A son of migrant farmworkers in California and UCLA graduate, author Juan Felipe Herrera, was appointed U.S. poet in chief Wednesday.
The Library of Congress appointed Herrera the nation's 21st poet laureate for 2015 through 2016. He will be the nation's first Latino poet laureate since the position was created in 1936 when he begins his duties in September.
Librarian of Congress James Billington said Herrera's poems champion voices, traditions and histories that are a part of the American identity. As poet laureate, he will focus on projects that broaden the country's audience for poetry.
"My voice is made by everyone's voices," said Herrera, 66. "And I want our young Latinos and Latinas to write their hearts out and express their hearts out and let us all listen to each other."
Herrera has written 28 books of poetry, novels for young adults and books for children. Most recently he published the picture book "Portraits of Hispanic American Heroes." His most recent book of poems is "Senegal Taxi" from 2013.
Herrera was born in December 1948 in Fowler, California in the state's agrarian San Joaquin Valley after his parents moved from Mexico. He moved to several small towns near ranches and changed schools often before graduating from San Diego High School in 1967.
In a 2012 interview with NBC Latino, he described himself as a quiet child who found a voice through the arts in middle school.
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"I really didn't say much," he said. "I just listened. I was very quiet. By middle school, I said to myself that it’s time I begin to speak. I joined the choir, not because I wanted to. I forced myself."
Herrera graduated from UCLA and went on to earn graduate degrees at Stanford and the University of Iowa. He recently retired as a creative writing teacher at the University of California, Riverside.
He is currently a visiting professor at the University of Washington.
