Vallejo Poet Laureate Kathleen Herrmann

Vallejo Poet Laureate Kathleen Herrmann


Kathleen Herrmann, Co-Poet Laureate (2024-2026)

Jacalyn Eyvonne and Kathleen Herrmann, Vallejo's Co-Poets Laureate
Jacalyn Eyvonne and Kathleen Herrmann, Vallejo’s Co-Poets Laureate

Contact information for booking our current Vallejo Poet Laureate Kathleen Herrmann: kherrma@gmail.com

Vallejo Poet Laureate Kathleen Herrmann

Kathleen Herrmann is an internationally published poet whose work appears in 14 anthologies worldwide, including I Can’t Breathe (Kistrech Poetry, Kenya, 2021), Friendship (Pure Slush, Australia, 2021), and Work & the Anthropocene (Ice Floe Press, Canada, 2022). The Benicia Herald has also published numerous poems by Herrmann. She is working on an upcoming collection entitled I Was There, Now I’m Here: Crossing Borders, featuring the stories of refugees. Kathleen won Best of Show in Poetry at the 2022 and 2023 Solano County Fairs, and has also received awards from the Ina Coolbrith Poetry Circle.

Herrmann has featured for the Vallejo Poetry Festival, Flyway Festival, Alameda Island Poets, Benicia First Tuesday Poets, and Napa Valley Writers Club. She has also appeared at Poetry by the Bay and the 2022 Vallejo Beat Poetry Festival. She is a regular performer, and occasional host at Art Beat Poetry Hour on KZCT. A retired teacher, Kathleen holds a B.A. in English Literature from the University of California at Berkeley, and an M.A. in Teaching Leadership from St. Mary’s College of California, and hopes to hold workshops for the community and organize ekphrastic readings. Kathleen is also an experienced musician and singer, and hopes to meld the two art forms together to create a community song for Vallejo. 

Since becoming poet laureate Kathleen Herrmann has co-hosted an open mic via Zoom for the Monologues and Poetry Film Festival, performed at the Mad Hatter Holiday Festival, featured at Alameda Island Poets, performed at the 2024 MLK Grove planting ceremony, the NAACP Martin Luther King Day celebration, Winters Lit Fest 2, Fiestas Primavera, Art Walk, Alibi Bookshop, Earth Daze Festival, Visions of the Wild, and Vallejo Museum.

03122024 Proclamation Honoring Kathleen Hermann as Co-Poet LaureateDownload

Bibliography

  • “Say it LOUD,” Vallejo Weekly, Vol. 12, No. 10, March 8, 2024

Poems published in the Benicia Herald:

  • January 12, 2024, “Resolve”
  • September 6, 2023, “The Day Lahaina Burned”
  • May 1, 2022, “Amelia’s Song”
  • March 9, 2022, “Believe”
  • February 16, 2022, “The Day I Met Homer Smith at the Movies”
  • January 14, 2022, “High Hopes Revisited January 6, 2022”
  • September 22, 2021, “Unwanted”
  • April 28, 2021, “Say it LOUD”
  • January 15, 2021, “High Hopes”
  • October 28, 2020, “Freefall”
  • September 25, 2020, “Spellbound”
  • September 6, 2020,  “Icarus In The 21stCentury”
  • July 24, 2020, “Say Her Name”
  • May 17, 2020, “Day 47″
  • April 22, 2020 “A Perfect Day”
  • January 12, 2024 “Resolve”
  • February 25, 2024 “Elmira”
  • April 5, 2024 “Polar Wolf”
  • April 28, 2024 “Planet vs. Plastics”
  • November 8, 2024 “Election Day Invocation”
  • March 14, 2025 “Bright Yellow Daffodils”

She is a contributor to:

  • Musings During A Time of Pandemic, Kistrech Poetry, Kenya, 2020, ISBN 9789966955951
  • Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité, Moonstone Press, Philadelphia, PA, 2021, ISBN 9781954499201
  • I Can’t Breathe: A Poetic Anthology of Social Justice, Kistrech Poetry, Kenya, 2021 ISBN 9789914988505
  • Friendship, Lifespan Vol. 3, Pure Slush Books, Sefton Park, Australia, 2021, ISBN 9781922427243
  • Third Harvest: Napa Valley Writers Club 2021, Gnarly Vine Press, 2021, ISBN 9780998510835
  • Yearning to Breathe Free: A Community Journal of 2020, Benicia Literary Arts, Benicia, CA, 2022, ISBN 9781735499925
  • Post-Roe Alternatives: Fighting Back, B Cubed Press, Horse Heaven, Washington, 2022, ISBN 9781949476316
  • “A Woman’s Work,” Work & Anthropocene, Ice Floe Press, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2022
  • Support Ukraine, Moonstone Press, Philadelphia, PA, 2022 ISBN 9781954499690
  • Vote, Moonstone Press, Philadelphia, PA, 2022
  • Nooks and Crannies, Benicia Literary Arts, Benicia, CA, 2022, ISBN 9781735499918
  • Coming Out of Isolation, Kistrech Poetry, Kenya, 2022, ISBN 9783947911738
  • Opus IV: Napa Valley Writers Club 2023, Gnarly Vine Press, 2023, ISBN 9780998510828
  • Loss: Lifespan Vol. 9, Pure Slush, 2024, ISBN 978-1-922427366
  • Unsettled Benicia Literary Arts, 2024, ISBN 9781735499963
  • All About Animals Poetic Edge Publishers 2024 ISBN 9781917408011
  • A Decade of Poetic Unity: Celebrating Vallejo’s Poets Laureate 2025. ISBN 9798328345736

Selected Press

Poets Laureate of Vallejo, California

Click the links below to read biographies for the each poet laureate: