Santa Cruz County has a new poet laureate. Writer and poet Nancy Miller Gomez has been appointed to the honorary position for a two-year term, starting in 2025. The county board of supervisors made the appointment after receiving a recommendation from the county’s Arts Commission.
Gomez is an accomplished poet, having published her work in several renowned journals, including Catamaran, New Ohio Review, Shenandoah, Prairie Schooner, LitHub, River Styx, and Best American Poetry, among others. She is also the author of two poetry collections: Inconsolable Objects (2024) and Punishment (2014).
In addition to her writing, Gomez is dedicated to community outreach. She co-founded the Poetry in the Jails program, which has brought the transformative power of poetry to incarcerated men and women in Santa Cruz County jails and at Salinas Valley State Prison in Soledad.
Gomez succeeds Farnaz Fatemi in the position and will serve as poet laureate through 2026. Both Gomez and Fatemi will participate in a celebration of the poet laureate program at Bookshop Santa Cruz on April 14, where the community can join in honoring the role of poetry in the region.
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