Luis Rodriguez was the Justice Party’s vice presidential candidate in 2012 and in the 2014 primary ran for governor of California as a Green. From Jennifer Swann at LA Weekly:
Ex-gang member, author, publisher, organizer, activist, lifelong Angeleno and Green Party California gubernatorial candidate Luis J. Rodriguez can officially add yet another hefty title to his resume: Poet Laureate of Los Angeles, as appointed by Mayor Eric Garcetti today at a ceremony at the Central Public Library. Rodriguez is only the second poet to earn the title, following Eloise Klein Healy, who resigned from the inaugural role last year to recover from an illness.
As L.A.’s poet laureate, Rodriguez will serve a two-year term in which he’ll act as “the official ambassador of L.A.’s vibrant creative scene,” a sort of spokesman for the written word, according to a statement issued by the mayor’s office. It’s a natural fit for Rodriguez, who’s already been filling that role on his own, as the founder of Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural, a nonprofit bookstore and cultural center that fosters art, literary and music workshops in the largely Latino community of Sylmar.
In his new position, the best-selling author of the memoirs Always Running, La Vida Loca: Gang Days in L.A. and It Calls You Back is expected to host a series of readings, workshops and classes at the L.A. Public Library, which sponsors the poet laureate program, along with the Department of Cultural Affairs. The program is aimed at educating inner-city kids with limited access to poetry.