Last night, at the El Cerrito, California City Council, Danielle “Dani” Gabriel was welcomed as the City’s 2nd Poet Laureate and Maw Shein Win was thanked for serving as Poet Laureate for the last two years. Dani Gabriel’s term will run from November 2018 to October 2020 and she will be presenting workshops, community events, and readings thorough the City. Her next event is October 4th from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and will feature arts activities for kids and poetry by Dani at the Off the Grid Food Truck Event at 6159 Fairmount Ave.
In October 2015, the El Cerrito, California City’s Arts and Culture Commission (ACC) established the Poet Laureate Program with funding from the City’s Art in Public Places Program. The purpose of the poet laureate program is to encourage the poetic energy of the El Cerrito community and further the ACC’s goal of supporting arts, music, and culture in the city.
Dani Gabriel is a poet and writer, the author of “The Woman You Write Poems About” (Civil Defense Press) and coauthor of “Molotov Mouths” (Manic D Press), as well as a manuscript in progress called “Low Rent Prophet.” Her work centers around an obsession with possibility: the possibility that we can heal the world, the possibility that we can heal ourselves. She looks at themes of queerness, faith, trauma, justice, and family with curiosity and depth. She is a postulant for the Diaconate in the Episcopal Diocese of California, aspiring to ordination and service in the church and community. She works as a grant writer and writing teacher throughout the Bay Area. She is the parent of two amazing pre-teens and the partner of a fantastic cook, electrician, and human being. She is currently writing and organizing for radical change large and small.
Please visit Dani’s website to learn more about her work: www.allthepossible.com
And visit the El Cerrito city’s website to learn more about the Poet Laureate Program: www.el-cerrito.org/poets