Joseph Rios, American Book Award Winner, Appointed City of Fresno Poet Laureate

Mayor Jerry Dyer has appointed Fresno poet, Joseph Rios, as Fresno’s sixth Poet Laureate. Rios was honored at City Hall with a Proclamation during Fresno City Council’s April 20th meeting He recited an original poem, "Fresno Is," following the proclamation The appointment served as a culminating event to National Poetry Month

Joseph Rios is the author of Shadowboxing: Poems and Impersonations (Omnidawn), winner of the American Book Award and was named one of the Notable Debut Poets by Poets & Writers Magazine for 2017 His poems can be found at Poem A Day, Huizache, The Rumpus, the San Francisco Chronicle, and on Metro buses and trains in Los Angeles He was recently named a Stegner Fellow by Stanford University He lives in Fresno

“I'm honored to follow in the footsteps of other poets laureate like my poetry teacher, Lee Herrick and Bryan Medina, host and founder of the Inner Ear Poetry Slam,” said Rios. “They created space for me when I first started to call myself a poet. I hope my tenure as Fresno's Poet Laureate creates more space for others to find poetry. I am guided by the words of Roque Dalton and believe that "poetry, like bread, is for everyone " There is a great beauty in this city and the poets from here are the best at finding it I want the world to know all of them ”

The City of Fresno Poet Laureate program was established by Resolution of the City Council in 2012 to promote and extend the city’s significant literary culture The Poet Laureate for the City of Fresno is an honorary position Rios will serve a two-year term, commencing in April 2023 and ending March 2025

Carissa Garcia, who submitted Rios’s nomination, says, “Joseph is a poet for the people He embodies Fresno and the Central Valley and reflects this in not only his poetry voice, but in everything else he does For Joseph, poetry has no bounds.”

The City of Fresno Poet Laureate is selected by a city-appointed selection committee The committee reviews nominations and evaluates them according to guidelines established by Fresno City Council resolution For general information about the program, please see Fresno Arts Council’s website

Rios succeeds Megan Bohigian (2021-2023) as Poet Laureate and joins former Fresno Poet Laureates, James Tyner (20132015), Lee Herrick (2015-2017 and California’s current Poet Laureate), Bryan Medina (2017-2019), and Marisol Baca (2019-2021) Fresno Arts Council celebrated Rios's appointment at a reception at the Fresno Arts Council gallery Thursday, April 20th