City of El Segundo Names its First-Ever Poet Laureate

Hope Anita Smith begins her tenure this month.

The City of El Segundo recently selected its first-ever Poet Laureate, Hope Anita Smith. Hope is an experienced and award-winning poet, writer, collage artist, and educator, and she will bring her talents and enthusiasm to her role as Poet Laureate of El Segundo from January 2022 to December 2023. Hope’s published works include The Way A Door Closes, My Daddy Rules the World: Poems About Dads, and It Rained Warm Bread: A

Holocaust Survivor’s Story (co-authored with Gloria Moskowitz-Sweet). Hope looks forward to working with community members of all ages during her term. “My great joy,” she says, “is conducting writing workshops that are inventive and artistic, allowing students to discover the beauty and power in poetry.” Learn more about Hope in an upcoming issue of The El Segundo Scene.

Photo provided by Hope Anita Smith.