Poet. Writer. Editor.
About
Georgina Marie Guardado is the Poet Laureate Emerita of Lake County, CA for 2020-2024, and a Poets Laureate Fellow with The Academy of American Poets. She is the Literacy Program Coordinator for the Lake County Library and President of the Mendocino Coast Writers’ Conference. She has received support from the Mendocino Coast Writers’ Conference, Napa Valley Writers’ Conference, Hugo House, and SF Writing Salon. Her work has appeared in The Bloom, Noyo Review, Poets.org, Humble Pie Magazine, Gulf Coast Journal, Yellow Medicine Review, The Muleskinner Journal, Colossus: Freedom, and Two Hawks Quarterly. She is a graduate student and scholar of the Kwame Dawes Mapmakers and Master of Fine Arts Merit endowments at the Pacific University MFA in Writing program.
Pet Bios
It’s quite the sweet thing that the more well known I become, my animal companions also become more known and loved. So, I thought it was time to give them their own bios.
Kenya
Kenya is 11 years old and was originally rescued from Tijuana, Mexico. Heavily abused and neglected, her saviors were Mexican women who brought her across the border to Family Dog Rescue in 2015, where I adopted her. I knew she was my canine soulmate from the start. We’ve been inseparable ever since.
*Sweet Kenya passed on in August 2023. She was so loved by so many.
Micco
Micco is 6 years old and is the silliest, most lovable boy there ever was. He was my COVID kid adopted from Lake County Animal Care & Control, and is now attached to my hip. He represents all the best qualities of the pittie breed, aka velvet hippo aka land seal.
Sophie
Having fostered a number of dogs and cats over the years, 10-year old Sophie came into my life in late 2023 and I failed as foster mom and decided to keep her within the first week. I fell in love and she and Micco have become close friends. In true Cane Corso fashion, Sophie is on guard at all times serving as a good guard dog and emotional support, but she is one goofy, loving girl.
Visit my profile with the modern creative professional network, Shuffle Collective: shuffle.do/@georgina
If you’re interested in learning more about or joining the Shuffle Collective, get in touch with me.
Literary Portfolio
What People Are Saying…
“Georgina has provided me with inspiration and guidance as a writer. She has critiqued some of my work and given me feedback and encouragement. Her responses gave me confidence to submit pieces to the Kelseyville public display of poetry and share my writing with others. I have been fortunate to participate in her virtual Word Circle. The group is positive, influential, and productive due to Georgina's excellent facilitation skills. All members are given equal time and great respect. Participating feels like a warm sauna and massage of creativity and word wonder. As Georgina brings the art of words into our homes and hearts, she helps us to feel connected.” — Pamela B.
“The Word Circle under the balanced and experienced leadership of Georgina has been invaluable to me as a writer. I am able to bring work that would normally not be read by people outside of my own circle to a larger, more varied group of safe and supportive artists. My writing has become more structured, and I have been offered my first Chapbook deal.“ — Beulah V.
“What I can say is that Georgina is one of the most generous writers I have ever known. She constantly enriches our literary community here in Lake County and beyond with writing circles and workshops, public readings, podcasts, columns for submissions, contests and other opportunities for writers to get paid. It is remarkable to behold! And a true gift to receive as a member of that community. And to read and to hear her speak her own deeply evocative and vulnerable poetry is a sensory submersion in the tenderness and lament of the human heart. All rooted in the bodily communication of her impeccable sense of place: in the blooming/burning landscape of Northern California, at the stove, in the mud, under the covers, from beyond the grave.” — Brenda Y.
“I only realized my intense appreciation of honesty in poetry when I started reading my good friend Georgina’s poem, ‘Draft of a Social Media Post in Free Verse’. It caught my attention as I came across this poem in my newsfeed on Facebook and I began reading it while seated in a church. Yes, you read that correctly; I was in church when I read Georgina’s poem. I wasn’t my best self and was highly distracted due to the way I felt that day and could barely listen to Sunday’s sermon. Mentally, I felt weak and a sense of pressure from outside sources. While my pastor addressed the congregation, I was juggling applications on my cell phone scrolling through my newsfeed on Facebook. This is when I saw her poem. Immediately, after reading this poem I exhaled and felt the burden of a heavy weight lifted off my shoulders. Reading it had a profound influence on my feelings that day. It revealed to me that my thoughts, feelings, and experiences were not uncommon. Thank you, Georgina, for writing a poem so relatable. Thank you for making me feel like I was not alone in how I was feeling on this day. Thank you for sharing your feelings with us all even when it’s emotionally difficult for you to share.” — India M.
“Thanks to Georgina (and the MCWC, and the Word Circle), I have fallen back in love with California, where I grew up but haven't lived for 14 years. Georgina's generosity, compassion, and efforts to connect and support writers has shown me how many beautiful people and opportunities I missed when I lived out there. I am so grateful for this second chance to find incredible joy and community through her leadership of these writing spaces. Georgina's poems are powerful and I feel lucky to read them, know her, and learn from her!” — Lauren O.