This is a list of past and current municipal poets laureate serving towns, counties, and cities in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Tongo Eisen-Martin by christopher michel 19766dd49-1-21

Cities

Albany

* Christina Hutchins (2008-2012) *Toby Bielawski (2012-2016) *Rebecca Black (2016 - 2018) Albany names resident as new poetry ambassador
" ''

East Bay Times The ''East Bay Times'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Walnut Creek, California, United States, owned by the Bay Area News Group (BANG), a subsidiary of Media News Group, that serves Contra Costa and Alameda counties, in the East Bay ...

''. September 28, 2016. Accessed October 15, 2019. Poet Jack Hirschman 07

Anaheim

* Grant Heir (2018-2020) * Wendy Van Camp (2022-2024)

Benicia

Joel Fallon Joel Fallon (June 16, 1931 - August 11, 2016) was the first Poet laureate of Benicia, California. He is the namesake of the Joel Fallon poetry scholarship awarded annually since 2015 to high school students in Benicia, California. He was a foundi ...

(2006-2008) * Robert Shelby (2008-2010) * Ronna Leon (2010-2012) * Lois Requist (2012-2014) * Don Peery (2014-2016) * Johanna Ely (2016-2018) *

Tom Stanton Tom Stanton (born December 17, 1960 in Warren, Michigan) is the author of several nonfiction books, including two memoirs. In 1983, Stanton, a journalist, co-founded ''The Voice Newspapers'' in suburban Detroit and served as editor for sixteen ...

(2018-2020) * Mary Susan Gast (2020-2023)

El Cerrito

Maw Shein Win Maw Shein Win is a Burmese American poet who lives and teaches in the San Francisco Bay Area. She served as the inaugural Poet laureate A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring instit ...

(2016 - 2018) * Danielle “Dani” Gabriel (2018 - 2020) * Eevelyn Mitchell (2021-2023)

Fairfield

*Juanita J. Martin (2010-2012) *Bonnie DiMichele (2020-2022) *Suzanne Bruce (2022-2024)

Fresno

*James Tyner (2013-2015) *Lee Herrick (2015-2017) *S. Bryan Medina (2017-2019) *Marisol Baca (2019-2021) *Megan Anderson Bohigian (2021-2023) Benicia Poet Laureate Joel Fallon

Livermore

* Connie Post (2005-2009) * Cher Wollard (2009-2013) * Kevin Gunn (2013-2017) * Cynthia Patton (2017-2022) * Peggy Schimmelman (2022–present)

Los Angeles

Eloise Klein Healy Eloise Klein Healy (born 1943) is an American poet. She has published five books of poetry and three chapbooks. Her collection of poems, ''Passing'', was a finalist for the 2003 Lambda Literary Awards in Poetry and the Audre Lorde Award from The ...

(2012-2014) *

Luis J. Rodriguez Luis Javier Rodriguez (born 1954) is an American poet, novelist, journalist, critic, and columnist. He was the 2014 Los Angeles Poet Laureate. Rodriguez is recognized as a major figure in contemporary Chicano literature, identifying himself as ...

(2014-2017) * Robin Coste Lewis (2017-2019) * Lynne Thompson (2021-2022) Vallejo Poet Laureate Jeremy Snyder

Richmond

* Dwayne Parish (2012-2014) *Lincoln Bergman (2014 - 2016) (concurrent) *

Donté Clark Donté Clark is a poet, actor, and community activist from unincorporated North Richmond, California who works with youth organizations throughout the Richmond area. As a student in high school, Clark was recruited by his English teacher Molly Ra ...

(2014-2016) (concurrent) *Brenda Quintanilla (2014 - 2016) (concurrent) *Daniel Ari (2017 - 2019) (concurrent) *Ciera-Jevai Gordon (2017 - 2019) (concurrent) *Rob Lipton (2017 - 2019) (concurrent) *David Flores (2021-2023) Kim Shuck inaugural address as Poet Laureate of San Francisco

Kim Shuck inaugural address as Poet Laureate of San Francisco

Sacramento

* Dennis Schmitz (2000-2002)Dennis Schmitz dies at 82 – the author and professor was Sacramento’s first poet laureate
by Vincent Moleski, ''

Sacramento Bee ''The Sacramento Bee'' is a daily newspaper published in Sacramento, California, in the United States. Since its foundation in 1857, ''The Bee'' has become the largest newspaper in Sacramento, the fifth largest newspaper in California, and the 2 ...

''. 18 Sept. 2018. Accessed 18 Jan. 2020. (concurrent) * Viola Weinberg (2000-2002) (concurrent) *

José Montoya José Montoya (May 28, 1932 – September 25, 2013) was a poet and an artist from Sacramento, California. He was one of the most influential Chicano bilingual poets. He has published many well-known poems in anthologies and magazines, and serve ...

(2002-2004) * Julia Connor (2005-2009) * Bob Stanley (2009-2012) * Jeff Knorr (2012-2015) * Indigo Moor (2017-2019) * Andru Defeye (2020-2022)

San Francisco

Lawrence Ferlinghetti Lawrence Monsanto Ferlinghetti (March 24, 1919 – February 22, 2021) was an American poet, painter, social activist, and co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers. The author of poetry, translations, fiction, theatre, art criticism, an ...

(1998-2000) *

Janice Mirikitani Janice Mirikitani (February 5, 1941 – July 29, 2021) was a Japanese–American poet and activist who resided in the San Francisco Bay Area for most of her adult life. She managed the Glide Memorial Church with her husband, Cecil Williams. Sh ...

(2000-2002) Janice Mirikitani, San Francisco, California, 1977

Devorah Major Devorah Major is an American writer, editor, recording artist, and professor. She has won awards in poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction and is San Francisco's third Poet Laureate. Biography Major graduated from San Francisco State Unive ...

(2002-2004) *

Jack Hirschman Jack Hirschman (December 13, 1933 – August 22, 2021) was an American poet and social activist who wrote more than 100 volumes of poetry and essays. Biography Hirschman was born in New York City to a Russian Jewish family. He received a B.A. ...

(2006-2008) *

Diane di Prima Diane di Prima (August 6, 1934October 25, 2020) was an American poet, known for her association with the Beat movement. She was also an artist, prose writer, and teacher. Her magnum opus is widely considered to be ''Loba'', a collection of poem ...

(2000-2002) * Alejandro Murguía (2012-2015) * Kim Shuck (2017-2021) * Tongo Eisen-Martin (2021-) Barry Spacks 1931 2014 in 2008

Santa Barbara

* Barry Spacks (2005-2007) *Perie Longo (2007-2009) *

David Starkey David Robert Starkey (born 3 January 1945) is an English historian and radio and television presenter, with views that he describes as conservative. The only child of Quaker parents, he attended Kendal Grammar School before studying at Cambr ...

(2009-2011) *Paul Willis (2011-2013) *Chryss Yost (2013-2015) *Sojourner Kincaid Rolle (2015-2017) *Enid Osborn (2017-2019) *

Laure-Anne Bosselaar Laure-Anne Bosselaar is a Belgian-American poet, translator, professor, and former poet laureate of Santa Barbara, California. She is the author of four collections of poetry, most recently, ''These Many Rooms'' (Four Way Books, 2019). Her collec ...

(2019-2021) *

Emma Trelles Emma Trelles is a Latina poet, writer, professor, and current poet laureate of Santa Barbara, California. Life Trelles earned an MFA from Florida International University in the 1990s, where she was mentored by the poet Campbell McGrath and f ...

(2021-2023)

Vallejo

Genea Brice Dr. Genea Brice is an American poet. She was the first Poet Laureate of Vallejo, California. Biography Genea S. Brice was born in Oakland, California and raised in Vallejo, California. She is a graduate of Hogan Senior High School in Vallejo. S ...

(2015-2017) * D.L. Lang (2017-2019) * Jeremy Snyder (2020-2023)

Counties

Kern County

*Don Thompson (2016-2019) *Matthew Woodman (2019–present)

Lake County

*Jim Lyle (1998-2002) *James BlueWolf (2002-2004) *Carolyn Wing Greenlee (2004-2006) *Sandra Wade (2006-2008) *Mary McMillan (2008-2010) *Russell Gonzaga (2010-2012) *Elaine Watt (2012-2014) *Casey Carney (2014-2016) *Julie Adams (2016-2018) *Richard Schmidt (2018-2020) *Georgina Marie Guardado (2020-2023)

Marin County

* Albert Flynn DeSilver (2008-2010) * Lyn Follett (2010-2013) * Joe Zaccardi (2013-2015) * Prartho Sereno (2015-2017) * Rebecca Foust (2017-2019) * Terry Lucas (2019-2021)

Napa County

*Beclee Wilson (2015-2017) *Jeremy Benson (2017-2021) *Marianne Lyon (2021-2022)

Nevada County

Molly Fisk Molly Fisk (born July 16, 1955) is an American poet and radio commentator. She has been teaching writing since 1994 and runs the on-line workshop Poetry Boot Camp. Her most recent book is ''Naming Your Teeth: Even More Observations from a Working ...

Santa Clara County - Nils Peterson (2009-2011) - Sally Ashton (2011-2013) - David Perez (2014-2015) - Arlene Biala (2016-2017) - Mike McGee(2018-2019) - Janice Sapigao (2020-2021) - Tshaka Campbell (2022-2023)

San Mateo County

* Caroline Goodwin (2014 – 2016) * Lisa Rosenberg (2017 – 2018) *Aileen Cassinetto (2019 – 2022)

Notes

:1.Eevelyn Mitchell's term as poet laureate was extended to a third year in August of 2022.Minutes of the regular meeting of the Arts and Culture Commission: Monday, August 22, 2022 at 7:00 p.m. via teleconference.
Accessed January 25, 2023.