Some of the works Herrera said he most enjoyed writing were captured in "Half the World in Light," a book of poems lauded for his experimentation and for documenting his Chicano experience in America.
Herrera was born in 1948 in Fowler, a farm town south of Fresno. His family of migrant workers moved often, at times living in tents and trailers along roads. His father learned English by paying fellow workers pennies to teach him each new word.
Herrera said he is humbled and overwhelmed to be named U.S. poet laureate and to be the first of Latino descent.
The laureate position involves crafting poetry projects and broadening the audience for poetry. The 2013-14 poet laureate, Natasha Trethewey, launched a series of reports from locations nationwide for a "PBS NewsHour" poetry series to explore societal issues.
For his term, Herrera is envisioning a program with the Library of Congress that he calls Casa de Colores — House of Colors — to include people of every color and cultural background. He may host voice ensembles with young people to engage with poetry, perhaps taking a poem by Walt Whitman and then having a group write a poem together to perform in spoken word or with music. Or perhaps the public could contribute to a national writing project by making submissions online.
"Yes, I am the first Latino poet laureate in the United States. But I'm also here for everyone and from everyone. My voice is made by everyone's voices," Herrera said.
At the same time, he said, he also wants to encourage more young Latino students to write and read and benefit from the Library of Congress' resources.
"You know, we speak about understanding each other, having those conversations nationwide — culturally, historically — and yet there's a lot of gaps," he said. "So I want to assist with closing the gap of knowing about and hearing about our Latino communities in terms of literature, in terms of writing.
"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 grew up speaking Spanish in his early years and became ashamed to speak at school, so he shut down, he said. But he eventually found his voice through joining choirs in middle school and high school.
Herrera eventually graduated from UCLA, earned graduate degrees at Stanford and the University of Iowa Writer's Workshop, and built a career in teaching at Fresno State and UC Riverside.
For the past three years, 2012 to 2015, Herrera served as poet laureate of California. In March, he retired from teaching creative writing at the University of California, Riverside and is now a visiting professor in ethnic studies at the University of Washington.
