CB Follett (Photo by Jeremy Thornton)

Poet, artist, publisher and winner of the 2001 National Poetry Book Award, CB "Lyn" Follett of Sausalito has been named Marin County poet laureate. The Marin Poet Laureate serves as an ambassador for poetry for a two year term with the goals of raising awareness of poetry and heightening an appreciation of the art form.

"I look forward to being an ambassador of poetry throughout Marin working with The Marin Arts Council, the Marin Poetry Center and various other public agencies," said Follett. "Marin County is rich with poets. I am the temporary ambassador of poetry for Marin, but hope as many poets as possible will lend a hand to make poetry accessible to everyone."

Follett was honored with the National Poetry Book Award for At the Turning of the Light, from Salmon Run Press. Her poems have been widely published in various magazines and journals and she has received contest honors in the Billee Murray Denny Prize, New Letters Prize, the Ann Stanford Prize, the Glimmer Train Poetry Contest and several contests from Poetry Society of America. Five of her poems have been nominated for a Pushcart Poetry Prize and she has received three nominations as an individual poet.

Follett is publisher and editor of Arctos Press, including the anthology, GRRRRR, A Collection of Poems About Bears, and was the publisher and co-editor of RUNES, A Review of Poetry from 2001 to 2008. She has published four poetry books and several chapbooks.

Her most recent publication, And Freddie Was My Darling, was published in 2009.

Born in Connecticut, Follett graduated from Smith College. She married Lee Follett and the couple moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1958 and settled in Sausalito in 1988. She started writing poetry in the Emeritus Program at the College of Marin in 1990. Follett is also an artist and photographer, known for her creative mixed media art works. Her art studio is located at Art Works Downtown in San Rafael. She is a member of the Photo Forum at The O'Hanlon Center for the Arts and the Squaw Valley Community of Poets.

Follett has already launched "Poem of the Week," sharing new poems on the MarinArts Council website and E-Newsletter.

"I hope to take poetry to senior centers and have the seniors read their own poetry or poems they have loved over the years. In addition, I want to bring poetry to cultural centers in the Canal area and Marin City. I'd like all of us to celebrate the poets of the many cultures in Marin. There is a rich canon of Central and Latin American poetry, of black poetry, of Haitian poetry and many others. Let's celebrate it," said Follett.
 
"Marin residents can participate now by taking part in 'Pass the Poem.' Just find a poem you like (even if you have to go back to the ones you learned by heart in sixth grade), make a copy and give it to someone you know or give it to a stranger. Tell them this is 'communication by poem' and if they like it--to pass it on to someone else," said Follett. "Or share with chalk poems by taking a piece of chalk and writing a poem on the sidewalk, your driveway or a school yard. Let the weather and footsteps have their way with it."

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The Marin Poet Laureate promotes citizens' awareness of poetry as well as heightens their appreciation of the art form. Marin Poet Laureate is made possible by a partnership of the Marin Arts Council, the Marin Poetry Center and the Cultural Services Commission.