When Mayor Ed Lee asked Alejandro Murguía if he would accept being named the city’s 6th poet laureate, Murguía said: "Only if it's in the name of my community."
And that’s the approach Murguía has always taken with his literary voice. He’s an activist and an organizer, who writes in both Spanish and English about love, family, politics, and his beloved city, San Francisco. The two-time American Book Award winner was born in the U.S., but grew up in Mexico. He arrived in San Francisco in the 70s, quickly becoming part of the city’s literary scene by starting the Third World Communications writers collective on Valencia Street. He was also the first director of the Mission Cultural Center. Now in his second year as poet laureate, he spoke with KALW’s Martina Castro about his dream of putting San Francisco on the map as a city filled with poetry.