Lynne Thompson

Lynne Thompson is a Los Angeles-based poet, daughter of Caribbean immigrants from St. Vincent & the Grenadines, and served as the 4th Poet Laureate for the City of Los Angeles from 2021-2022. A lawyer by training with a BA from Scripps College and JD from Southwestern Law School, she has authored four poetry collections: Beg No Pardon (2007), Start With A Small Guitar (2013), Fretwork (2019), and Blue On A Blue Palette (2024), exploring themes of race, culture, family, immigration, and women's experiences. She has received numerous awards including the Perugia Press Prize, Marsh Hawk Press Poetry Prize, and fellowships, and serves on boards for organizations like Cave Canem, the Poetry Foundation, and the Los Angeles Review of Books.[1][2][3][4][6]