POETs LAUREATE Projects
Through our programs we strive to facilitate a spirit of creativity and collaboration among Sacramento area visual artists, writers and performers, to acknowledge their achievements, and to enhance Sacramento's reputation as a thriving artistic and cultural hub.
Bob Stanley, Sacramento Poet Laureate, 2009-11
The fact that the Sacramento Poet Laureate program does not have a budget for projects this term, has not stopped Bob Stanley. As poet laureate Bob wants to publicize the work of the many fine writers that call Sacramento home. Read about the featured local poet and their poetry on County Lines.
Bob has also organized a free literary series entitled New Voices Writing Workshop. The series is open to anyone interested in learning more about poetry and memoir writing. Participants learned how to develop their individual writing style in a supportive setting with experienced instructors. The workshops were led by local poets and writers. Workshops were held at:
Rancho Cordova Library, hosted by Mr. Stanley, from May -July;
Southgate Library, hosted by Mr. Stanley, June-August;
Belle Cooledge Library, hosted by John Allen Cann, July-August;
Valley Hi/ Laguna Library, hosted by Mr. Stanley, September-November;
South Natomas Library hosted by Julia Connor, Sacramento Poet Laureate 2005-09
from September-December.
Julia Connor, Sacramento Poet Laureate, 2005-08
During her term, Julia Connor initiated three projects:
Think Postcard! a mail art project bringing together poetry and the written word with visual arts. Workshops were held all over the Sacramento area and the Sacramento community produced and mailed to the Arts Commission over 900 postcards. The final works were displayed via a travelling exhibit that visited selected Sacramento galleries.
Poet Laureate Park will be an installation at the South Natomas Community Center and will bring together the poetry of current and past Sacramento poet laureates in a public art piece.
Poets on Deck—a deck of playing cards released in the fall of 2008— features the work of 52 poets and 4 poetry supporters who played instrumental roles in the development of the Sacramento poetry scene in the era leading up to the establishment of the Sacramento Poetry Center. Learn more about the poets included in the deck and other information including where to find the finished product for sale.
José Montoya, Sacramento Poet Laureate, 2002-2004
As his featured project during his tenure as Poet Laureate, Maestro Jose Montoya chose to hold a Festival de Flor y Canto, literally translated “Festival of Flower and Song.” The festival also had the support of over two dozen partners, including local bookstores, writer’s groups, cultural groups and literary organizations. The two-day festival and its preceding Youth and Elder Workshops brought together people of all cultures in a celebration of poetry, both contemporary and traditional, with an emphasis on performance and the sharing of knowledge down through the generations. The elder poets merged with young poets from the Sacramento community and its schools, sparking a profusion of creative fires throughout the festival that had a lasting effect on audience and participants alike, as well as the larger community.
The term Flor y Canto actually dates back to pre-Columbian times. Among the ancient Nahuats (Aztec Indians), as among the Greeks, it was the poets who first became aware of and enunciated the great problems of human existence. The Aztecs used the metaphor, in Xochitl in Cuicatl, flower and song-or flor y canto-in Spanish, which celebrated poetry, “as the only truth on Earth.” Playwright Luís Váldez and poet Alurísta were among the first to link revolutionary literature to these ancient roots, and the idea of “flower and song” lives on as a poetic expression of reverence for life and justice.
Dennis Schmitz and Viola Weinberg, Sacramento Poets Laureate, 2000-2002
Sacramento’s first Laureate, a position shared by Dennis Schmitz and Viola Weinberg, produced an anthology of one hundred poems by Sacramento poets called, The Sacramento Anthology: One Hundred Poems. The anthology is not only being sold in bookstores, but is also now used in high school and college classrooms. For three years, the program hosted the Second Monday Favorite Poem Series at the Sacramento Public Library, where ordinary citizens like state and city workers could spend their lunch breaks sharing and spreading their love of poetry. The Mayor and County Board of Supervisors have recognized both former Laureates for these exemplary programs.
