Past POETs LAUREATE

 

Julia Connor, Sacramento Poet Laureate, 2005-2008
From her unlikely beginnings as a dyslexic child and troubled youth, Julia Connor’s life long exploration of the arts led to an extended colleagueship with renowned potter, poet and educator, M.C. Richards, while raising a son and daughter. In the early 80’s she undertook an apprenticeship and study of poetics at new College of CA, followed by a position as instructor and assistant director of the MFA Writing Program at Naropa University in Boulder, CO. In her six books and numerous journal appearances her work consistently evokes the sense of an immersion in place, finding there the unique intersection with memory that gives rise to the poem. “Connor allows the countryside to become imagination and, as such, it blooms…” says poet Michael McClure. She has received several awards including the Commissioner’s Award from SMAC, a Fellowship in Writing from the CAC, as well as Fellowships from Centrum Arts in Port Townsend, WA; The Helene Wurlitzer Foundation in Taos, New Mexico and The Hambidge Center for Arts and Sciences in Rabun Gap, Georgia.

José Montoya, Sacramento Poet Laureate, 2002-2004
José Montoya is a poet and an artist. He is one of the most influential Chicano bilingual poets. He has published many well-known poems in anthologies and magazines. Making his start soon after the Korean War when he entered San Diego City College as an art student, Montoya later transferred to the California College of Arts & Crafts in Oakland, California. In the early 1970s, he joined students and members of the Chicano community to found the Rebel Chicano Art Front, later renamed the Royal Chicano Air Force, which organized numerous cultural, educational, and political activities in the Sacramento area. He began his career by teaching High School and then taught for 25 years in the Department of Art Education at CSUS.

Dennis Schmitz and Viola Weinberg, Sacramento Poets Laureate, 2000-2002
Dennis Schmitz is the author of seven books of poetry and has received numerous awards for his work. He taught for more than 30 years at California State University at Sacramento. Dennis' reputation as an outstanding poet is international. Over his distinguished career, he has seen hundreds of his poems published in magazines and anthologies. His list of awards and recognitions include the di Castignola Award, the Shelley Memorial Award and the Pushcart Prize. He was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1978-79 and has been a National Endowment for the Arts Fellow three times.

Viola Weinberg's poetry has appeared extensively in journals, newspapers, magazines and anthologies, including Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend and Ladies, Start Your Engines (both Faber & Faber, Boston & London). As a radio journalist, Weinberg worked for the legendary KZAP FM in Sacramento and KQED FM in San Francisco among others. She was the founding director of the International Fund for Photography. For several years she worked with KVIE TV as a coordinating producer and researcher. In 1978, she was named "Woman of the Year" by the California Commission onthe Status of Women. In 1996, Viola Weinberg was awarded the Mayor's Award, the highest recognition given to artists in our region.