You are invited to A Decade of Poetic Unity
Dear esteemed poets and community members:
You are cordially invited to attend
A Decade of Poetic Unity: Celebrating Vallejo’s Poets Laureate
July 26th, 2025
2-5 PM
Vallejo Museum
734 Marin Street
Free event. Donations accepted here:
https://gofund.me/19b3ee6a
This year marks ten years since the appointment of Vallejo, California’s first Poet Laureate, Dr. Genea Brice, in 2015. This celebration will honor the legacy and ongoing contributions of our city’s poets laureate, including Jeremy Snyder, D.L. Lang, and our current co-poets laureate, Jacalyn Eyvonne and Kathleen Herrmann.From its inception, Vallejo’s Poet Laureate Program has been a beacon of cultural enrichment, offering a vibrant array of poetry presentations, events, and activities. These initiatives have fostered emotional expression and communal unity and significantly deepened our cultural understanding, allowing us to appreciate the diverse perspectives and voices that make up our community.
This event will feature:
- History of the Laureate Program
- Feature performances by Vallejo’s poets laureate past and present.
- Poets Laureate Legacy Panel Discussion: Intimate conversations and audience dialogue with Poets Laureate sharing their journeys, reflections on their experiences, signature initiatives, and observations on Vallejo’s flourishing poetic landscape and visions for poetry’s role in strengthening community bonds and artistic expression in Vallejo’s future.
- Anthology Launch for A Decade of Poetic Unity: Celebrating Vallejo’s Poets Laureate, featuring works by Dr. Genea Brice, D.L. Lang, Jeremy Snyder, Jacalyn Eyvonne, and Kathleen Herrmann. (If you are unable to attend and would still like to purchase the anthology, it is available online here: https://amzn.to/451Oblb )
This is a rare opportunity to see all five Vallejo, California Poets Laureate perform on one stage:
- Dr. Genea S. Brice – July 28, 2015-August 31st, 2017
- D.L. Lang – September 1st, 2017-December 31st, 2019
- Jeremy Snyder – January 1, 2020-December 31st, 2023
- Jacalyn Eyvonne & Kathleen Herrmann – January 1, 2024 – December 31st, 2025
Meet Our Poets Laureate
Dr. Genea S. Brice – July 28, 2015-Aug. 31, 2017 – Dr. Genea Brice was named the Inaugural Poet Laureate of The City of Vallejo, CA. She has had the high honor of sharing poetry locally, nationally, and internationally. It is her sincere delight and honest pleasure to use poetry as a vehicle for literacy. Find her online at http://www.geneabrice.com
D.L. Lang – Sept. 1, 2017 – Dec. 31, 2019 – D.L. Lang is an internationally published poet whose work appears in 90 anthologies, including the Vagabond Lunar Collection, which is archived on the moon. She has authored 18 poetry books, including Fighting the Solar System (2024). She is a member of the Revolutionary Poets Brigade and co-founded Vallejo Poetry Society. Find her online at http://www.dianalangpoetry.com
Jeremy Snyder – Jan. 1, 2020 – Dec. 31, 2023 – Jeremy Snyder served as the host of Vallejo’s longest running Poetry open mic, Poetry by the Bay, from 2018 through 2022. He hosted over 100 shows over Zoom to keep the community together during the pandemic.
Jacalyn Eyvonne, Jan 1, 2024 – Current.– Author of I Am Not An Inconsequential Word, Venting To Verse: How To Turn Anger Into Poetry,and The Unyielding Weight of Words. Published work includes Oakland Tribune, Wheelsong Poetry, United Kingdom; Hues of Spring, Nyra Publishers; World Healing Peace, Inner Child Press, and more. Editor, Youth Poetry Letters. Find her online at http://www.jacalyneyvonne.com
Kathleen Herrmann, January 1, 2024 – Current.– Kathleen Herrmann, Vallejo Co-Poet Laureate, teaches poetry writing to young people and reads original poetry at community events. Her poems have been published in various anthologies, and her first poetry collection, Cane In The Sand, is in progress. Kathleen writes about unexpected happenings and the ongoing struggle for social justice.
Meet Your Emcee
Kyrah Ayers is the founder of Poetry by the Bay which he hosted from 2008 to 2018. He is author of the poetry collection My Light. Kyrah is co-owner and driving force behind the first black owned Crystal Botanica in the city of Oakland, CA called Queen Hippie Gypsy which he and his wife opened in 2018.
Prior to this he founded the largest and longest running open mic poetry show in Solano County, CA called Poetry By The Bay which has allowed thousands of poets to come and share their work and to gain understanding and appreciation for themselves. You can find him online at https://www.activelypursuinggoals.com/
Free event. Donations accepted here.
Please RSVP online at Eventbrite.
Please RSVP at the Facebook event located at this URL: https://www.facebook.com/events/1794033647843305
Note: If you do not have Facebook, that’s ok. We would still love to have you in attendance. We are just trying to get a general headcount.
Visit our Poets Laureate online and support them by purchasing their books at:
http://www.dianalangpoetry.com
https://www.jacalyneyvonne.com
We look forward to seeing you there!