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ACTIVE POET-TEACHERS
This is not an exhaustive list! Some Poet-Teachers do not opt in to a public profile but are still hard at work serving their communities as Poet-Teachers. If you do not see a Poet serving your region, please reach out and we'll see if we can find you a great fit.
Many Poet-Teachers will travel and offer Zoom workshops by request. Click headshots for full bio & links. You may request Poet-Teacher services at info@cpits.org or 415-221-4201.
Please note: We can help make connections between Poet-Teachers and hiring institutions! All Poet-Teachers are independent contractors. At times, Poet-Teachers are independent contractors of California Poets in the Schools. However, if a school or other institution is issuing payment to the Poet-Teacher directly, the Poet-Teacher becomes an independent contractor of that institution. Regardless, California Poets in the Schools does not cover independent contractors under our insurance policies. We abide by California's independent contractor laws. Poet-Teachers listed on this page have gone through our training program. Each hiring entity is responsible for abiding by their own institutions' professional policies, when paying a Poet-Teacher as an independent contractor. Please reach out with any questions or concerns!

SOUTH

Website: www.jessicamwilson.com

Nancy has been teaching poetry to adults since 2017 as the founder of Surprise the Line, and teaching poetry to children and teens since 2019. She has taught poetry in 5th grade classrooms as an Artist-Teacher with Angels Gate Cultural Center and led an after-school poetry class as an Artist at Work, which culminated in a booklet of student work. She has also taught a STEAM summer program for middle schoolers and been a guest teacher in high school classrooms. Find her cavorting around Long Beach (Tongva land) in California, and online at nancylyneewoo.com or @fancifulnance on social.


Pero's book, "Thawed Stars" was praised by Kenneth Koch as having "clarity and surprises." She is also collaborative with other poets and artists, having done dialogues over the last 25 years with over 20 poets and her book, "Beyond Birds and Answers" is the result of an on-going dialogue with NYC artist, Vera Campion.
In addition to being a prolific poet and poet/teacher, Pero is a flutist who formed the chamber music group, "Windsong" in 2015.
She also formed the long-running poetry series, "Moonday" in 2002 and is now curating the reading for Village Poets in Tujunga, CA. She is the 10th Poet Laureate of Sunland/Tujunga.
www.alicepero.com or write info@cpits.org




In 2022, Diosa participated and won Chicago's only Spanish-language slam, Slam Diáspora, which sent her, in partnership with the Fiesta Literaria de la las Periferias (FLUP) to the continental tournament, Abya Yala: Copa América de Poetry Slam in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Prior to this experience, she also competed in the 2017 CABE Conference Spoken Word Competition, tying for first. Most recently, Diosa X became the RGVIPF's first slam champion in 2023.
This poet has facilitated poetry workshops in English, Spanish, and bilingually for the Sims Library/Los Angeles Public Library's Adult Literacy Program; Tumblewords Project; Contracorriente: Cruce de poesía y transgresión, a binational women writers retreat in Ixtapa, Mexico; Ovitt Library in the city of Ontario; the Rio Grande Valley International Poetry Festival; the Circulo de poetas and Writers Conference, the La Raza Youth Empowerment Conference at LA Mission College, and several SoCal schools as a Poet-Teacher with California Poets in Schools.

Cie Gumucio has designed art installations incorporating poetry, video, and dance. She curated the TEDx event, Rediscovery of the Senses in Los Angeles. Her solo Los Angeles art exhibit Writers in Search of the Sacred explored the convergence of art, literature, and spirituality.
Her writing and performance has been selected for the Speaking of Stories series and her poetry has been published in numerous Anthologies. Prior to becoming a Poetry teacher, she won awards for writing in the film and television industry.

Inspired by retired CalPoet teacher, Lois Klein, Kim joined the organization in 2020. She appreciates the opportunity to share her love of poetry in the classroom and is very grateful to be part of the rich community of poets.
Kim has been published in numerous anthologies, and was recently a winner in the inaugural Ventura County Poetry Festival.


During her time as a student at California Lutheran University, her poems were published in the campus Morning Glory magazine. She also received the Mark Van Doren Poetry Prize her Junior year. At the age of 20, Angelina was the youngest awardee for the Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce’s 2022 40 Under Forty award ceremony.
Leaños has been widely published, including the California Poets in the School’s 2019 statewide anthology, I’ll Take this Word and Make it Mine: 2018-2019 California Poets in the Schools Anthology, the title of which comes from her very own poem, “Call Me Chicano.” In addition, her work has been published by Urban Word, Flowersong Press, the Chicanx Writers & Artists Association, and Arkana.

Amanda is writer, teacher and arts advocate. She is the Director of Arts Education for the San Benito County Arts Council and is an active California Poet in the Schools.
She holds degrees from the University of New Mexico and California College of the Arts in addition to be a credential teacher. She edits for Jersey Devil Press.
Her work has garnered support from the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley, The Creative Capacity Fund, the Highlights Foundation and The Luna Dance Institute. Her poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net.



Beth has been published in numerous anthologies and news magazines including We'Moon, Woman Spirit, Mountain Spirit Chronicles, and In Celebration of the Muse.
Beth is and has been poet-teacher with California Poets in the Schools for 20 years, serving in Siskiyou County and Monterey County.
She has been on the faculty of numerous colleges and universities for over 30 years and has led Vision Quests for the past 25 years in California and Europe.
She leads dynamic, innovative Shamanic Writing programs, helping writers to go deeper and express themselves more freely and powerfully.
Beth studied philosophy for eight years, receiving both her cum laude B.A. and M.A. from University of California, Santa Barbara. She is a Regents Scholar.
Her deepest learning has always been from the voices of the stars, lakes, sun, trees, moon and the helping spirits who, she says, are always singing to us.





His work can be found in such collections as Dia De Las Poeticas (2020), Wayside Shrines & Other Offerings (2022), Flies, Cockroaches, & Poets (2023), and most recently Burn After Reading & Other Remains (2024).
Michael Jasso is a Poet from Visalia. He is the founder of the Loud Mouth Poetry Jam, a Certified Poet-Teacher with the California Poets In The Schools, and serves on the Board of Directors of Arts Visalia.
His publications include Dia De Las Poeticas (2020), Wayside Shrines & Other Offerings (2022), Flies, Cockroaches, & Poets (2023), and most recently Burn After Reading & Other Remains (2024).

CENTRAL/NORTH CENTRAL
BAY AREA

Her full length collection, Synchronicity, The Oracle of Sun Medicine, was released in 2020, and nominated for the California Book award. She is also co-curator of the Patrice Lumumba Anthology, released in 2021 by Nomadic Press, both now at Black Lawrence Press, New York. 2023 has presented Tureeda to, Filoli, Stories in Bloom, Atherton, Stanford University, Poets by the Bay, Berkeley Museum of Modern Art, Berkeley, San Jose Poetry Center, Beautiful Black Books (BBB) interviewed by Tshaka Campbell, Santa Clara Poet Laureate, San Jose Museum of Art Invitational, curated by Poet Laureate Tshaka Campbell, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, S. F., Belmont Poetry Center, Belmont, and more…

Milani has performed at the Opera House in San Francisco and for activists Will i.am, Saul Williams, Jesse Jackson, and Angela Davis. She solely represented Oakland in the Women of the World Poetry Slam in 2010. She was a part of Team Oakland in 2010, placing top four in group-piece finals, and was a member of Team Oakland in 2011, ranking top ten in the nation. To hear, read and speak Milani’s words is truly an unforgettable experience. To participate in her workshops is transformative.
“I enjoy working with people of any age, whether 4 years old or 94 years old. Everyone has a voice, story, and journey that deserves to be heard and documented.”
“My favorite lesson plans are “Purpose” and “Manifestation”. I believe it is essential to know one's purpose and what one is made to do on this earth. I enjoy the power of manifestation and activating that through writing.”


Patton is an attorney, activist, editor, nonprofit consultant, and founder of the organization, Autism A to Z. The California native served as the City of Livermore’s Poet Laureate (2017-2022), hosts the long-running Whistlestop Writers Open Mic, and teaches with California Poets in the Schools. She’s completing a second poetry collection plus a memoir, My Guardian Angel Sings the Blues, on her unconventional journey to motherhood. She lives with her daughter, a dog, and two rowdy cats. Learn more at CynthiaJPatton.com

Brennan has been a National Poetry Slam finalist, a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee, and Grand Slam Champion of the Oakland Poetry Slam. He has coordinated Poetry Out Loud programs in three Bay Area counties and been an event organizer for the Redwood Poetry Festival, the Bigfoot Poetry Festival, and the San Francisco Arts Commission. He’s the author of A Heart With No Scars, published by Nomadic Press and Black Lawrence Press, Honeysuckle & Nightshade, published by Swimming with Elephants Publications, & has served as poetry editor on the mastheads of the award-winning literature magazine, Lunch Ticket. His recent collection was featured at the Portland Book Festival. Brennan facilitates creative writing and performance workshops, serving K-12 classrooms, incarcerated youth, adults, seniors, and various arts education programs. His work has been published in Red Wheelbarrow, Oracle Fine Arts Review, Drunk in a Midnight Choir, Gemini & elsewhere. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University Los Angeles.
Brennan is a dual-resident of California and Oregon, facilitating both in-person and virtual residencies throughout the school year. He has served schools across the greater SF Bay Area and Sonoma County for the past 10 years. Brennan offers in-person availability in northern California and virtual availability statewide. To contact Brennan for a residency, please send him an email at bdeeppoetry@gmail.com.


Smith has designed and taught poetry and prose workshops in English, Spanish, and Spanglish and has developed curriculum for adults and youth around health and healing, social-emotional acuity, social power dynamics, and other complex issues. Recently, under the direction of her fifth grade classroom, she has designed curriculum around sports, food, culinary arts, and colonization.
Smith’s approach to teaching is student-centered, collaborative, inter-generational, and open to questions. She takes her students seriously as writers and believes that poetry is, at its heart, a matter of paying attention.

With both an elementary teaching credential and a Special Writing & Performance M.A., she has taught in the San Jose and Saratoga public schools, at Tamalpais High School, San Francisco State University, John F. Kennedy University, Dominican University and the College of Marin.
She has published three poetry chapbooks and won numerous grants for her poetry, video & original community theater productions. She won the 1992 & 1993 San Francisco Performance Poetry Slams, placing second with her team in national competitions in Boston and Chicago. She is currently guiding poetry reading/waterway walks throughout California to celebrate her full length collection, EXPANDING.WATER.WAYS., and to bring attention to the 2023 Supreme Court ruling that limits protections for US wetlands & waterways. Her award winning video documentary, WAKE-UP CALL: SAVING THE SONGBIRDS, has been screened in eleven film festivals from Mill Valley to Chicago.
To contact Claire, visit claireblotter.com
https://www.claireblotter.com/

My passion is helping empower kids to believe in themselves, trust their creativity, cultivate curiosity and imagination, and express themselves with depth, clarity, and confidence.
My workshops are interactive and fun. I draw on nature, the five senses, personal discovery, and a rich library of poets and writing invitations to inspire poetry from kids in their own voices about what most concerns and enlivens them.
For more info: www.meredithheller.com



She is a featured short story author in - Wandering In Japan - The Spirit of Tokyo, Kyoto and Beyond.
Her poetry has been published in numerous anthologies and her articles: 'Sharing The Love' are published in the Echo Magazine.
NORTH

While most of Dan’s residencies are in Humboldt, he has also taught poetry in Del Norte, Mendocino, Siskiyou, and Santa Cruz counties, as well as in Australia. He has also taught at Humboldt State University, College of the Redwoods, the Redwood Coast Writers’ Center, and is a Redwood Writing Project teacher-consultant. He is a founder of the Lost Coast Writers Retreat, which he attends each summer. Being a freelance editor and writing consultant, Dan has acted as a contributing editor to various publications. He is the author of Song of Six Rivers, and The Sauntering, epic-length poems published by Humboldt State University Press and SequoiaSong Publications. His poems and other writings have appeared in many journals and anthologies. See ZevLev.com.
https://zevlev.com/

Julie’s poems have been published in magazines and anthologies including, Mothering, Toyon, College of the Redwoods Poets and Writers, the North Coast Journal, a Santa Barbara women’s anthology, and California Poets in the Schools Statewide Anthologies. She’s published lesson plans and poetry in Poetry Crossing: 50 Lessons for 50 Years of California Poets in the Schools, performed her poems in several venues, and had her poems performed by others.
Julie believes in the healing power of the arts, and that honoring and inspiring students’ creative voices is deeply meaningful. She loves working as a California Poet in the Schools and looks forward to supporting students’ creativity for years to come.





I’ve been a creative writer for much of my life, but it wasn’t until more recently that I started sharing my poems and fiction with others. My poems have been published in Dime Show Review, Lake County’s The Bloom, and my fiction has appeared in Flash Fiction Magazine.
I earned my BA in English from UC Berkeley and taught high school English in the North Bay before becoming a poet-teacher with California Poets in the Schools in 2019.
To get in touch with me about in-person or virtual lessons, please email: info@cpits.org.

She is a published author of three books of poetry, most recent Being Animal from Kelsay Books, a chapbook of haiku, Birds, Bees, Trees, Love, Hee Hee from Finishing Line Press, and an e-book, The Wild Horse of Haiku: Beauty in a Changing Form. She published a lesson plan guide for teachers, Language of the Awakened Heart by Fund for Global Awakening press. Some of her writing has appeared in Jackdaw Review, Eastern Iowa Review, Fourth River, About Place, California Quarterly, Young Raven’s Literary Review, and many anthologies including Women in a Golden State, Wild Gods, Fire and Rain; Ecopoetry of California, and Earth Blessings.
A writer of the natural world, which include essay, poetry and haiku, she now resides in Del Norte county where she continues to write and teach poetry writing through CALPOETS and for DNACA, the local arts council. She has her MFA in creative writing from University of Southern Maine. See www.terriglasss.com

Julie has been an advocate of poetry in her community and in schools as a board member of the Nevada County Poetry Series from 2001-2014; a co-founder of the celebrated after-hours poetry press, Six Ft. Swells; a founding committee member of the Sierra Poetry Festival, and a founding member of the performing group, The Poetry Crashers. Her great love was the Poetry Out Loud program, where she was a poet-coach in both Nevada and Placer counties since 2009.
Julie served as Area Coordinator for CalPoets in Nevada County from 2014-2020, and was the editor of the annual California Poets in the Schools Anthology for two consecutive years: 2016-2017.


Lalli founded KindMind – the Heart of Wellbeing in 2002. She has been teaching Mindfulness and Writing classes at SBCC since 2003, and became a Poet-in-the-Schools in 2019.
A Resonant Healing Practitioner since 2021, Lalli designed "Shake, Rattle, and Write – Create Your Own Self-Care Concoction" for the global 2024 Resonance Summit on The Healing Power of Play.
As a writer and facilitator, Lalli leans into nature, wanting to honestly acknowledge life's beauty and messiness, joy and struggle. She holds hope that art can help humans ground, grow, and harmonize. Her "circle wide" was published in Spring - Women's Inspiration for the Season of Hope and New Beginnings.