The City of Malibu announced the installation of a poetry stone at Legacy Park to honor the city’s second poet laureate, Ellen Reich. The installation was approved by both the cultural arts commission and the parks and recreation commission and scheduled for Oct. 8. A virtual recognition event was scheduled to take place later in the fall.
Reich held the poet laureate position for just over a year, before her death in May 2020. She earned a teaching credential earlier in life and wrote poetry for many decades, including hundreds of published works and several books. In more recent years, she taught creative writing and poetry at the Malibu Senior Center, as well as creative writing classes for the Emeritus College at Santa Monica College.
Reich had selected the stone for the project earlier this year, which will be inscribed with her poem, “Interruption of Bird.” Details about the event and the poet laureate program are available on the city’s website.
Reich was appointed as the Malibu Poet Laureate by the Malibu City Council on March 11, 2019. Her term as the Malibu Poet Laureate began on March 28, 2019 and would have concluded March 27, 2021.