WeHo Reads: Poets Laureate Lee Herrick & Jen Cheng

Poetry helps us explore who we are and how we connect to the world around us.

Poetry helps us explore who we are and how we connect to the world around us.  

Join us this National Poetry Month for a conversation between California Poet Laureate Lee Herrick & West Hollywood City Poet Laureate Jen Cheng as they reflect on how language shapes identity, sparks imagination, and can build bridges between cultures and communities. 

Featuring: 

Lee Herrick is the 10th California Poet Laureate and the first Asian American to serve in the role. He is the author of four poetry collections, including In Praise of Late Wonder: New and Selected Poems (2024), and his work appears widely in major literary publications and anthologies. A former Fresno Poet Laureate, co-founder of LitHop, and longtime educator, Herrick teaches at Fresno City College and has been reappointed to a second term as California Poet Laureate. 

Jen Cheng is the 5th West Hollywood City Poet Laureate and the author of Braided Spaces. A Poet Laureate Fellow with the Academy of American Poets and a California Arts Council Fellow, she merges multilingual and multicultural influences through her multidisciplinary practice known as Feng Shui Poetry. Cheng teaches with organizations including The Poetry Society of New York, The Loft Literary Center, and UCLA Extension. 

WeHo Reads is a literary series presented by the City of West Hollywood. For more information and events, visit www.weho.org/wehoreads. The 2026 season is produced by BookSwell, a literary media company amplifying historically excluded voices. Additional support is provided by media partnerships with Book Soup and Los Angeles Review of Books. Attendees are advised that the program may include mature language and themes.