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| California State Poetry Society | |
|---|---|
| Name | California State Poetry Society |
| Formation | 1966 |
| Type | Literary nonprofit |
| Headquarters | Sacramento, California |
| Region served | California |
| Leader title | President |
California State Poetry Society The California State Poetry Society is a nonprofit literary organization founded in 1966 that promotes poetry across California through readings, contests, publications, and educational outreach. It works with a network of regional chapters, affiliates, and partners to support poets, schools, libraries, and cultural institutions. The society interfaces with statewide arts agencies, local governments, universities, and national organizations to advance appreciation of poetic forms and heritage.
The society emerged during a period of cultural ferment in the 1960s alongside organizations such as the Poetry Society of America, Academy of American Poets, National Endowment for the Arts, California Arts Council, and regional groups like the San Francisco Poetry Center. Early influences included poets associated with San Francisco Renaissance, Beat Generation, Black Mountain College, Iowa Writers' Workshop, and movements linked to Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Jack Kerouac, and Philip Whalen. Founding leaders drew on institutions such as University of California, Berkeley, Stanford University, University of Southern California, University of California, Los Angeles, and libraries including the Library of Congress and California State Library. The society's archives intersect with collections from Bancroft Library, Huntington Library, Special Collections Research Center, and local historical societies. Over decades it adapted to shifts driven by events like the Summer of Love, legislative actions involving arts funding, collaborations with National Poetry Month, partnerships with museums such as the Getty Center and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and exchanges with literary journals including Poetry Magazine, The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Ploughshares, and The Kenyon Review.
Governance follows a volunteer board model similar to the Poetry Society of America and many state arts councils: a president, vice president, treasurer, secretary, contest directors, and chapter coordinators. It files nonprofit paperwork with the California Secretary of State and federal filings with the Internal Revenue Service. Legal and fiscal practices reference standards from organizations like Americans for the Arts and compliance with statutes such as those administered by the California Franchise Tax Board. The society liaises with municipal arts commissions in cities such as Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, and Oakland and partners with university presses including University of California Press, Stanford University Press, and University of California, Berkeley Press for publication and distribution strategies.
Programs include public readings, workshops, school residencies, festivals, and collaborations with institutions such as Los Angeles Public Library, San Francisco Public Library, California State University campuses, and community colleges like City College of San Francisco. Seasonal events align with observances such as National Poetry Month and regional festivals like the Napa Valley Book Festival, Bay Area Book Festival, Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, and county fairs. The society organizes panels with editors from journals such as Poetry Magazine, The New Yorker, Granta, Tin House, and Electric Literature, and invites guest poets associated with institutions like Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, Yaddo, MacDowell Colony, and Helene Wurlitzer Foundation. Outreach extends to partnerships with cultural organizations including California Humanities, American Library Association, National Endowment for the Humanities, Arts Council England (for exchange), and local arts councils.
The society produces an annual anthology, newsletters, chapbooks, and contest prize books. Distribution networks include university presses and independent bookstores such as City Lights Booksellers & Publishers, A Clean Well-Lighted Place, and The Last Bookstore. Editors and contributors have connections to journals including The New Yorker, Poetry Magazine, The Paris Review, Ploughshares, Tin House, Granta, AGNI, Boston Review, The Missouri Review, Slate, The Atlantic, Harper's Magazine, The Nation, The Yale Review, The Hopkins Review, Conjunctions, Boston Review, New England Review, Gulf Coast, Kenyon Review Online, and small presses like Copper Canyon Press, Graywolf Press, City Lights Publishers, and Wave Books.
Contests administered by the society reference standards used by competitions such as the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, National Book Award for Poetry, Lamont Poetry Prize, Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, Poetry Out Loud, and regional prizes like the San Francisco Poetry Prize. Prize ceremonies have been hosted in venues such as Walt Disney Concert Hall, Zellerbach Hall, Bowers Museum, and city halls in Sacramento and Los Angeles. Judges have included poets affiliated with Yale University, Harvard University, Princeton University, Columbia University, New York University, Brown University, and residencies at MacDowell and Yaddo.
Membership encompasses poets, teachers, librarians, editors, and readers across chapters in regions including Northern California, Southern California, Central Valley, San Diego County, Monterey Bay, Santa Barbara, Riverside County, Orange County, Inland Empire, Sierra Nevada, Mendocino County, Sonoma County, and Napa County. Chapters coordinate with community institutions such as public libraries, bookstores, universities, and veterans' organizations. Collaborations extend to statewide student groups at institutions like University of California, Davis, California State University, Long Beach, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and arts programs in K–12 districts.
The society's outreach programs engage artists and audiences through partnerships with schools, museums, prisons, hospitals, and cultural festivals. Initiatives have mirrored efforts by organizations such as Poets & Writers, 826 National, Poetry in Motion, Urban Word, Split This Rock, and Lambda Literary to increase access and representation. Collaborations with civic entities include county arts commissions, public defenders' offices, and health systems such as Kaiser Permanente for therapeutic and community wellness projects. The society's influence is visible in local media coverage from outlets like the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Sacramento Bee, and in civic recognition by mayors' offices and state legislators.
Category:Literary societies in California