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, Were 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 Womens Coalition, and
the first "Woman of Words Award" from the Womens
Foundation. She is the Executive Director of Glide Church and
President of the Glide Foundation.