Anchor Baby of the Day: Juan Felipe Herrera, California Poet Laureate

In March, University of California, Riverside poetry professor Juan Felipe Herrera — known for chronicling the bittersweet lives, travails and contributions of Mexican Americans — was named California Poet Laureate by Gov. Jerry Brown. He is the first Latino poet to hold this post. Born in California, Herrera is the son of migrant farm workers and holds the Tomás Rivera Chair in Creative Writing at UC Riverside. He is the author of more than 20 books, including narratives for children and young adults (“Calling the Doves” and “Upside Down Boy“) and a career-spanning anthology, “Half of the World in Light,” which won the 2008 National Book Critics Circle Award in poetry. This L.A. Times story tells about Herrera and his popularity in California.

KJ