Juan Felipe Herrera First CA and US Latino Poet Laureate
What a Beautiful Voice!
B
eing a poet was probably the furthest thing from Juan Felipe Herrera’s mind when he was nine years old and could barely speak English. But his third-grade teacher, Lelya Sampson, at Lowell Elementary School in Barrio Logan, changed his life forever when she told him, “You have a beautiful voice,” after he sang in front of the class. It was as if she flipped a switch in him. “I built my whole life around that one phrase,” Juan Felipe said in a 2016 interview with the San Diego Union-Tribune. He went on to become the first Latino California Poet Laureate, appointed by Governor Jerry Brown in 2012-15, and the first Latino United States Poet Laureate appointed by the Librarian of Congress in 2015 and reappointed in 2016. His works are in English and Spanish. Even though he uplifts Mexican American culture, he strives for a deeper connection with all groups. He said in a 2015 Guardian US article, “My voice is made by everyone’s voices.” The son of migrant farmworker parents, Juan Felipe was born in Fowler, California, in 1948, but grew up in San Diego and graduated from San Diego High School in 1967. He earned graduate degrees from UCLA, Stanford University, and the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. His poetry took him to new heights. “Sunriders” was engraved on a plaque and placed in NASA’s unmanned Lucy mission in 2021. The bilingual Juan Felipe Herrera Elementary School opened in Fresno, CA, in 2022. As the author of 30 books, he has served as the Tomás Rivera Endowed Chair in the Department of Creative Writing at the University of California, Riverside, and Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. He has received fellowships, grants and awards.
In December 2024, Juan Felipe was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship genius grant that celebrates significant achievement as well as future promise for creative works.
Poet Felipe Herrera. (Photo courtesy © John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation)
208
San Diego Latino Legacy – Timeline • Milestones • Stories
Chapter 7 – Latino Notables
209
Made with FlippingBook Ebook Creator