WHO WE ARE
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
AS OF MAY 12, 2026
Patrick Grizzell -- President
Maris Juwono -- Secretary
Phyllis Hayes -- Treasurer
Julia Connor -- Member at Large
Traci Gourdine -- Member at Large
Charlize Velasco -- Member at Large
In July, 2025, the board completed the final action of the work that it has been engaged in for months by signing into effect a thoughtful revision/clarification of the SPC Bylaws. See the Bylaws here.
THE SACRAMENTO POETRY CENTER
Since its founding in 1979, the Sacramento Poetry Center has been a major force and advocate for literary artists in Northern California, especially in the Sacramento area.
We offer readings, workshops, writers' conferences, publications, a lending library, and more to our local community.
Though primarily serving as the premier literary center for the greater Sacramento metropolitan area, SPC’s publications are recognized nationally, and its annual writers’ conference has featured some of the most important poets of our time, including Pulitzer Prize winners Gary Snyder and Philip Levine, former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Hass, and other luminaries such as Lucille Clifton, Galway Kinnell, Robert Bly, Diane DiPrima, Carolyn Forche, Anne Waldman, Maya Angelou, Jack Hirschman, Jimmy Santiago Baca, Dorianne Laux, Kim Addonizio, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Cole Swensen, Michael McClure, Jose Montoya, Robert Creeley, Robert Peters, and many others. As important are the scores of local and regional poets, established and emerging, who have participated in SPC readings and events over the decades. They are why we exist.
Unique among literary centers in that it is not affiliated with a university, The Sacramento Poetry Center, while maintaining close ties with the area’s universities and colleges, is a fully independent organization, affording it, and associated artists, the opportunity to explore the medium and opportunities unrestricted except by its own bylaws.
The Poet Tree Inc, dba The Sacramento Poetry Center is a small, regional 501(c)3 not for profit organization. SPC is supported in part by grants received from The Sacramento Office of Arts and Culture, The California Arts Commission, and other sources, as well as through the generosity of our membership.
The Poetry Center is located at 1719 25th Street, Sacramento, California, in the R25 theater complex.
SPC is grateful to our resident techie, Liz Ryder-Baxmeyer for her work in developing our new website. This is the ONLY website of The Sacramento Poetry Center. Other similar sites are either defunct or compromised.
OUR MISSION
The Sacramento Poetry Center’s mission is to promote and advance the practice and application of poetry and the literary arts in our community, to enliven and extend the cultural boundaries of Sacramento’s literary arena by creating and maintaining forums for local writers, to support and empower emerging and established poets, and to bring the best practitioners of the craft into the community.
SPC CODE OF CONDUCT
Note: Our Code of Conduct is currently being revised. The spirit of the core values shown here will be preserved in the revision.
SPC values poets and our audience.
Everyone is welcome and respected.
Everyone’s art and culture is celebrated.
We support and encourage the next generation of writers.
We acknowledge and address conflict promptly.
Power exploitation of any kind is not tolerated.
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That's it.