News Brief: Herrera First Latino Poet to Capture Frost Medal

Former U.S. poet laureate Juan Felipe Herrera, who also was a long-standing Mission poet, is this year’s winner of the Frost Medal for lifetime achievement. The 74-year-old Herrera was U.S. poet laureate from 2015-2017. He also served as California poet laureate from 2012-2014. He is best known for such collections as “Half the World in Light” and “187 Reasons Mexicanos Can’t Cross the Border.” Herrera often contributed poems to El Tecolote’s literary supplement titled “Revista Literaria”. Herrera is the first Latino to receive this prestigious award that is named after the famed U.S. poet Robert Frost. “His poems are acts of solidarity, a kind of extended family gathering, especially for Latinx, Indigenous, and other communities of color,” the citation rea