UNI’s Vince Gotera named Iowa Poet Laureate

Exemplifying the position’s charge to represent the “diversity of the people and poetry of Iowa,” University of Northern Iowa English Professor Vince Gotera has been named the state’s fifth poet laureate.

Gotera — who was born and raised in San Francisco, lived for a stint in the Philippines, and earned his bachelor’s degree at Stanford University, a master’s at San Francisco State University, and then a master’s in fine arts and a doctorate from Indiana University — will serve as Iowa Poet Laureate through 2026.

“The Iowa Poet Laureate is an honorary position considered to be a partnership between the State of Iowa and the selected poet, along with Humanities Iowa and the Iowa Arts Council,” according to the governor’s office, which unveiled Gotera’s appointment Wednesday. “The Iowa Poet Laureate is expected to engage in public speaking and programmatic opportunities as they arise over the course of the appointment period.”

According to Iowa Code, the governor chooses a poet laureate from a list of three nominees put forth by a volunteer citizen committee — in hopes of recognizing the import of poetry in Iowans’ everyday lives.

UNI languages and literatures professor and department head Jim O’Loughlin nominated Gotera for the position.

“As a writer, editor, and educator, Vince Gotera represents the best of Iowa’s fertile poetic tradition,” O’Loughlin said. “Iowa has not only been where he has lived and worked for the last three decades, but he has also exemplified the work ethic and openness to influences that I have come to associate with our state. As poet laureate, he would be an inspiration to younger writers and a proud proponent of poetry in Iowa.”

The poet program is managed by the Iowa Arts Council, with help from Humanities Iowa and the Iowa Economic Development Authority. The appointed poet laureate doesn’t receive any compensation, aside from the recognition and honor of the post.

“I’m excited to represent poetry across the state of Iowa,” Gotera said in a statement. “Born and raised in San Francisco and having lived a few years as a child in the Philippines, I’ve been very glad to be so welcomed in Iowa, where I have lived for almost 30 years.”

Before Gotera came to UNI as a professor of creative writing and poetics in 1995, he taught creative writing and ethnic American literature at Humboldt State University, where he also directed the creative writing program.

After arriving at UNI, Gotera served as editor at the North American Review from 2000 through 2016 and from 2017 to 2020 as editor of Star*Line — a print journal of the International Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association.

His publications and poetry collections include Dragonfly and Radical Visions: Poetry by Vietnam Veterans, both published in 1994; Ghost Wars, published in 2003; Fighting Kite, published in 2007; and The Coolest Month, published in 2019.

His poetry, short stories, and essays have appeared in literary magazines like Ploughshares, The Kenyon Review, and The Asian Pacific American Journal.

He’s won numerous awards, including the Faculty Excellence Award from UNI’s College of Humanities and Fine Arts in 2006 and the Regents Award for Faculty Excellence in 2012. He received a creative writing fellowship in poetry from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1993 and won the Global Filipino Literary Award in Poetry, along with the Academy of American Poets Prize.

Rounding out his artistic talents, Gotera plays electric bass, guitar, and drums and is the bassist of the blues and rock band Deja Blue in Waterloo. He also plays for his church and is the guitarist in a music duo with one of his daughters.

According to his UNI bio, Gotera’s favorite color is any shade of blue — and he runs the blog, “The Man with the Blue Guitar,” where Gotera shares his art and words in the form of poem, fiction and essays from both himself and others.

“I'm not exactly sure what's going to transpire in this blog, but I do know it will focus on poetry, among many other themes,” Gotera wrote in a 2008 welcome post to the blog, promising to post pieces from his out-of-print Dragonfly collection — along with some background about the piece and “the slice of life it shadows and illuminates.”

“It will be fabulous to have you with me in these travels,” he wrote.

About his appointment Wednesday, Gotera said he’s “elated to promote poetry in the state and inspire Iowans to read and write poetry, to bring beauty and art to our everyday lives.”

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

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