Erik Manuel Soto named Vallejo’s next poet laureate

VALLEJO — Mexican-American writer Erik Manuel Soto has been named Vallejo’s next poet laureate, the Vallejo Center for the Arts announced last week. 

Soto’s poems have appeared in Volt, Huizache, Sonora Review, Antiphony, and other magazines and publications. His first poetry book, Inside the Umber Iris, which explores themes of subconscious realms, mythology, and generational trauma, won the inaugural Gronk Nicandro first book prize for poetry.

Soto’s two-year term begins immediately. He follows Jacalyn Eyvonne and Kathleen Herrmann, who served as co-poets laureate beginning in 2024.

Soto told the Sun that he is deeply honored to serve as Vallejo’s poet laureate. His goal will be to create spaces where poets, visual artists, and thinkers, both from Vallejo and beyond, can meet, exchange, and build together. 

Soto said he will make poetry accessible to all Vallejo residents through workshops at local libraries and community centers, establish partnerships with Vallejo schools to bring poetry into classrooms, and create opportunities for emerging voices through open mic events and collaborative projects that celebrate the city's diverse cultural heritage. 

“Vallejo has always been a city of layered histories and resistance,” he said. “The guiding ethos for my time as laureate will be Federico García Lorca’s version of duende: an art born from struggle, presence, and lived intensity, a concept that I believe Vallejo deeply reflects.” 

A dedicated educator with experience spanning elementary through university levels, Soto holds a master’s degree in poetry from the University of Nevada, Reno, and an MA in English from Sonoma State University. Most recently, he served as a teacher and mentor with Elevate Oregon in Portland, and prior to that taught undergraduate humanities courses at the University of Nevada, Reno. His pedagogical approach emphasizes student-centered learning and critical thinking.

Soto has been an active presence on the literary reading circuit, with recent appearances at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center in Los Angeles, Medicine for Nightmares Bookstore in San Francisco, the North Bay Letterpress Arts Print & Poetry Festival, and an Association of Writers & Writing Programs offsite reading at the Edendale Branch of the Los Angeles Public Library. He has also contributed to the literary community as a member of poetry committees for the Desert Pavilion Chapbook Contest and Volt Magazine and served as art editor for Zaum Magazine.

The poet laureate is chosen by a selection committee of writers, nonprofit leaders and local business owners. This year's committee was chaired by Renay Conlin, executive director of the Vallejo Center for the Arts, and included members Karen Finlay from Alibi Bookshop, preceding Co-Poets Laureate Kathleen Herrmann and Jacalyn Eyvonne, and Vallejo artist Jean Cherie.

“My hope is to reignite Surrealism not as an aesthetic alone, but as a method of revolt, one that challenges complacency, disrupts oppressive narratives, and allows the city’s subconscious to speak,” Soto said. “Poetry, for me, is not decoration; it is a communal force, and I look forward to showcasing Vallejoans’ complexity, generosity, and defiant spirit.”