Santa Barbara Poet Laureate Emma Trelles is one of 22 poets in the United States to be recognized by the Academy of American Poets with a prestigious Poet Laureate Fellowship, the Santa Barbara County Office of Arts and Culture has announced.

Trelles is the ninth poet laureate of Santa Barbara and the first Latina poet to be appointed to the post. Trelles is the author of “Tropicalia” (University of Notre Dame Press); winner of the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize; and a finalist for Foreword/Indies poetry book of the year.

She teaches creative writing at Santa Barbara City College, where she also coordinates the Writing Center.

“I’m so grateful and honored to receive a Poet Laureate Fellowship from the Academy of American Poets, an organization deeply committed to poetry-centric programs all over the country— and to the many poets who make them happen,” she said. “The fellowship is a real testimony to their faith in our creative and community work.”

As a Poet Laureate Fellow, Trelles will receive a $50,000 stipend to support her public work and craft. She noted the broad impact of the stipend:

“For Santa Barbara, this means that we’ll see more from the Mission Poetry Series, with continued biannual readings featuring diverse poets from near and far, and in addition to new classes and public Poetry Walks in partnership with the Santa Barbara Public Library.

“It also supports a second year of the Alta California Chapbook Prize from Gunpowder Press, open to all Latinx poets living in California and published in bilingual editions in the spring. For me personally, the fellowship also means support and belief in my own poems and writing practice. It’s incredibly validating,” she said.

Through its Poets Laureate Fellowship program, the Academy of American Poets has become the largest financial supporter of poets in the nation, awarding a total of $4.35 million in fellowships to 81 poets laureate since 2019.

For more about the Santa Barbara Poet Laureate Program, visit www.sbac.ca.gov.