News Release

San Francisco - The City's third Poet Laureate devorah major, appointed by Mayor Willie L. Brown, Jr. on March 25, will deliver her inaugural address at the San Francisco Main Library on Tuesday, April 30 at 6:30 p.m.

devorah major's talent and style as a performer and artist as well as writer and poet has made her work widely accessible through museums, schools, libraries, clubs and other performance venues. Through the media of publication, performances and touring, major anticipates and relishes the role of serving as ambassador of poetry for San Francisco.

In announcing her appointment, Mayor Brown said, "Not only is her body of work a marvelous reflection of the best literature San Francisco has to offer, but her stated goals for the Poet Laureate program and her interest in the community set her apart."  Ms. Major's abundant enthusiasm for working with young people and reaching out to the City's diverse poets and bringing to light the "treasure of talents that are a part of this locale" are evident in commitment to work collaboratively with all styles, languages and approaches to poetry.

Ms. major has many published works to her credit, including a new novel, Brown Glass Windows, which will be released in May 2002.  Creative Arts Books, Inc. will publish her second book of poetry, with more than tongue, in the fall of 2002. She has been published in dozens of anthologies and journals, including Poetry Like Bread (1995), On the Pushcart XII (1987), Frontiers, Black Scholar, Obsidian, Paterson Literary Review, and ZYZZYVA. In 1996 she was awarded the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award for Excellence in Literature for her first solo book of poetry, Street Smarts.

devorah major lives and works in San Francisco as a writer and editor, and currently serves as poet-in-residence at the San Francisco Fine Arts Museums and at a number of Bay Area schools.

All programs and exhibits at the Library are free of charge and open to the public.

For more information, please call (415) 557-4277.