Bob Stanley has written poetry and volunteered in poetry organizations for over three decades. President of the Sacramento Poetry Center since 2006, Mr. Stanley also served on the board of Alameda Poets, and he has led workshops and readings all over Northern California. In 2008, Bob organized a gathering of poets laureate for the California Arts Council, and in 2009 he edited Sometimes in the Open, an anthology of poems by sixty-five laureates. His poems have won a number of awards, including the California Focus on Writers prize in 2006, and have been published in numerous journals and anthologies.

Bob got his BA in English at UCLA (1974) and an MA in Creative Writing from Sacramento State (2005). A fourth generation Californian, Bob and his wife Joyce have raised their four children in Sacramento. After 28 years working in the automotive parts business, Bob now teaches Creative Writing and English at Sacramento State University, Sacramento City College, and UC Davis Extension. His first chapbook, Walt Whitman Orders a Cheeseburger, was released by Rattlesnake Press in 2009. Bob has been selected to be the poet laureate of Sacramento for a two-year term, beginning in July 2009.

AFTERNOON LECTURE DESCRIPTION