Portuguese American Lara Gulart named Poet Laureate 2021-2023, an honor bestowed on a noted local poet to honor his or her body of work and to celebrate poetry as an art form. El Dorado County, officially the County of El Dorado, is a county in the state of California.
With roots in the Azores, with descendants from Pico, Faial, and Flores, Gularte lives and writes in the Sierra foothills of California where her poetry often depicts Portuguese culture and heritage.
Lara Gularte hosts the popular, “Poetry of the Sierra Foothills,” monthly readings, and is a member of the Red Fox Underground Poets, a longstanding local poetry writing group. Her book of poetry, Kissing the Bee, was published by The Bitter Oleander Press, in 2018. Her forthcoming book, Fourth World Woman, published by “Finishing Line Press,” will be available January 2022. Nominated for several Pushcart Prizes, she has been published in national and international journals and anthologies. Her poetry depicting her Azorean heritage is included in the The Gávea-Brown Book of Portuguese-American Poetry. She is affiliated with the Cagarro Colloquium: Azorean Diaspora Writers, at the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI), California State University-Fresno. In 2017 Gularte traveled to Cuba with a delegation of American poets and presented her poetry at the Festival Internacional de Poesia de la Habana. She’s a proud member of the esteemed, “Escritores Del Nuevo Sol.” Gularte is a creative writing instructor for the Arts in Corrections program at Mule Creek prison.
“Poetry speaks to our universal values. As Poet Laureate of El Dorado County, I will promote an environment of respect and connection among the people in our communities through the poetry of who we are, and where we live. I believe when you inhabit a place there is a sense of continuity between past, present, and future, and a relationship with the lives that live there. Poetry helps us see our world in a wider view and can be the catalyst that gathers us together to share our similarities and celebrate our differences. By telling our stories, telling the stories of the neighborhood, beyond the neighborhood, to something larger, we can honor our common humanity.” – Lara Gularte
The post of El Dorado County Poet Laureate is bestowed on a noted local poet to honor his or her body of work and to celebrate poetry as an art form. Consideration is given to the caliber of his/her work, engagement with poets and writers in the community, and the critical acclaim the work has garnered.
The post entails a two-year term beginning July 1. The term includes the composition of several “occasional poems” per year, to be presented or read at public events; creation and implementation of the Poet Laureate’s own special Poetry Project as a public benefit; participation in public readings at libraries in all five El Dorado County supervisorial districts on the Laureate Trail; and a commitment to participate in El Dorado County’s Poetry Out Loud programs for high school students.
The Laureate Trail allows the public to join the El Dorado County Poet Laureate on a literary tour of the County. The Laureate is joined by local poets, Poetry Out Loud winners and special guests at El Dorado County libraries in each district in the county for free poetry readings and events.
Source: Arts and Culture El Dorado
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