Former SB Poet Laureate Sojourner Kincaid Rolle receives national recognition for children’s book “Free at Last: A Juneteenth Poem”

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif.– Former Santa Barbara Poet Laureate Emerita Sojourner Kincaid Rolle receives national recognition for her illustrated children's book "Free at Last: A Juneteenth Poem".

Rolle's book was selected for the Black History Month Reading List in the School Library Journal alongside Pulitzer Prize winner Nikole Hannah-Jones, Newbury Award winner Renée Watson and Grammy Award winner Rhiannon Giddens.

SLJ praised "Free at Last: A Juneteenth Poem" for its “lyrical feel that evokes a range of emotions, from sadness for the realities of the many hardships still faced right after emancipation, to the hope and resilience of newfound freedom," captured in the book that spans generations of struggle for Black liberation.

Sojourner Kincaid Rolle served as Santa Barbara Poet Laureate from 2015-17.