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Poetry and arts festival brings dignitary to The Rose

The Rose Hotel was honored to have as one of its recent guests Al Young, the Poet Laureate of California from 2005 to 2008. A poet laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government and is often expected to compose poems for state occasions and other government events.

Al Young, Poet Laureate of California, 2005 to 2008

Mr. Young was in town to serve as keynote speaker at the 10th Annual Pleasanton Poetry, Prose & Arts Festival held at the Firehouse Arts Center, March 26-27.

Always an eagerly anticipated event, the two-day celebration featured workshops, contests, musical performances, and a fine arts exhibit.

Young is the author of 22 books of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction, and is a two-time winner of the Pushcart Prize. Over his long career his work has garnered numerous awards and honors, including Guggenheim, Fulbright, and Woodrow Wilson fellowships. Currently the visiting writer at California College of the Arts in San Francisco, he has taught writing classes at some of the country’s preeminent institutions of higher learning, from Stanford and U.C. Santa Cruz to the University of Michigan and Bennington College in Vermont.

For this event, Young was joined by about a dozen accomplished Bay Area writers presenting a total of 20 poetry and prose workshops in morning and afternoon sessions over the weekend.

The literary luminaries included: David Alpaugh, Julia Connor, Lisa Gentile, Susan Woolridge, Adair Lara, Alison Luterman, Connie Post, Kathryn Reiss, Kim Rosen, Lee Rossi, and Nina Schuyler.

New at the festival this year were two independent art workshops in downtown Pleasanton: the Carol Maddox Watercolor Landscape Workshop, and the Jan Mahood Essential Creativity Workshop.

The festival also included contests in various literary categories and age groups, the youngest of which was devoted to children aged four to seven. Winning poems were read and $1,200 in prizes awarded.

The literary weekend was sponsored by the Pleasanton Cultural Arts Council.

The Rose Hotel was pleased to play a role in this cultural event by hosting keynote speaker Al Young. We hope that Mr. Young and Tri-Valley artists and wordsmiths were enriched by the experience.

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