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New poet laureate for Pleasanton
Cynthia Bryant succeeds Deborah Grossman in prestigious position

by Jeb Bing

Cynthia L. Bryant, Pleasanton's poet laureate from 2005-07, was appointed Tuesday night to the prestigious position again, succeeding Deborah Grossman, whose two-year term has ended.

The two were praised by members of the City Council at their Tuesday night meeting, with Grossman receiving a plaque honoring her service.

Bryant, who was recommended for the post by the Civic Arts Commission, will be Pleasanton's seventh poet laureate. A Pleasanton resident, she has read her poetry throughout California in many diverse venues including coffee shops, fairs, art galleries, schools, women's shelters and even in a federal prison.

Her first works were published in 1997 after she won third place in a national poetry contest. She has since been published in more than 30 anthologies, numerous websites, an e-book, and has recorded her poems for e-radio as well as on community television.

Bryant also has self-published eight chapbooks of poetry which are available at the Pleasanton Public Library and local bookstores.

Bryant's poetry books, Sojourn, Pebbles in the Shoe, and No Time to Shoot the Poets were accepted in the new Ina Coolbrith Circle library section of the California State Library's Special Collections Reading Room in Sacramento.