Watsonville woman chosen as Poet Laureate

Victoria Bañales was the first in her family to attend college, but like many young people she was unsure where her path would take her. 

She changed her major several times before settling on a path. That was after she made a discovery about her life’s passion.

“The only assignment that made me happy was when teachers said, ‘go off and read a novel,’ or ‘go off and read poetry,’” she said. “That was when I was most alive. So I went with that.”

Bañales went on to earn a bachelors degree at that college, and then a master’s degree at San Francisco State University, before earning her a joint master’s-PhD at UC Santa Cruz in Literature and Feminist Studies.

She now teaches Chicanx/Latinx literature, fiction writing, and English composition at Cabrillo College’s Watsonville campus, which she calls her “dream job.”

“You follow your dreams, you follow your passion and things work out in the long run, and I’m glad I did, because that’s what makes me happy.”

In January, Bañales was named Watsonville’s new Poet Laureate, a position she will hold for two years. She replaces Bob Gomez in the role.

In his outgoing speech at a ceremony at the Watsonville Pubic Library Saturday, Gomez praised Bañales’s work and the value of poetry.

“A poet is just a conduit for feelings, for ideas, concepts, for principals and values,” Gomez said. “Poetry and song is the way of uniting people.” 

He emphasized that poetry and song have been used throughout the ages to convey messages of power and urgency.

Also at the ceremony, two new Young Poet Laureates were introduced, Rachel Huerta and Eva Sophia Martinez-Rodriguez, whom Bañales will mentor.

Over the next two years, Bañales will participate in and host public poetry reading events to advance the literary arts in the City of Watsonville. 

Bañales said she did not plan on applying, but said that many people in the community encouraged her, and Cabrillo College President Matt Wetstein sent a nomination letter to the committee.

“I truly am honored that people have that faith in me,” she said. 

grew up in so cal and came here to go to graduate school UC 

She also coordinates Cabrillo’s Puente program, a statewide program that helps “educationally underrepresented” students obtain 4-year college educations. She also serves as the college’s faculty senate president.

“As Poet Laureate, my vision is to bring poetry to the people,” she said. “Although no one would deny that Santa Cruz County has a thriving poetry culture, the scene continues to be an insular ‘thing’ that ‘those people’ (in Santa Cruz) do.”

Bañales says that there has been significant progress in bringing poetry to the community through programs such as Journal X, Writers of Color-Santa Cruz County, Barrio Poetry and Somos Watsonville.

But she says those efforts should be expanded to include the broader community—students, seniors, inmates, immigrants, Spanish-speaking populations, BIPOC people, LGBTQ+ members and veterans, among others.

“My greatest desire is to have more diverse people engaging in, finding their voice, and seeing themselves in the art form,” she said. 

Bañales is a member of the Writers of Color-Santa Cruz County, Círculo de Poetas & Writers and founder and editor of Journal X, a social justice literary arts magazine based at Cabrillo’s Watsonville center.

That magazine recently earned second highest ranking against 422 colleges in 46 states.

Her poems, stories, and essays have been published in various journals and anthologies. The recipient of two poetry awards and a teaching excellence award, she holds a Ph.D. in Literature and Feminist Studies from the UC Santa Cruz. 

She has a book of poetry waiting in the wings and is working on a novel called Candelaria, which is a blend of memoir, magic realism, and speculative fiction. 

She loves nature, especially oceans and mountains, and recently hiked Angel’s Landing in Zion National Park and Half Dome in Yosemite National Park. The proud daughter of Mexican immigrants, she lives in Watsonville.