Poetry - Altadena Libraries

Poetry

The Altadena Poets Laureate play an important role in promoting poetry in Altadena through the organization of poetry-centered events at the Altadena Libraries and publication of the online Altadena Literary Review and printed Altadena Literary Review Anthology.

Meet the 2024-2026 Poets Laureate!

Sehba Sarwar, Poet Laureate for Community Events

Sehba Sarwar creates text and art that tackle displacement, migration, and women’s issues. The second edition of her novel, Black Wings, was released in 2019 (Veliz Books). Her essays and poems have appeared in publications including the New York Times, Creative Time Reports, Asia: Magazine of Asian Literature, Callaloo, Los Angeles Times, and elsewhere while her short stories are anthologized in Feminist Press, Akashic Books, and Harper Collins India.

In 2000, while based in Houston, Sarwar founded and ran a social justice arts organization, Voices Breaking Boundaries, through which Sarwar initiated projects such as “Borderlines” to explore border issues in North America and South Asia. Born and raised in Karachi, Pakistan in a home filled with artists and activists, Sarwar resides in the San Gabriel Valley where she writes, teaches, and creates art. Her papers are archived at the University of Houston.

Lester Graves Lennon, Poet Laureate Editor in Chief

Lester Graves Lennon is the poetry editor for Rosebud magazine and an investment banker whose career in public finance exceeds 40 years. His first book of poetry, The Upward Curve of Earth and Heavens (2001), can be found in 70 public and university libraries including the Los Angeles Public Library, Columbia, Yale, Oxford and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he received his B.A. in English. His second book of poetry, My Father Was a Poet, was published in 2013. His third poetry book, Lynchings: Postcards from America, was published in 2022. He was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2021 and 2023.

Lennon sits on the board of directors of the Community of Writers and is a member of the Friends of the Center for Humanities at the University of Wisconsin. He is an emeritus member of the Board of Visitors for the English Department at the University of Wisconsin, and a past member of the board of directors for Red Hen Press. He was the primary mover in the creation of the Poet Laureate positions for both the City of Los Angeles and the City of Oakland, California. He was a founding member of the Los Angeles Mayor’s Poet Laureate Task Force and has lived with his family in Altadena since 1992.

A Big Thank You to Altadena’s 2022-2024 Poets Laureate!

Carla Rachel Sameth, Poet Laureate for Community Events (2022-2024) and Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow (2023-2024), is author of Secondary Inspections, a full-length poetry collection released by Nymeria Publishing in 2024. Her chapbook, What Is Left, was published in December 2021 with dancing girl press. Her debut memoir, One Day on the Gold Line, originally published in 2019, was reissued by Golden Foothills Press in 2022. Her writing on blended/unblended, queer, multiracial and single parent families appears in a variety of publications. Sameth’s work has been selected three times as Notable Essays of the Year in Best American Essays. Her story “Graduation Day at Addiction High,” which originally appeared in Narratively, was also selected for Longread’s “Five Stories on Addiction.” A Best of the Net and Pushcart nominee, a Pasadena Rose Poet, a West Hollywood Pride Poet, and a former PEN Teaching Artist, she teaches creative writing to diverse communities, including high school and university students, and has taught incarcerated youth. carlasameth.com

Photo by Hilary Jones

Peter J. Harris

Peter J. Harris, Altadena Poet Laureate Editor in Chief (2022-2024) and Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow (2023-2024), is the author of Safe Arms: 20 Love & Erotic Poems (w/an Ooh Baby Baby moan), with Spanish translations by Francisco Letelier (FlowerSong Press), and SongAgain (Beyond Baroque Books). In 2015, his book of poetry, Bless the Ashes (Tia Chucha Press), won the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award, and his book of personal essays, The Black Man of Happiness: In Pursuit of My ‘Unalienable Right,’ won the American Book Award. Harris is founding director of The Black Man of Happiness Project, a creative, intellectual, and artistic exploration of Black men and joy. He writes the blog WREAKING HAPPINESS: A Joyful Living Journal: www.inspirationcrib.com.

Photo by Anne Kim | Courtesy of The Nicholson Project

Altadena Poets Laureate (2022-24) Carla R. Sameth and Peter J. Harris kick off their first season of poetry events at the Main Library in August 2022.

Timeline of Altadena Poets Laureate

Poets Laureate crowned at Poetry & Cookies

Altadena Library Board of Trustee Betsy Kahn, Poet Laureates Teresa Mei Chuc, Hazel Clayton Harrison, Pauli Dutton, and former Poet Laureate Elline Lipkin at the 2018 Poetry & Cookies gathering

A Brief History of Poetry & Cookies

Written by Pauli Dutton, Former Altadena Library District Director and Poet

“One Saturday afternoon in March 2003, patron and poet Ralph Lane approached me while I was working on the reference desk to ask if the library ever hosted poetry readings. My answer to him was, “Not yet, but what a wonderful idea!” After I told him I would look into it and he had left, I noticed that two other Altadena patron/poets, MB Kalis and Jeffry Jensen, had also entered the premises. We all agreed this was a sign that must be followed. After the necessary approval, I spoke with Ralph Lane‘s daughter who was delighted that the library would be going through with her father‘s proposal. (She was the one who came up with the idea to call our event Cookies and Poetry. Later Director Barbara Pearson suggested changing the name to Poetry and Cookies.) The first year we had 12 poets, photocopies of the readings as a handout, and, of course, luscious cookies. In 2004 we had 15 poets, more cookies, and an attractive compilation of the poems which we printed and catalogued. Thus, was born the first edition of Cookies and Poetry. We made copies available for both checkout and reference so they could be available in the library. In 2005 we took our publication to Altadena printer Miss Dragon for a more polished look.In 2004 we chose our first Poet Laureate, Ralph Lane and decided this would be a bi-yearly unpaid position. In future years, poets applied with samples of their work and a bio that included their advancement of poetry in the community. After Lane came Marcia Thompson, Alene Terzian, Linda Dove, and in 2014, Thelma Reyna, each of whom contributed a special library project during their reign. At the 2014 Poetry & Cookies event I announced my retirement at the end of the year and that, because the library no longer would have the staff to take on this project, both the anthology and public readings might come to an end. Several poets voiced their disappointment at this prospect and offered to serve on a committee to keep these alive. Since Thelma Reyna was both a professional editor and publishers as well as the Library’s Laureate, her acceptance of my request that she lead the project was a welcome synchronicity.

Poetry and Cookies has continued every year since. A dedicated committee of poets has grown poetry offerings at our libraries and has expanded the Altadena Poetry Review anthology, now called the Altadena Literary Review, to include a diverse group of over 120 poets and writers!”

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