Sojourner Kincaid Rolle

Poet Laureate of Santa Barbara
2015 – 2017

Reading Welcome to California

Sojourner Kincaid Rolle, poet, playwright and cultural artist, served a 2-year term as Santa Barbara Poet Laureate (2015-2017). She has also served on the statewide board of California Poets in the Schools and, for 10 years on the Santa Barbara County Arts Commission. She is a 2-time recipient of the CAC Artist-in-Residence grant. Her community work has received U.S. Congressional Recognition as well as awards at the state and county level.  From 1992-1997, she led workshops In the CA Arts-in-Corrections program and later at the California Youth Authority. Rolle’s published works include Black Street: Poems (Center For Black Studies Research (2009), Common Ancestry (Mille Grazie Press, 1999), the Mellow Yellow Global Umbrella (Lucky Penny Press 2016) and her forthcoming illustrated children’s book, FREE AT LAST: A Juneteenth Poem (Union Square & Co.  May 2022)