Alice Templeton

Alice Templeton’s poems have appeared in Asheville Poetry Review, Bellingham Review, Nimrod, Poetry, and elsewhere. Her poetry collections include The Infinite Field (Sixteen Rivers Press, April 2024) and Archaeology (Finishing Line Press, winner of the 2008 New Women’s Voices Chapbook Prize). Originally from Tennessee, she lives in Point Richmond, California. alicetempleton.com

Reading at the Hotel Petaluma

Murray Silverstein

Murray Silverstein is the author of Red Studio (Sixteen Rivers Press, 2024), his third poetry collection. His first collection, Any Old Wolf, won an Independent Publisher’s medal, as did the poetry anthology he edited, America, We Call Your Name. An architect and co-author of A Pattern Language, Silverstein lives in Oakland, California. Murray Silverstein

Reading at the Hotel Petaluma

Lynn Watson

Originally from Petaluma, Lynn Watson attended UC Berkeley and Sonoma State. She earned an M.F.A from the Iowa Writers Workshop and has led private and public writing workshops including at The Sitting Room and through California Poets In The Schools. She ran an arts program in a state prison and has written a novel about it. She is currently editing a novel about teaching. Her books of poetry are Amateur Blues, Catching The Devil, and One-Eyed Girl.

Reading at the Petaluma Cheese Shop

Emily Schulten

Emily Schulten is the author of three books, including Easy Victims to the Charitable Deceptions of Nostalgia, 2023 White Pine Press winner, and The Way a Wound Becomes a Scar. Schulten is Poet Laureate of Key West, a professor at The College of the Florida Keys and winner of Raleigh Review’s Geri Digiorno Prize.

Reading at the Petaluma Cheese Shop

Gene Berson

Gene Berson is the author of Four for My Father, Pony Express Poet, Raveling Travel and the soon to be released from Hip Pocket Press, Work Ethic of a Shopping Cart Shaman. He currently lives with his wife in the Sierra Foothills.

Reading at the Petaluma Cheese Shop

Jonah Raskin

Jonah Raskin is a New York-born longtime California poet who has performed his work from Mendocino to Los Angeles and in many places in-between, including Santa Rosa, Petaluma,  San Rafael and San Francisco, where he lives and where he facilitates writing groups at San Francisco Village and the Mechanics Library and Institute.

Reading at Keller Street CoWork

Stacey Tuel

Stacey Tuel has been a resident of Sonoma County for more than half her life and calls its hills and coast home.  She earned her M.A. in Creative Writing at Sonoma State University, where she also taught English. She lives in the Valley of the Moon and is a member of the Sonoma Writer’s Workshop and the Sonoma Guerrilla Poetry Society.

Reading at Keller Street CoWork

Lisa Summers

Lisa Summers moved to the SF Bay Area from the Deep South in the early 1970s. Everything about these spectacular, haunting landscapes influences her creative work. She’s the author of The Green Tara, Star Thistle and Ogygia and has written essays and articles about Love In the Metaverse, Immortal Microbes, and Prozac in the Waterways. She is one of the co-founders of the Sonoma Writers Workshop.

Reading at Keller Street CoWork

Steve Shain—String Bass

Steve began playing string bass in 1963 in Chicago Heights, Illinois. He’s accompanied poets Ruth Weiss, Jack Micheline, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Earl Leclaire and many others. Inspired by muse-ical mentors: Ron Crotty, Darrell Devore, Richard Waters, Tom Waits, Harry Partch, Steve is not just a bass player, but an artist using the bass for self expression. His bass is a 1930s Alcoa made in Buffalo, New York.

Avotcja

Ten years ago Avotcja was honored at the Berkeley Poetry Festival with its Lifetime Achievement Award.  She also received the Reginald Lockett Lifetime Achievement Award for her poetry the following year from Pen Oakland.  Her latest book is With Every Step I Take 2 published by Taurean Horn Press. avotcja.org

Reading at the Phoenix Theater

Maxine Flasher-Düzgüneş

Maxine Flasher-Düzgüneş is a Turkish-American poet, choreographer, filmmaker, and is the director of Marin County’s first Youth Poet Laureate Program. She has served as resident artist at Djerassi (CA), Surel’s Place (ID), Tofte Lake Center (MN), and Center at Eagle Hill (MA), and has been commissioned by World Stage Design (Canada), 92NY’s Future Dance Festival (New York), and FACT/SF Summer Dance Festival (San Francisco).

Reading/performing at the Phoenix Theater

Nancy Miller Gomez

Nancy Miller Gomez is the author of Inconsolable Objects (YesYes Books) and the chapbook, Punishment (Rattle chapbook series). Her work has appeared in Best American Poetry and Best New Poets and many other journals. She received a special mention in the 2023 Pushcart Prize Anthology. More at: nancymillergomez.com

Reading at the Phoenix Theater

Lee Herrick

Lee Herrick was born in Daejeon, Korea and adopted as an infant. He lives with his family in Fresno, California and served as Fresno Poet Laureate from 2015-2017. He teaches at Fresno City College and in the low-residency MFA program at University of Nevada Reno at Lake Tahoe. He is the 10th California Poet Laureate, and the first Asian American to serve in the role. leeherrick.com

Reading at Copperfield’s Books

Photo by Curtis-Messer

Genny Lim

Genny Lim is the recipient of PEN Oakland Reginald Lockett and Berkeley Poetry Lifetime Achievement Awards. A former SFJazz Poet Laureate, her play, Paper Angels, has been produced internationally. She is co-author of Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island, winner of the American Book Award and several poetry collections, including Child of War, Paper Gods & Rebels and KRA!

Reading at Copperfield’s Books

Ellery Akers

Ellery Akers is the author of four poetry books, most recently, A Door into the Wild: Poetry and Art. Akers is also an award-winning visual artist, and her artwork has been exhibited in museums and galleries nationally, including the San Diego Museum of Art, the Anchorage Museum, and the Marin Museum of Contemporary Art. elleryakers.com

Reading at Usher Gallery

Lee Rossi

Lee Rossi is a vertically integrated poetry conglomerate. He writes poems and reviews, and interviews poets. Say Anything is his latest book of poetry. LeeRossiSez.com

Reading at Usher Gallery

Photo by Erin Ashford

Georgina Marie Guardado

Georgina Marie Guardado writes from land of the Eastern and Northern Pomo peoples of Lake County, Northern California. She was the Poet Laureate of Lake County 2020-2024, the first Mexican American and youngest to serve in this role. She is also of Mojave descent. Her poetry is very much of the self, of grief, of generational trauma, of longing, and of nature. She aims to bring diversity, inclusivity, and inspiration to my local literary community. georginamariepoet.com

Reading at the Petaluma Historical Library and Museum

Jodi Hottel

Jodi Hottel’s recent chapbook is Out of the Ashes from Pandemonium Press. Previous chapbooks are Voyeur from WordTech Press (2017) and Heart Mountain, winner of the 2012 Blue Light Press Poetry Prize. Jodi’s been published in Nimrod International, Spillway, Ekphrasis, and anthologies including the University of Iowa Press and the Marin Poetry Center. Her work has been twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She lives in Sonoma County. jodihottel.com

Reading at the Petaluma Historical Library and Museum

Elizabeth Jiménez Montelongo

Elizabeth Jiménez Montelongo earned a BFA in Pictorial Art and a BA in French from SJSU; served as Creative Ambassador of the San José Office of Cultural Affairs; was awarded a Creative Corps Initiative grant from the California Arts Council and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and is the Founder La Raíz Magazine. Her poetry appears widely in journals and elsewhere, including her micro-chapbook, Últimas Scars. ejmontelongo.com

Reading at the Petaluma Historical Library and Museum

Emilie Lygren

Emilie Lygren is a poet and outdoor educator who writes at the intersections between scientific observation and poetic wonder. Her first book of poetry, What We Were Born For, won the Blue Light Book Award. Emilie lives in San Rafael, where she wonders about oaks and teaches poetry in local classrooms. emilielygren.com

Reading at Aqus Café

Kirk Lumpkin

Kirk Lumpkin is a poet, spoken word and performance artist, lyricist, environmentalist activist, and California state certified Naturalist; author of the poetry books, In Deep and Co-Hearing and three poetry/music CDs, The Word-Music Continuum, Sound Poems, and the soon to be released Wild Flowers of Collaboration. kirklumpkin.com

Reading at Aqus Café

Chris Olander

Chris Olander, Poet/Teacher with California Poets in the Schools (CPITS) since 1984, blends performance techniques with spoken word to create an action art poetry: musical image phrasing to dramatize relative experiences—a poetry arising from oral and bard traditions: a sound poet exploring meanings and ideas in rhythm patterns.

Reading at Aqus Café

Lin Marie deVincent

Lin Marie deVincent loves poetry & reading it out loud. Her poems in her book, Sky Fishing (Running Wolf Press ‘07) are provocative, plain-spoken soul truths plucked from her years as a spirited earthling and writer for film/theater/radio and community activism. She is Valley Poet on the Beat on KSVY radio.

Reading at Aqus Café

Fran Carbonaro

Fran Carbonaro has been published in several local anthologies and most recently in Reverberations 3. She has performed as a vocalist with rock bands, jazz ensembles and in local theater. Fran released I’m Still Alive in 2018, an album of spoken word & song. Out of the Blue is her first poetry collection.

Reading at Aqus Café

Dave Seter

Dave Seter has been named Sonoma County Poet Laureate for 2024-26. He is an environmental engineer, poet, essayist, and the author of Don’t Sing to Me of Electric Fences (Cherry Grove Collections) and Night Duty (Main Street Rag). He is also an emerging translator of contemporary Lithuanian poetry. daveseter.com

Reading at Copperfield’s Books

Terry Ehret

Terry Ehret has published four collections of poetry, most recently Night Sky Journey. She is a co-founder of Sixteen Rivers Press and poet laureate emerita of Sonoma County where she lives and teaches writing workshops. She is currently translating the complete published poems of Mexican writer Ulalume González de Leόn. terryehret.com

Event Presenter at the Petaluma Hotel

Daedalus Howell

Renowned for his postmodern narratives in film and literature, Daedalus Howell’s written works include Quantum Deadline and I Heart Sonoma, and two feature films Pill Head and Werewolf Serenade. Howell’s work offers insights into interconnected storytelling and the exploration of identity in a changing world. He is the editor of the North Bay Bohemian. dhowell.com

Event Presenter at Keller Street CoWork

Elizabeth Herron

Elizabeth Herron, Poet Laureate of Sonoma County (2022–2024) is author of Insistent Grace, In the Cities of Sleep (Fernwood Press) and The Poet’s House; Desire Being Full of Distances. Her work has appeared widely, including in Reflections; West Marin Review; Comstock Review; Ecopoetry of California; Parabola; Mysticism & Awakening. She’s a Fellow of the International League of Conservation Writers.

Event Presenter at the Phoenix Theater.

Iris Jamahl Dunkle

Iris Jamahl Dunkle‘s poetry and nonfiction critically engage with the Western myth of progress by exploring the profound impact of agriculture and overpopulation on the North American West, both historically and in contemporary times. Embracing an ecofeminist perspective, her writing challenges the predominantly male-centric narrative of the American West’s recorded history, delving into the often-overlooked lives of women. irisjamahldunkle.com

Event Presenter at Copperfield’s Books

Francesca Bell

Francesca Bell is the current Marin County Poet Laureate. Her first book, Bright Stain (Red Hen Press, 2019), was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award, the Julie Suk Award, and the American Fiction Poetry Award. What Small Sound (Red Hen Press, 2023), was long listed for the Julie Suk Award, shortlisted for the Eric Hoffer Award Grand Prize, was a finalist for the da Vinci Eye Award. She is translation editor at the Los Angeles Review. francescabellpoet.com

Event Presenter at Usher Gallery

Sabine Wolpert

Sabine Wolpert is a high school senior and Sonoma County Youth Poet Ambassador 2024-25. A motivated student and social justice advocate, she serves as a representative on her school board’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, and leads eco and activism clubs. She has always had a strong passion for poetry and other forms of artistic expression, and is excited to engage the wider community in the creation and appreciation of these things. 

Event Presenter at the Petaluma Historical Library and Museum

Lisa Zheng

Lisa Zheng is a junior at Maria Carrillo High School in Santa Rosa, and is the current Sonoma County Youth Poet Laureate. “My main purpose behind writing these poems, besides personal catharsis, is to give a voice to the psychological turmoils that many teens experience that are often kept in the dark due to shame of admittance, and give them a dose of hope and cause for change.”

Event Presenter at the Petaluma Historical Library and Museum

Gwynn O’Gara

Gwynn O’Gara worked as a California Poet in the Schools for 26 years and served as Sonoma County Poet Laureate 2010-2012. Her books include Snake Woman Poems, Fixer-Upper, Winter at Green Haven, Sea Cradles and We Who Dream. People and the natural world inspire her. gwynnogara.com

Event Presenter at Aqus Café