Festival News

A bench honoring Ada Limón was inaugurated on Friday, August 18, 2023. It is located outside of Readers’ Books, a beloved bookstore in Sonoma where Ada was their first employee when it opened its doors in 1991. Ada was attending Sonoma Valley High School at the time. The bench, inscribed with a quote from her extended body of work, will serve as a permanent reminder of Ada’s poetic message to her family, friends and visitors to Sonoma. 

The Sonoma Valley Authors Festival (SVAF) was proud to have had Ada speak three times this spring. She read from her current book, The Hurting Kind, as part of Students Day at Sonoma Valley High School on April 28, as part of the One Book, One School initiative. Five hundred copies of her book were given free to the students; the cost was graciously underwritten by SVAF donors.  

In addition, Ada participated, along with Abraham Verghese and Dave Barry, in Authors on the Sonoma Plaza on April 29, a free event for the Sonoma Community that 1,000 people attended. It was graciously underwritten by a Sonoma Family.

Finally, she spoke to an audience of 400 at the Sixth Annual Sonoma Valley Authors Festival, on April 29, at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission. 

The Sonoma Valley Authors Festival is a 501(c)(3) non-profit public charity. 

Read the article at The Sonoma Index Tribune

SVHS was the home of the Sonoma Valley Authors Festival Student Day for the second time this school year on Friday April 28.  This time hosting Danielle Feinberg, Stacey Schiff, Ada Limón and Silvia Vasquez-Lavado. Ada Limón was named the 24th Poet Laureate of the United States by the Librarian of Congress. This made her the first Latina to be Poet Laureate of the United States.

Limón is a former SVHS graduate of the class of 1993. Students were not only in awe of having the United States poet laureate speak to them but were equally impressed that she is a former Dragon.

When asked about how she can continue to come up with such creative and thoughtful ideas for her poems, Limón stated” being interested in life and what it means to be a human being in this time period” Many of her poems draw inspiration from everyday experiences and observations.

After listening to Ada Limón’s presentation, you could really tell how passionate she is about her work and art style. The country has recognized the Poet Laureate not just once but for the first time ever, for three terms. When asked who inspires her the most in her writing, she respond with,” My Dad is my biggest inspiration, but growing up in a household full of different kinds of artists, I was encouraged and supported in my field of work.”

Limón revealed to the school that she is not only breaking records as the Poet Laureate but also is being honored by NASA. She has not revealed what the poem will be, but NASA requested she write a poem to be engraved onto the side of a satellite(in gold) that will be going to the second moon of Jupiter.

Read full article at The Dragon's Tale