Petaluma Writer Named Sonoma County's New Poet Laureate

Sonoma County's new Poet Laureate is Petaluma's very own Bill Vartnaw, the Argus Courier is reporting.

The Poet Laureate program was started by the Sebastopol Center for the Arts, which every two years selects a new poet from the county.

Vartnaw was born and raised in Petaluma and has dedicated his life to writing. He authored Suburbs of My Childhood in 2009, In Concern: for Angels and Anthologies:Petaluma Poetry Walk 10-Year Anthology: 1996 to 2005, among other titles.

The announcement was made Monday and caps a lifetime of poetry for Vartnaw, who published his first poem in 1972 in Paper Pudding, a Sonoma County literary magazine.  

Vartnaw was also the creator of Summer Solstice & Autumn Equinox Poetry Festivals in San Francisco where over 200 poets read their work and founded Taurean Horn Press in 1974, which has published 14 books. We also helped organized Petaluma Poetry Walk for many years.