2014 - 2016: Laurie Ann Guerrero
Born and raised in the Southside of San Antonio, Laurie Ann Guerrero is a graduate of McCollum High School. Laurie Ann began her college career at Palo Alto College before transferring to Smith College in Northampton, MA, a highly selective women's institution with notable alumnae such as Sylvia Plath, Gloria Steinem, Julia Child, and Molly Ivins.
While at Smith, wife and mother of three, Laurie Ann won the Panhandler Publishing Chapbook Award, which resulted in her chapbook, Babies under the Skin (2007). In 2006, Laurie Ann was named a Sophia Smith Scholar. In 2012, Guerrero was named winner of the prestigious Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize, an initiative of Letras Latina/University of Notre Dame's Institute for Latino/a Studies. Her first full-length collection, A Tongue in the Mouth of the Dying was released by University of Notre Dame Press in 2013. Guerrero's work has appeared in Huizache, Texas Monthly, Bellevue Review, Women's Studies Quarterly, Global City Review, Texas Observer, Chicana/Latina Studies, Feminist Studies and others.
"Following in the footsteps of Carmen Tafolla will not be easy, but Laurie Ann Guerrero is an inspiring choice who will amplify the importance of literary arts in San Antonio. Her personal story and professional success will resonate with many San Antonians," expressed Mayor Julián Castro.
A CantoMundo fellow and member of the Macondo Writers' Workshop, Guerrero's work has been highlighted in the LA Review of Books, The Yale Daily News, and Poets & Writers Magazine. In 2013, Guerrero won the Alfredo Cisneros del Moral Award, a grant created by Sandra Cisneros, which supports Texas writers who "exhibit both exceptional talent and profound commitment" to their craft.
Laurie Ann considers herself a storyteller. In her poems she explores the vulnerabilities of the body using language as a path to revolution. She believes that reading and writing leads to awareness of the self and empowers communities to seek higher education and uncover untold histories, and that our voices have the ability to affect even the smallest change. She believes that students of all ages should be encouraged to read and to write, and that it's her job as a writer and literary activist to provide her communities with material with which they can relate and be in dialogue. She believes that her first audience is always the one at home.
Since returning to San Antonio, Laurie Ann has taught at Gemini Ink, Palo Alto College, and the University of the Incarnate Word. She has been given the honor of Visiting Writer at the University of Texas, El Paso and at Our Lady of the Lake University. Laurie Ann holds a B.A. in English Language and Literature from Smith College and an MFA in poetry from Drew University.
On April 1, 2014, Laurie Ann Guerrero was appointed as the City of San Antonio's 2014 - 2016 honorary Poet Laureate.
A Crown for Gumecindo Book Trailer