“California’s poets laureate are vanguards of cultural change.” — former California Poet Laureate Dana Gioia
Jacalyn Eyvonne and Kathleen Herrmann, Co-Poets Laureate (2024-2026)
Contact information for booking our current Vallejo Co-Poets laureate: JacalynEvone@gmail.com and kherrma@gmail.com
Youth Poetry Letters
Click the image below to visit the Youth Poetry Letters project.
Vallejo Poet Laureate Kathleen Herrmann
Kathleen Herrmann is an internationally published poet whose work appears in 14 anthologies worldwide, including I Can’t Breathe (Kistrech Poetry, Kenya, 2021), Friendship (Pure Slush, Australia, 2021), and Work & the Anthropocene (Ice Floe Press, Canada, 2022). The Benicia Herald has also published numerous poems by Herrmann. She is working on an upcoming collection entitled I Was There, Now I’m Here: Crossing Borders, featuring the stories of refugees. Kathleen won Best of Show in Poetry at the 2022 and 2023 Solano County Fairs, and has also received awards from the Ina Coolbrith Poetry Circle.
Herrmann has featured for the Vallejo Poetry Festival, Flyway Festival, Alameda Island Poets, Benicia First Tuesday Poets, and Napa Valley Writers Club. She has also appeared at Poetry by the Bay and the 2022 Vallejo Beat Poetry Festival. She is a regular performer, and occasional host at Art Beat Poetry Hour on KZCT. A retired teacher, Kathleen holds a B.A. in English Literature from the University of California at Berkeley, and an M.A. in Teaching Leadership from St. Mary’s College of California, and hopes to hold workshops for the community and organize ekphrastic readings. Kathleen is also an experienced musician and singer, and hopes to meld the two art forms together to create a community song for Vallejo.
Since becoming poet laureate Kathleen Herrmann has co-hosted an open mic via Zoom for the Monologues and Poetry Film Festival, performed at the Mad Hatter Holiday Festival, featured at Alameda Island Poets, performed at the 2024 MLK Grove planting ceremony, the NAACP Martin Luther King Day celebration, Winters Lit Fest 2, Fiestas Primavera, Art Walk, Alibi Bookshop, Earth Daze Festival, Visions of the Wild, and Vallejo Museum.
Bibliography
- “Say it LOUD,” Vallejo Weekly, Vol. 12, No. 10, March 8, 2024
Poems published in the Benicia Herald:
- January 12, 2024, “Resolve”
- September 6, 2023, “The Day Lahaina Burned”
- May 1, 2022, “Amelia’s Song”
- March 9, 2022, “Believe”
- February 16, 2022, “The Day I Met Homer Smith at the Movies”
- January 14, 2022, “High Hopes Revisited January 6, 2022”
- September 22, 2021, “Unwanted”
- April 28, 2021, “Say it LOUD”
- January 15, 2021, “High Hopes”
- October 28, 2020, “Freefall”
- September 25, 2020, “Spellbound”
- September 6, 2020, “Icarus In The 21stCentury”
- July 24, 2020, “Say Her Name”
- May 17, 2020, “Day 47″
- April 22, 2020 “A Perfect Day”
- January 12, 2024 “Resolve”
- February 25, 2024 “Elmira”
- April 5, 2024 “Polar Wolf”
- April 28, 2024 “Planet vs. Plastics”
She is a contributor to:
- Musings During A Time of Pandemic, Kistrech Poetry, Kenya, 2020, ISBN 9789966955951
- Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité, Moonstone Press, Philadelphia, PA, 2021, ISBN 9781954499201
- I Can’t Breathe: A Poetic Anthology of Social Justice, Kistrech Poetry, Kenya, 2021 ISBN 9789914988505
- Friendship, Lifespan Vol. 3, Pure Slush Books, Sefton Park, Australia, 2021, ISBN 9781922427243
- Third Harvest: Napa Valley Writers Club 2021, Gnarly Vine Press, 2021, ISBN 9780998510835
- Yearning to Breathe Free: A Community Journal of 2020, Benicia Literary Arts, Benicia, CA, 2022, ISBN 9781735499925
- Post-Roe Alternatives: Fighting Back, B Cubed Press, Horse Heaven, Washington, 2022, ISBN 9781949476316
- “A Woman’s Work,” Work & Anthropocene, Ice Floe Press, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2022
- Support Ukraine, Moonstone Press, Philadelphia, PA, 2022 ISBN 9781954499690
- Vote, Moonstone Press, Philadelphia, PA, 2022
- Nooks and Crannies, Benicia Literary Arts, Benicia, CA, 2022, ISBN 9781735499918
- Coming Out of Isolation, Kistrech Poetry, Kenya, 2022, ISBN 9783947911738
- Opus IV: Napa Valley Writers Club 2023, Gnarly Vine Press, 2023, ISBN 9780998510828
- Loss: Lifespan Vol. 9, Pure Slush, 2024, ISBN 978-1-922427366
- Unsettled Benicia Literary Arts, 2024, ISBN 9781735499963
- All About Animals Poetic Edge Publishers 2024 ISBN 9781917408011
Vallejo Poet Laureate Jacalyn Eyvonne
Jacalyn Eyvonne is a widely published poet whose work has appeared in the The Oakland Tribune, and in the anthologies, Sistah’s With Ink (2013) and Wheelsong Poetry Anthology 3 (Wheelsong, United Kingdom, 2023). She is the author of several books, including I Am Not An Inconsequential Word(2022), Venting to Verse (2023), and has two forthcoming poetry collections, The Unyielding Weight of Words and The World in Black and Words. In addition her poem “The Talk” won 2nd place at the Jackson Book Festival poetry competition in Mississippi.
Jacalyn is also a multi-talented visual artist with extensive experience in filmmaking, television production, and photography, and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Motion Pictures & Television from Academy of Art University at San Francisco. Based in Oakland in the 1990s she edited and published several volumes of the national magazine In the Company of Poets which she later transformed into a television show of the same name, producing several seasons that featured and interviewed a wide variety of spoken word artists. She currently organizes and hosts the Poetry and Monologues and KidsNFilm film festivals, and has an exhibit melding photography and poetry currently on display at the McCune. Jacalyn will be the city’s second African-American poet laureate. Visit Jacalyn’s website at: http://jacalyneyvonne.com
Since becoming poet laureate Jacalyn Eyvonne has co-hosted an open mic via Zoom for the Monologues and Poetry Film Festival, performed at the Mad Hatter Holiday Festival, Black History Month at the JFK Library, Black History Month at the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum, A Poetry Affair in Fairfield, featured at Alameda Island Poets, Art Walk, Alibi Bookshop, Earth Daze Festival, Visions of the Wild, and Vallejo Museum.
Bibliography
Published poems:
- November 12, 1991, “It’s Magic!” Oakland Tribune
- March 8, 2024 “Rise and Shine,” Vallejo Weekly Vol. 12, No. 10
Her bibliography includes:
- Strange Things Happen At Midnight: Murder, Suspense, and Short Weird Tales, JE Books, 2020, ISBN 9781735493626
- I Am Not An Inconsequential Word: Poetry & Remnants, JE Books, 2022, ISBN 9781735493633
- Venting To Verse: How To Turn Anger Into Poetry, JE Books, 2023, ISBN 9781735493664
- The Unyielding Weight of Words: Poems for Reflection, Healing, and Love, Soulstanzas Books, 2024, ISBN 9798989505005
She is a contributor to:
- Sistah’s With Ink Voices, CreateSpace, 2013, ISBN 9781491087503
- Wheelsong Poetry Anthology 3, Wheelsong Books, United Kingdom, 2023, ISBN 9798860877658
- Holes: An Anthology of Poems about Depths, Darkness, and Desire, JLRB Press, 2024, ISBN 9781738894963
- World Healing, World Peace 2024 Inner Child Press. 2024. ISBN 9781961498235
- Wheelsong Poetry Anthology 4, Wheelsong Books, United Kingdom, 2024, ISBN 9798323753000
- A poetic field filled with Wildwood Flowers: An anthology of poetry and prose 2024. ISBN 9798864490204
- Rituals: Summer 2024. Anomaly. 2024. ISBN 9798328315364
- Screaming at America! An anthology of Dissent 2024. ISBN 9781304408112
- Hues of Spring: A Festival of Colours, Volume 2 NYRA Publishers. 2024. ISBN 9788197099656
- Animal Tales Table Rock Poetry Festival. 2024. ISBN Unknown
She was the editor of In the Company of Poets Magazine, releasing 12 issues between January 1991 and December 1992.
Selected Press
- Meyer, Karenna “New poets laureate plan to reinvigorate Vallejo poetry circle”. Vallejo Times Herald.
- Zimmermann, Gretchen “New co-poets laureate want to bring Vallejo together through poetry”. The Vallejo Sun.
- “Vallejo appoints two poets laureate in historic first”. Vallejo Times Herald.
Past Poets Laureate of Vallejo, California
Click the links below to read biographies for the past poets laureate:
- Dr. Genea S. Brice – July 28, 2015-August 31st, 2017
- D.L. Lang – September 1st, 2017-December 31st, 2019
- Jeremy Snyder – January 1, 2020-December 31st, 2023