List of municipal poets laureate in California

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

Cities

Albany

Christina Hutchins (2008-2012)^[1]
Toby Bielawski (2012-2016)^[1]
Rebecca Black (2016 - 2018) ^[2]^[1]

Anaheim

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

Benicia

Joel Fallon (2006-2008) ^[3]
Robert Shelby (2008-2010) ^[4]
Ronna Leon (2010-2012)
Lois Requist (2012-2014)
Don Peery (2014-2016)
Johanna Ely (2016-2018) ^[5]
Tom Stanton (2018-2020) ^[6]
Mary Susan Gast (2020-2023) ^[7]
Kathy Monroe (2024)

El Cerrito

Maw Shein Win (2016 - 2018) ^[8]
Danielle “Dani” Gabriel (2018 - 2020)^[9]
Eevelyn Mitchell (2021-2023)^[10]^[11]^[12]^[1]

Fairfield

Juanita J. Martin (2010-2012)^[13]^[14]
Bonnie DiMichele (2020-2022)^[15]
Suzanne Bruce (2022-2024)^[16]

Fresno

James Tyner (2013-2015) ^[17]
Lee Herrick (2015-2017) ^[17]
S. Bryan Medina (2017-2019) ^[17]
Marisol Baca (2019-2021)^[17]
Megan Anderson Bohigian (2021-2023)^[17]

Livermore

Connie Post (2005-2009)^[18]
Cher Wollard (2009-2013)^[19]
Kevin Gunn (2013-2017)^[20]
Cynthia Patton (2017-2022)^[20]^[21]
Peggy Schimmelman (2022–present) ^[21]

Los Angeles

Eloise Klein Healy (2012-2014)^[22]
Luis J. Rodriguez (2014-2017)^[22]
Robin Coste Lewis (2017-2019)^[22]
Lynne Thompson (2021-2022)^[23]

Richmond

Dwayne Parish (2012-2014)^[24]
Lincoln Bergman (2014 - 2016)^[25] (concurrent)
Donté Clark (2014-2016)^[25] (concurrent)
Brenda Quintanilla (2014 - 2016)^[25] (concurrent)
Daniel Ari (2017 - 2019)^[25] (concurrent)
Ciera-Jevai Gordon (2017 - 2019) (concurrent)
Rob Lipton (2017 - 2019)^[26]^[25] (concurrent)
David Flores (2021-2023)^[27]^[28]

Sacramento

Dennis Schmitz (2000-2002)^[29]^[30] (concurrent)
Viola Weinberg (2000-2002)^[29]^[30] (concurrent)
José Montoya (2002-2004)^[29]
Julia Connor (2005-2009)^[29]
Bob Stanley (2009-2012)^[29]
Jeff Knorr (2012-2015)^[29]
Indigo Moor (2017-2019)^[29]
Andru Defeye (2020-2022)^[31]

San Francisco

Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1998-2000)^[32]
Janice Mirikitani (2000-2002)^[32]

Janice Mirikitani was Poet Laureate of San Francisco in 2000
Devorah Major (2002-2004)^[32]
Jack Hirschman (2006-2008)^[32]
Diane di Prima (2009-2011)^[32]
Alejandro Murguía (2012-2015)^[32]
Kim Shuck (2017-2021)^[32]
Tongo Eisen-Martin (2021-)^[32]

Santa Barbara

Barry Spacks (2005-2007)^[33]^[34]
Perie Longo (2007-2009)^[33]
David Starkey (2009-2011)^[33]^[35]
Paul Willis (2011-2013)^[33]
Chryss Yost (2013-2015)^[33]
Sojourner Kincaid Rolle (2015-2017)^[33]
Enid Osborn (2017-2019)^[33]
Laure-Anne Bosselaar (2019-2021)^[33]^[36]
Emma Trelles (2021-2023)^[37]^[33]

Vallejo

Genea Brice (2015-2017)^[38]
D.L. Lang (2017-2019)^[39]
Jeremy Snyder (2020-2023)^[40]
Jacalyn Eyvonne and Kathleen Herrmann (concurrent, 2024-2025)^[41]

Counties

Kern County

Don Thompson (2016-2019)^[42]
Matthew Woodman (2019–2024)^[43]
Samuel Rain Benjamin (2024-present)

Lake County

Jim Lyle (1998-2002)^[44]
James BlueWolf (2002-2004)^[44]
Carolyn Wing Greenlee (2004-2006)^[44]
Sandra Wade (2006-2008)^[44]
Mary McMillan (2008-2010)^[44]
Russell Gonzaga (2010-2012)^[44]
Elaine Watt (2012-2014)^[44]
Casey Carney (2014-2016)^[44]
Julie Adams (2016-2018)^[44]
Richard Schmidt (2018-2020)^[44]
Georgina Marie Guardado (2020-2023)^[44]

Marin County

Albert Flynn DeSilver (2008-2010)^[45]
Lyn Follett (2010-2013)^[45]
Joe Zaccardi (2013-2015)^[45]
Prartho Sereno (2015-2017)^[45]
Rebecca Foust (2017-2019)^[46]
Terry Lucas (2019-2021)^[47]

Napa County

Beclee Wilson (2015-2017)^[48]
Jeremy Benson (2017-2021)^[48]
Marianne Lyon (2021-2022)^[49]

Nevada County

Molly Fisk^[50]

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)^[51]
Lisa Rosenberg (2017 – 2018)^[51]
Aileen Cassinetto (2019 – 2022)^[52]^[53]

Notes

1.^ Eevelyn Mitchell's term as poet laureate was extended to a third year in August of 2022.^[54]

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