Lynne Thompson

Poet

Los Angeles, CA

California US

Email:

Author's Bio

Lynne Thompson was appointed Poet Laureate for the City of Los Angeles in February 2021. She's the author of "Beg No Pardon", winner of the Perugia Press Book Prize, "Start With A Small Guitar", and "Fretwork", winner of the Marsh Hawk Press Prize. She serves on the Boards of the Los Angeles Review of Books, and the Poetry Foundation and is President of the Board of Directors of Cave Canem..

Publications & Prizes

Anthologies:

Dear Yosef: Essays, Letters, and Poems For and About One Mr. Komunyakaa (Wesleyan University Press, 2024)

Best American Poetry (W. W. Norton & Company, 2020)

New Poets of the American West (Many Voices Press, 2010)

So Luminous the Wildflowers: An Anthology of California Poets (Tebot Bach, 2003)

Books:

Fretwork (Marsh Hawk Press, 2019)

Beg No Pardon (Perugia Press, 2007)

Journals:

Crab Orchard Review

Louisiana Literature

Sou'wester

Prizes won:

Great Lakes Colleges New Writers Award; Stephen Dunn Poetry Prize; Tucson Literary Award (poetry); Individual Artist Award, City of Los Angeles; Marsh Hawk Poetry Prize; Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship

Personal Favorites

What I'm reading now:

Sturge Town by Kwame Dawes, Ankle-Deep in Pacific Water by E. Hughes, Rediscovering Black Portraiture by Peter Brathwaite, Moving the Bones by Rick Barot

More Information

Gives readings:

Yes

Travels for readings:

Yes

Identifies as:

African American

Prefers to work with:

Adults

Fluent in:

English

Born in:

Los Angeles, CA

California

Raised in:

Los Angeles

Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.

Last update: Apr 03, 2025