The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors appointed Lisa Rosenberg of Menlo Park to the honorary post of Poet Laureate at the Oct. 4, 2016 Board meeting.
Her term will begin on Jan. 1, 2017, and run through Dec. 31, 2018. Rosenberg’s role as Poet Laureate will be to elevate poetry among San Mateo County residents and to celebrate the literary arts.
The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors created the honorary post of Poet Laureate in April 2013. Upon recommendation of the San Mateo County Poet Laureate Advisory Committee, co-chaired by San Mateo County Supervisors Warren Slocum and Carole Groom, the Board of Supervisors appointed Caroline Goodwin as its first Poet Laureate in October 2013. The Poet Laureate program is staffed by the San Mateo County Library.
Lisa Rosenberg is a “scientist poet”. She holds a BS degree in Physics from UC Davis, a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from Boston University, and received a Wallace Stegner Fellowship in Poetry from Stanford University. In addition to physics and aerospace engineering, her professional experience includes technology marketing, freelance design, and instruction in creative writing. She was active in aviation for many years as a private pilot. Her writing appears in literary, technical, and scientific venues; from poetry anthologies to journals as diverse as The Threepenny Review, POETRY, Shenandoah, Witness, and Semiconductor International. She resides with her family in Menlo Park.
“The opportunity to work in the community as a poet, to talk about writing, and represent San Mateo County, is both an honor and a delight. Caroline inaugurated this post with such grace and generosity, I’m coming into a program that has already garnered audience and established great momentum,” said Lisa Rosenberg.
“Our County has many vibrant communities, and each of us represents a particular cross-section that only we can write from. I hope to help more voices become part of the literary conversation, and to extend that conversation beyond the spheres we think of as literary—because the artists, and the arts, of our region represent widely varied disciplines and backgrounds.”
Rosenberg will bring a "unique perspective as a ‘scientist poet’ bridging the communities of art, science and technology as our next Poet Laureate of San Mateo County,” said Supervisor Warren Slocum. “All of our eight applicants were amazing poets which speaks to a hallmark of our thriving literary arts community in San Mateo County. Lisa has so much talent and passion for her craft. We look forward to her serving as an ambassador and role model to poets and in our community.”
Supervisor Carole Groom added, “Special thanks to Caroline Goodwin for the outstanding work she has done as Poet Laureate. We look forward to Lisa Rosenberg as our new Poet Laureate. We know this program will flourish under her creative expertise.”
Members of the San Mateo County Poet Laureate Advisory Committee include: San Mateo County Supervisors Warren Slocum and Carole Groom, San Mateo County Poet Laureate Caroline Goodwin; Kalamu Chaché, East Palo Alto Poet Laureate; Maryann Moise Derwin, Board Member of the San Mateo County Library JPA Governing Board and Mayor of Portola Valley; Anne-Marie Despain, Director of Library Services for San Mateo County Library; Rosemary Ibarra-Garcia, Poet; Robin Rodericks, Chair of the San Mateo County Arts Commission; Christopher Wachlin, Editor and Publisher of The Stoneslide Corrective and Past President of the San Francisco Peninsula branch of the California Writers Club, and Rob Williams, Professor of Language Arts at Skyline College.
The Poet Laureate Advisory Committee will continue to work with and support the Poet Laureate as she introduces her poetry project and engages the community in the literary arts.