Evening with Poet Laureate Devreaux Baker

Join us for a special evening with Devreaux Baker, the inaugural Poet Laureate of Mendocino County. Baker will offer a reading of her poetry, followed by an open mic, welcoming community voices to join in. Entry is by donation, and no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

A long-time resident of the Mendocino Coast, Devreaux Baker has steadily earned recognition as a poetic voice deeply rooted in place, nature, and human connection. She is the author of Red Willow People, Beyond the Circumstance of Sight, Light at the Edge, and Hungry Ghosts, out of the bones of earth.

Her work has garnered numerous awards, among them the PEN/Oakland Josephine Miles Poetry Award, multiple Barbara Mandigo Kelly Peace Poetry Prizes, the Steve Kowit Poetry Prize, the Willie Morris Award for Southern Poetry, and the Hawaii Council on Humanities International Poetry Prize.

Baker’s literary achievements are complemented by her commitment to community and mentoring. As Poet Laureate (a post she began in June 2024), she is editing Spirit of Place: Mendocino County Women Poets Anthology, a follow-up to the 1999 anthology she helped co-edit, Wood, Water, Air