Juan Felipe Herrera
With 29 books published in poetry, spoken word, novels for young adults and collections for children, Juan Felipe continues to work for all audiences. His recent awards for his poetry include the Guggenheim Fellowship, the National Book Critic’s Circle Award, the Latino International Award, the PEN USA award and the Josephine Miles Pen/Oakland Award. He is a member of the Board of Chancellors of the Academy of American Poetry and recently was appointed by California Governor Brown as the California Poet Laureate. His favorite color is Chile Verde green. He is Professor of creative writing at UC-Riverside. Juan Felipe says, “If you want to write for the people pour kindness inside every word.” Son of farm workers, born in Fowler, California, Juan Felipe, invites all to be part of “The Most Incredible and Biggest Poem on Unity in the World,” his laureate project encouraging harmony and peace in the schools, multicultural insight and pro-active inter-community projects. He lives in Fresno, with his partner, poet, Margarita Robles.
In June 2015, Herrera was named US Poet Laureate.