Nancy Miller Gomez has been named the 2025-26 Santa Cruz County Poet Laureate, announced Santa Cruz Public Libraries and the County of Santa Cruz Department of Parks, Open Spaces and Cultural Services, along with Arts Council Santa Cruz County and Poetry Santa Cruz.
In October 2022, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors, at the recommendation of the Santa Cruz County Arts Commission, voted to establish an official County Poet Laureate honorary position. The Board officially appointed Gomez as the new Santa Cruz County Poet Laureate at its Jan. 28 meeting.
Selection of the Poet Laureate was made through a competitive application process, in which the panel considered artistic achievement in poetry; community engagement experience and ability to communicate well across a diverse range of communities; demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion; and alignment of the proposed project with the Poet Laureate mission and role.
Gomez is a distinguished poet and writer whose work explores themes of social justice, human connection and the transformative power of poetry. She is the author of “Inconsolable Objects” and “Punishment,” and her poetry and essays have been published in numerous literary journals and anthologies, including Best American Poetry, Prairie Schooner, TriQuarterly, The Adroit Journal, The Hopkins Review and a special mention in the 2023 Pushcart Prize Anthology.
Gomez has also been actively engaged in community outreach, using poetry as a tool for education and empowerment. She has worked extensively in correctional facilities and co-founded the Poetry in the Jails program to bring poetry workshops to incarcerated women and men in Santa Cruz County.
“Poetry can bring connection to the community even for those who have little experience with poetry,” Gomez said. “If you take it out of the ivory towers and off the academic pedestals, it has the power to unify people and deliver hope, especially for those who have been marginalized. We need poetry now more than ever, and I will use this role to spread poetry throughout the county and into all the places where it is needed most.”
Gomez will appear at Bookshop Santa Cruz on April 14 to share poems and conversation with Farnaz Fatemi, her Poet Laureate predecessor. She encourages community members to share their ideas and sign up for her newsletter for updates and future poetry events at nancymillergomez.com.
The Poet Laureate program aligns with the Strategic Plans of both the County and the Library System. The County’s Strategic Plan element pertaining to a Dynamic Economy: Community Vitality, asserts that the arts are essential to a community’s vitality and economic development. This project aligns with the Library’s Inclusionary goals to create opportunities for diverse groups to connect, have fun and gain understanding through art, history and humanities programs that celebrate diverse cultures and identities.
