Arts
Fresno’s New Poet Laureate is Marisol Baca
Marisol Baca begins a two-year term as Fresno’s poet laureate Thursday.
Baca, an English instructor at Fresno City College and prize-winning poet, is the first woman to become the city’s literary ambassador.
Baca Debuted ‘Tremor’ in 2018
She earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Fresno State in 2003 and a master’s degree in creative writing from Cornell University in 2007.
Her 2018 debut poetry collection, “Tremor,” won Three Mile Harbor Press First Book Prize and received high praise from Juan Felipe Herrera, the U.S. poet laureate 2015-2017
The Fresno Arts Council will celebrate Baca’s inauguration at 5 o’clock Thursday with an Art Hop reception at its downtown headquarters, 1245 Van Ness.
James Tyner, a librarian for the Fresno County Public Library, was named the first Fresno poet laureate in 2013. He was followed by Lee Herrick and Bryan Medina.
The first three Fresno poet laureates reviewed this year’s nominations for the position and made their recommendation to Fresno Mayor Lee Brand.
Learn More About Baca
You can learn more about Baca’s upbringing, writing, and community service in this story by Jefferson Beavers at fresnostatenews.com.
You can access Baca’s website at this link.
Ronald E Bock
May 3, 2019 at 9:43 am
Notice how all of the teachers and professors always reward their own. They wouldn’t dare acknowledge there are non-academics who write poetry worthy of reward. The system feeds it’s own.