Hailed as “a poet of enormous heart and infinite invention,” U.S. Poet Laureate Emeritus Juan Felipe Herrera, a professor emeritus of Chicano and Latin American studies at Fresno State, won the 2023 Frost Medal for distinguished lifetime achievement in poetry. The prize, from the nonprofit Poetry Society of America, is one of the oldest and most prestigious awards in American poetry. Previous winners include Wallace Stevens, Gwendolyn Brooks, Allen Ginsberg, Lucille Clifton and Sharon Olds. Herrera is the author of more than 30 books, including the new and expanded edition of his groundbreaking 1989 bilingual book “Akrílica,” published in 2022 by Noemi Press. Herrera coordinates the Laureate Lab Visual Wordist Studio inside Fresno State’s library, and he recently won the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize from the Poetry Foundation.
