Sunday, February 2, 2025 3:00pm – 5:00pm Koret Auditorium
San Francisco Main Library 100 Larkin Street San Francisco, CA 94102
An afternoon of poetry, youth performances and music to mark the inauguration of San Francisco’s 9th Poet Laureate, Genny Lim, at the San Francisco Main Library.
Hosted by City Librarian Michael Lambert, the event featured performances by youth poets from Youth Speaks, a youth chorus from Clarion Children’s Theater, past San Francisco poets laureates Kim Shuck, devorah major and Alejandro Murguía with live art by Adrian Arias, and a reading by writer Kevin Simmonds.
Genny Lim, Poet Laureate of San Francisco. Photo: Kit Castagne
Lim was appointed as the city’s poet laureate in September 2024 by then Mayor London Breed. As part of her required duties as laureate, she will host an inaugural event to celebrate her poetic vision for San Francisco.
Lim is the first Chinese American appointed to the city’s three-year poet laureate position. She was born and raised in San Francisco’s Chinatown and North Beach neighborhoods and is a graduate of San Francisco State University and Columbia University. Her writing has been widely awarded and published.
Mayor London Breed invites you to the announcement and celebration of San Francisco’s Ninth Poet Laureate GENNY LIM
Friday, September 6, 4PM; Asian Art Museum, Samsung Hall, San Francisco, CA
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Mayor London Breed and Genny Lim, 9th Poet Laureate of San Francisco
We celebrate a new chapter in our city’s literary legacy by appointing native San Franciscan Genny Lim as our 9th Poet Laureate. Genny is an extraordinary writer, performer, and cultural advocate, and she will be the first Chinese American to hold this esteemed role.
S.F.’s first Chinese American poet laureate is ‘positive’ she won’t be the last – Genny Lim, the daughter of Chinese immigrants, said she wants to make San Francisco the “mecca” of world poetry.
San Francisco Chronicle, August 31, 2024
Jessica Christian/The Chronicle
Following an acclaimed career, Genny Lim, 77, will become San Francisco’s first Chinese American poet laureate during a Sept. 6 ceremony at the Asian Art Museum.
Festeggiamo con gioia l’imminente conferimento del titolo di “poeta laureato” della città di San Francisco alla nostra straordinaria amica Genny Lim. Poetessa cino-inuit-statunitense, figlia di immigrati cinesi che hanno vissuto esclusioni, razzismo e deportazioni, è una delle più belle voci della poesia statunitense e della jazz-poetry. Buddista e profondamente impegnata per i diritti delle donne e delle minoranze, studiosa di tradizioni e mistica orientale, rappresenta un’avvincente incrocio tra culture orientali ed occidentali fuse nella sua storia personale e nella sua poesia…
We celebrate with joy the imminent award of the title of “poeta laureate” of the city of San Francisco to our extraordinary friend Genny Lim. Chinese-Inuit-US poet, the daughter of Chinese immigrants who have experienced exclusions, racism and deportations, is one of the most beautiful voices of American poetry and jazz-poetry. Buddhist and deeply committed to the rights of women and minorities, a scholar of Eastern traditions and mysticism, it represents a compelling cross between Eastern and Western cultures merged in its personal history and poetry…
San Francisco’s newest Poet Laureate Genny Lim stands for a portrait at her daughter’s home in Orinda, California Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. Lim is the first Chinese American to hold the position. Photo by Jessica Christian.
Following an acclaimed career, Genny Lim, 77, will become San Francisco’s first Chinese American poet laureate during a ceremony Friday at the Asian Art Museum.
Thursday, April 5th – Sunday, April 8, 2018, Joe Henderson Lab
Curated by SFJAZZ Poet Laureate Genny Lim, the 2018 Wordology Festival featured “the greatest poets of the Bay Area and beyond, centered on the concept of ‘wordology.’”
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Genny Lim and Francis Wong at SFJazz Poetry Festival 2018
“I want poets to… let go of their concept of how the poem is supposed to be, to surrender to the spirit of improvisation, so the poem can breathe and become a whole new poem.”
GENNY LIM
This year’s festival is bookended by two illustrious poets: on opening night, former California poet laureate Al Young, whom Lim calls “the Duke Ellington of letters,” and who is the much-honored author of 22 books of various genres; and, playing piano at the closing matinee, Ishmael Reed (“just a lion—a political satirist, a playwright, an essayist,” says Lim).
In between is a multicultural and multigenerational lineup of poets, rappers, spoken-word artists and jazz musicians, many among them part of San Francisco’s underground arts scene, many of them social activists as well: Arlene Biala with musician Brittany Biala; Royal Kent with Copus Multimedia (his duo with composer/pianist Wendy Loomis); also Paul Flores, Tongo Eisen-Martin, QR Hand, novelist and hip-hop artist Aya De Leon, Tony Robles, rapper Equipto, the musical ensemble the Broun Fellinis, “drum strategist” Marshall Trammel and saxophonist Francis Wong. The festival includes a tribute to Charles Mingus and Native American sax player Jim Pepper.
Genny Lim with Anthony Brown & the Asian American Orchestra: “We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite”
Sunday, April 9, 8:00pm, Joe Henderson Lab
The SFJAZZ Poetry Festival 2017 was curated and hosted by Genny Lim, SFJAZZ Poet Laureate. The program on Sunday, April 9 featured poetry and music by poet devorah major, and then we became, with recording artist Destiny Muhammad, and “We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite,” with Genny Lim, composer and percussionist Anthony Brown and the Asian American Orchestra. The evening was co-presented by Litquake in the Joe Henderson Lab at SFJAZZ Center, 201 Franklin Street, San Francisco.
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Genny Lim, SF Jazz Poet Laureate, performs Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite at SF Jazz (2017)
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Genny Lim with Anthony Brown and The Asian American Orchestra – Freedom Now Suite
