One of Napa Valley's hidden gems is its rich literary culture. Poetry slams and performance art are part of that literary culture. From the Napa Writer's Conference to the Napa County library's teen poetry slam, you will find that Napa has quite a number of talented writers of all ages. This page highlights a few of these dynamic and interesting individuals that are part of our literary scene.
Jane Hirshfield
Jane Hirshfield is an award-winning poet, essay writer, translator, and teacher. She was one of the faculty for the 2013 Napa Valley Writer's Conference. She graduated from Princeton University and practices Zen Buddhism, which had a profound effect on her poetry. Hirshfield has been a visiting poet at Stanford University and UC-Berkeley, and she has also served on the faculty for Bennington’s MFA Writing Seminars. Her many awards include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Guggenheim Foundation. Other honors include the Poetry Center Book Award, Columbia University’s Translation Center Award, the Bay Area Book Reviewer’s Award, the California Book Award, and the Hall-Kenyon Award. In 2004, Hirshfield received the Academy Fellowship from the Academy of American Poets, and in 2012, she was elected a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. In 2019, Hirshfield was inducted into the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. In particular, Hirshield's works occupy a fascinating liminal space between poetry, the sciences, and the crisis of the biosphere.
Jane Mead was a Napa resident who has managed her family's ranch and grape growing operation until she succumbed to cancer in 2019. She wrote five collections of poetry, and she was also a finalist for the Griffin Prize and the Los Angeles Times Poetry Prize. In addition to these, Mead was honored with a Whiting Writers Award, as well as a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship. Mead taught at the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa and participated in the Napa Valley Writers' Conference.
"Poet's Corner: Napa poet Jane Mead tells 'The Future'" - The Press Democrat
Gary Silva
Gary Silva is a resident of Napa and has lived in California most of his life. He completed his M.A. in literature and poetry writing at CSU, Fresno, and his M.F.A. in poetry writing at UC Irvine. He taught at Napa Valley College from 1990 until he retired in 2008. He was also Poet Laureate of Napa County from 2008-2010. Gary Silva has had a lifelong passion for poetry and published poems in literary magazines across the United States. He also has four chapbooks: The Back-up Café, Photograph of a Nude, Ceramics, and Elemental Tanka.
Janet Stickmon
Although most known at Napa Valley College for her books on navigating racial identity and for her insightful classes, such as American Mind I and II, Intro to Africana Studies, and Filipina(o) American Heritage, Janet Stickmon, a tenured profess of Humanities, is also a poet, performer, and founder and facilitator of Broken Shackle Developmental Training and the Black Leaders and Mentorship Program. Stickmon holds a Master’s of the Arts Degree in Ethnic Studies from San Francisco State University, a Master’s of the Arts Degree in Religion and Society from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, and a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of California, Irvine. She is passionate about social justice and has been working to make ethnic studies part of the K-12 curriculum.
Eileen R. Tabios
Eileen R Tabios is a poet, writer, artist, editor, critic, and publisher. She has over 60 collections of poetry, fiction, essays, and experimental biographies from publishers in ten countries and on the Internet. She earned a BA in political science from Barnard College and an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business. Tabios is also the founder and editor of the online poetry review journal GALATEA RESURRECTS (A POETRY ENGAGEMENT). Her work includes the invention of the hay(na)ku poetic form (a six-word tercet with the first line being one word, the second line being two words, and the third line being three words) and her first poetry book, Beyond Life Sentences (1998), which received the Philippines’ National Book Award for Poetry (Manila Critics Circle). Tabios has received many awards and commendations for her work, including the PEN Open Book Award, the Potrero Nuevo Fund Prize, the PEN Oakland–Josephine Miles National Literary Award, the Philippines’ Manila Critics Circle National Book Award for Poetry, and a Witter Bynner Poetry Grant.
Glynda “GT” Velasco
Glynda Velasco is a writer, artist, and poet who specializes in spoken word poetry. Before the pandemic, she often did stand-up comedy at t a local open mic called Hella Open Mic. Velasco believes that poetry can be a force used for social change and spearheaded an effort against the Liquified Natural Gas plant that Bechtel and Shell proposed to build on Mare Island just a mile or so away from Vallejo. Velasco specializes in Spoken Word, Hay(na)ku, and Visual Poetry. Her poetry is included in Verses Typhoon Yolanda (Meritage Press, 2014). She has also been featured in several anthologies. She has also been a judge for Napa County Library’s Teen Poetry Slam.