Janice Mirikitani
 
 



The current poet laureate of San Francisco, Janice Mirikitani is a Sansei or third generation Japanese American. Born in California, she was interned as an infant with her family in Rohwer, Arkansas during the Second World War. Mirtikitani has published three volumes of poetry, Awake in the River (1978), Shedding Silence (1987) and We, the Dangerous: New and Selected Poems (1995). She has also edited several anthologies of poetry, prose and essays, among which include I have Something to Say about this Big Trouble: Children of the Tenderloin Speak Out and Watch Out, We’re Talking: Speaking out about Incest and Abuse. She is the recipient of more than 35 awards and honors, including the American Book "Lifetime Achievement Award for Literature," the "Woman Warrior in Arts and Culture Award" from the Pacific Asian-American Bay area Women’s Coalition, and the first "Woman of Words Award" from the Women’s Foundation. She is the Executive Director of Glide Church and President of the Glide Foundation.