program in Vallejo. She served as poet laureate of Vallejo, California from August 2015 to September 2017. During her tenure, she performed at several local events and celebrations, including Art Walk, Visions of the Wild, Women's History Month, Juneteenth,

Martin Luther King Jr. Day Martin Luther King Jr. Day (officially Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., and sometimes referred to as MLK Day) is a federal holiday in the United States marking the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. It is observed on the third Mond ...

, and a vigil after the

Charlottesville car attack The Charlottesville car attack was a white supremacist terrorist attack perpetrated on August 12, 2017, when James Alex Fields, Jr. deliberately Vehicle-ramming attack, drove his car into a crowd of people peacefully protesting the Unite the R ...

. She taught students about

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

, gave presentations on

Maya Angelou Maya Angelou ( ; born Marguerite Annie Johnson; April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American memoirist, popular poet, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and ...

and

Sonia Sanchez Sonia Sanchez (born Wilsonia Benita Driver; September 9, 1934) is an American poet, writer, and professor. She was a leading figure in the Black Arts Movement and has written over a dozen books of poetry, as well as short stories, critical essay ...

for Voices of Change and spoke about

Ernest J. Gaines Ernest James Gaines (January 15, 1933 – November 5, 2019) was an American author whose works have been taught in college classrooms and translated into many languages, including French, Spanish, German, Russian and Chinese. Four of his works we ...

at the Solano County Library. Brice lead a monthly poetry circle, Poetry in Notion, and hosted annual shows for National Poetry Month. She also spoke at events for numerous organizations including Alpha Kappa Alpha, NAACP, Community Democratic Club, Delta Sigma Theta, The Links, Rotary Club, Harvest House, United States Forest Service, Soroptimist International, and Vallejo Sister Cities. She was succeeded as poet laureate by D.L. Lang in 2017. In 2020 she performed at a rally against police violence in Vallejo. In 2021 she performed at a virtual benefit for the Solano County Library Foundation. She also read at the

Juneteenth Juneteenth is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. Deriving its name from combining "June" and "nineteenth", it is celebrated on the anniversary of General Order No. 3, i ...

flag raising at Martin Luther King, Jr. park in Vallejo, and at another commemoration of Juneteenth in Suisun City. She also performed with her successors at Alibi Bookshop. In 2022 she read in Fairfield at a Juneteenth event for the Solano County Library. In 2023 she helped high school seniors with a Black History Month poetry project.

Works

Poetry collections

* ''A Way with Words: Poems, Prose, and other Masterpieces'' 2017.

Anthologies

*''Poeming Pigeons: Poems about Birds'' The Poetry Box. 2015. *Lang, D.L. ed., ''Verses, Voices, & Visions of Vallejo'' 2019. *''The Colors of Life'' The International Library of Poetry. 2003. *''The Best Poems and Poets of 2005'' The International Library of Poetry. 2005. *''A Word for All Seasons'' Benicia Literary Arts, 2014.

Publications

* Brice, Genea, “A Tuesday Text,” ''Benicia Herald,'' October 7, 2020. * Brice, Genea, “Galveston,” ''Benicia Herald'', June 18, 2021. * Brice, Genea, “Vacaville,” ''The Diablo Gazette,'' April 2022.

Memoir

* ''Weaned in the Desert: Souvenirs from Sacred Seasons with my Savior'' Xulon Press. 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brice, Genea Living people American women poets Municipal Poets Laureate in the United States Poets from California People from Oakland, California Writers from Vallejo, California Year of birth missing (living people) Poets Laureate of Vallejo 21st-century American women writers 21st-century American poets African-American poets 21st-century African-American women writers 21st-century African-American writers