Mendocino County Poet Laureate Program Founding Committee
Founding Committee
Roles and Responsibilities of the Poet Laureate Committee:
- work with respect and open minds for the betterment of our county’s arts community;
- manage the nomination process for the Mendocino Poet Laureate;
- review with discretion and sensitivity the poets who submit applications, and select among them with objectivity and goodwill;
- support as needed the Poet Laureate activities;
- organize and continue the tradition of the Mendocino Spring Poetry Celebration;
- develop other literacy events as decided on;
- meet monthly to further these goals.
Larry Felson moved to Fort Bragg six years ago, having previously lived in Oakland, Berkeley and San Francisco, where he was a high school teacher and social justice activist. His most recent poetry collection is Dawn Out of Order, published in 2022.
Kirk Lumpkin is a poet, spoken word & performance artist, lyricist, and environmentalist. He’s the author of two books of poetry, In Deep and Co-Hearing and two poetry/music CDs, The Word-Music Continuum and Sound Poems.
Point Arena Poet Laureate, Blake More practices many disciplines including visual art, poetry, video, performance, artcars and teaching. She is California Poets in the Schools Mendocino County Area Coordinator and poetry teacher, host of a monthly poetry & jazz reading series and two public radio shows: Be More Now on KZYX&Z FM Mendocino and Cartwheels on the Sky on KGUA FM. Her most recent book is Dystopia Unplugged: Please Talk Back comes out in 2024. Learn more at bmoreyou.net.
Michael Riedell served as the seventh poet laureate of Ukiah, where teaches English and hosts a monthly reading series, Writers Read. He is the author of three books of poetry and has been published most recently in Canary, Right Hand Review, Stillwater Review, Blue Unicorn, and in Molly Fisk’s California Fire & Water: a Climate Crisis Anthology.