Her most memorable moment of the first time in a new city was a poetry lesson taught by guest author Jean Janzen in her third- or fourth-grade class at Thomas Elementary School in Central Fresno.

Decades later, Fresno State alumna Marisol Baca will be Fresno’s fourth poet laureate and the first woman to hold that title.

Baca will serve a two-year term as the literary ambassador, beginning immediately.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Fresno State in 2003 and a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing from Cornell University in 2007.

“Poetry is an artform that helps me to express what I’m feeling, imagining, fearing and dreaming,” said Baca, an English instructor at Fresno City College and co-founder of the Women Writers of Color-Central Valley collective. “When I read poetry, it allows me to see the world through another artist’s point of view.”

Her memory of her first poetry lesson was by a woman. Baca said that because poetry is a platform that encourages many more girls to write, it has made being the first woman to be named as Fresno Poet Laureate of special significance to her.

“I feel so much encouragement from the community of women poets and writers in the Valley, as well as so many other writers,” Baca said. “Though I am just one small part of Fresno poetry, it is wonderful to be in this position where I get to have a platform to support and elevate the other women writers that should also be recognized. It feels wonderful to be recognized in a community that I have been working with for many years.”

Baca sought out three female writers who were her mentors over the years. One was Corrinne Clegg Hales, professor of English and creative writing at Fresno State.

Hales’s poetry had been very important to Baca, because she was a Fresno poet who was a woman. Baca said that Hales completely and utterly believed in her writing, who she was and who she wanted to become, even when Baca did not necessarily see it.

“She always felt strongly about the importance of poetry in our conflicted contemporary world and about the importance of having a variety of voices speaking to — and listening to — each other,” Hales said. “I never doubted for a moment that she would add her strong, lyrical voice to the chorus, and that hers would become an important and appreciated voice in U.S. poetry.”

Baca hopes that as the fourth Fresno poet laureate, she can start an initiative to bring all Fresno writers into the same third- and fourth-grade classrooms.

“[I] would like to bring poetry to elementary classrooms and … create a reading event that combines many artforms and where artists can collaborate with poets,” Baca said.