Genea Brice

Genea Sheles Brice is an American poet. She was the first Poet Laureate of Vallejo, California.

Biography

She was born in Oakland, California She currently resides in Vacaville, California

Poetry A poetry aficionado since her youth, Brice advocated for the founding of the poet laureate program in Vallejo. She served as poet laureate of Vallejo, California from August 2015 to September 2017. Visions of the Wild, Juneteenth, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and a vigil after the Charlottesville car attack. She taught students about Martin Luther King Jr., gave presentations on Maya Angelou and Sonia Sanchez for Voices of Change and spoke about Ernest J. Gaines at the Solano County Library. Brice lead a monthly poetry circle, Poetry in Notion, and hosted annual shows for National Poetry Month. She also spoke at events for numerous organizations including Alpha Kappa Alpha, NAACP, Community Democratic Club, Delta Sigma Theta, The Links, Rotary Club, Harvest House, United States Forest Service, Soroptimist International, and Vallejo Sister Cities. She was succeeded as poet laureate by D.L. Lang in 2017. In 2021 she performed at a virtual benefit for the Solano County Library Foundation. She also read at the Juneteenth flag raising at Martin Luther King, Jr. park in Vallejo, and at another commemoration of Juneteenth in Suisun City. She also performed with her successors at Alibi Bookshop. In 2022 she read in Fairfield at a Juneteenth event for the Solano County Library. In 2023 she helped high school seniors with a Black History Month poetry project, and performed at the Cordelia Library for National Poetry Month, and at Alibi Bookshop for the Vallejo Poetry Festival. In 2024 she performed at a Black History Month event in Vallejo, an event promoting literacy in Fairfield, and at the Fairfield Library with fellow poets laureate. Brice performed at a Juneteenth flag raising ceremony at the Vallejo Museum in 2025.

In 2025 the poets laureate of Vallejo celebrated the 10th anniversary of the poet laureate program. All five Vallejo poets laureate received recognition from the California State Legislature, Solano County Supervisors, Vallejo Mayor and City Council for their service upon the program's anniversary. A sampling of their work was also included in the anthology A Decade of Poetic Unity edited by D. L. Lang.

Works

Poetry collections A Way with Words: Poems, Prose, and other Masterpieces 2017.

Anthologies A Word for All Seasons Benicia Literary Arts, 2014. Poeming Pigeons: Poems about Birds The Poetry Box. 2015. Yearning to Breathe Free: A Community Journal of 2020 Benicia Literary Arts. 2022. Peacocks & Poems 2024. A Decade of Poetic Unity: Celebrating Vallejo's Poets Laureate 2025.

Publications Brice, Genea, “A Tuesday Text,” Benicia Herald, October 7, 2020. Brice, Genea, “Galveston,” Benicia Herald, June 18, 2021. Brice, Genea, “Vacaville,” The Diablo Gazette, April 2022.

Memoir Weaned in the Desert: Souvenirs from Sacred Seasons with my Savior Xulon Press. 2010.

Spoken word album A Way with Words: The Poet Speaks (2024)