Houston’s First Poet Laureate, Gwen Zepeda

Houston-based chick-lit writer Gwen Zepeda has become the first Poet Laureate for the city of Houston. From the news release:

Mayor Annise D. Parker and Houston Public Library (HPL) Director Dr. Rhea Brown Lawson today announced that award-winning author and poet Gwendolyn Zepeda has been selected as Houston’s first Poet Laureate. Zepeda will represent the city by creating excitement about poetry through outreach, programs, teaching and written work. She will receive an annual honorarium of $5,000 through the City’s Initiative Grant Program of the Houston Arts Alliance and serve a term of two years, April 2013 through April 2015.

Zepeda’s books include “Better with You Here” (2012), “Lone Star Legend” (2010), and my favorite, “Houston, We Have a Problema” (2009). I’m looking forward to seeing what Zepeda will do as Poet Laureate.

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Recommended reading:

• Houston Poet Laureate, City of Houston
• Houston appoints its own poet laureate, Houston Chronicle

— Sandra Fernandez