Contact: Anne-Marie Despain, Director of Library Services
San Mateo County Libraries
(650) 312-5258
San Mateo County, CA – San Mateo County’s Poet Laureate Caroline Goodwin has selected the winning poems for her final “Poetry Is Nature” contest. A celebration of our local poets, nature in and around the County, and Goodwin's time as San Mateo County’s first Poet Laureate will take place on Saturday, October 15 at 2 p.m. at the Woodside Library, 3140 Woodside Road, Woodside, CA. This event is free and open to all. “Caroline started this 'Poetry Is' series and it is fitting that the final celebration will focus on nature – the subject of many of her poems,” said Supervisor Warren Slocum.
We will also welcome the newly appointed San Mateo County Poet Laureate, Lisa Rosenberg of Menlo Park. Rosenberg is a "scientist poet" with a background in physics, aerospace engineering, and creative writing. Her writing appears in literary, technical, and scientific venues from poetry anthologies to journals. “The opportunity to work in the community as a poet, to talk about writing, and represent San Mateo County, is both an honor and a delight. Caroline inaugurated this post with such grace and generosity, I’m coming into a program that has already garnered audience and established great momentum,” said Lisa Rosenberg. Supervisor Carole Groom added, “Special thanks to Caroline Goodwin for the outstanding work she has done as Poet Laureate. We look forward to Lisa Rosenberg as our new Poet Laureate. We know this program will flourish under her creative expertise.”
Goodwin designed the “Poetry Is” project and campaign in partnership with the San Mateo County Libraries. Its goal has been to increase awareness of San Mateo County’s rich diversity of people, place and neighborhoods through the power of the spoken word and place-themed poetry. A panel of San Mateo County working poets judged hundreds of poems blindly (without a name attached to the poem). Many of the winning authors will read their poems at the October 15 celebration. The “Poetry Is” campaign has elevated interest in poetry and the literary arts into the fabric of San Mateo County. For more information on the outgoing Poet Laureate and past campaigns, please visit www.sanmateocountypoet.org, opens a new window.
