Quick Take
Nancy Miller Gomez, a pioneering figure in bringing poetry to the incarcerated, has been named Santa Cruz County's new poet laureate, to serve a two-year term through the end of 2026.
Santa Cruz County has a new poet laureate. Writer and poet Nancy Miller Gomez was recently appointed to a two-year term in the post by the county board of supervisors, at the recommendation of the county’s Arts Commission.
Gomez has published her poetry widely in a variety of journals and publications, including Catamaran, New Ohio Review, Shenandoah, Prairie Schooner, LitHub, River Styx and Best American Poetry, among others. She is the author of two books of poetry, “Inconsolable Objects” (2024) and “Punishment” (2014).
She is also the co-founder of the Poetry in the Jails program, which has brought poetry to incarcerated men and women in Santa Cruz County jails and Salinas Valley State Prison in Soledad.
Gomez follows Farnaz Fatemi in the honorary position and will serve for a term covering 2025 and 2026. Both Gomez and Fatemi will be on hand for a celebration of the poet laureate program at Bookshop Santa Cruz on April 14.
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