California Poet Laureate Lee Herrick opens up at the L.A. Times Book Club
Poet Laureate Lee Herrick, who celebrates his home state in "My California," joined the L.A. Times Book Club on Dec. 12.
Herrick was in a live streaming conversation with Times editor Steve Padilla. Watch on YouTube.
Born in South Korea, raised in Northern California, Herrick is a poet, teacher and performer who now calls Fresno home.
As California’s 10th poet laureate, he has spent the past year on the road visiting schools, libraries, book festivals, poetry slams and prisons up and down the state. When Herrick shares his travel schedule with his friends, he says they often compare it to the itinerary of a band on tour. “It’s just city after city after city.”
This fall, Herrick launched Our California, a project to get people writing poetry about where they live with an emphasis on social justice.
Herrick is the book club's December guest author. He's is the author of three poetry collections, “Scar and Flower,” “Gardening Secrets of the Dead” and “This Many Miles From Desire.”
Formerly Fresno’s poet laureate, he teaches at Fresno City College and in the MFA program at the University of Nevada, Reno at Lake Tahoe.
What's next? On Jan. 28 bestselling author Dean Koontz joins book club readers for a rare public appearance to discuss his career and new thriller, "The Bad Weather Friend."
Koontz will be in conversation with Times assistant managing editor Samantha Melbourneweaver at UC Irvine. Get tickets.
Sign up for the free L.A. Times Book Club newsletter for the latest live events and book news.
Get the latest book news, events and more in your inbox every Saturday.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
