Performance: Lee Herrick and Poets in the Basement

California Poet Laureate Lee Herrick and guests Ayodele Nzinga, Linda Noel, James Siegel, Kim Shuck and Tongo Eisen-Martin read work on the lower level of the Main Library.

Lee Herrick is the California Poet Laureate. He is the author of three books of poems: Scar and Flower, Gardening Secrets of the Dead, and This Many Miles from Desire.

Dr. Ayodele Nzinga is Oakland's first and current Poet Laureate. She is an arts and culture theoretician/practitioner working at the intersections of cultural production, community development and community wellbeing to foster transformation in marginalized communities.

Linda Noel is the former Poet Laureate of Ukiah. She is a Native Californian of the Koyungkowi tribe who grew up in Willits.

James Siegel is a poet, journalist and editor. He is the author of the poetry collections How Ghosts Travel and The God of San Francisco.

Kim Shuck was San Francisco’s seventh Poet Laureate. Her poetry draws on her multiethnic background which includes Polish and Cherokee heritage, and her experiences as a lifelong resident of San Francisco. Her most recent book of poetry, What Unseen Thing Blows Wishes Across My Surface?, a collaboration with visual artist LisaRuth Elliott, was published in 2022.

Tongo Eisen-Martin, San Francisco's current Poet Laureate, is a poet, movement worker and educator. His latest curriculum on extrajudicial killing of Black people, We Charge Genocide Again, has been used as an educational and organizing tool throughout the country. Blood on the Fog is his newest collection of poems.