Letters to My City

Mike Sonksen aka Mike the PoeT is a 3rd-generation Los Angeles native. He is a poet, professor, journalist, historian and also teaches at Woodbury University. Previously he taught at Cal State LA and Southwest College and before that he taught high school for six years. Dating back to 2008, he has published over 300 students in various publications he has edited on both the high school and collegiate level. Sonksen has published over 500 essays and poems with publications like Academy of American Poets, Alta, KCET, Poets & Writers Magazine, PBS, BOOM, Wax Poetics, Southern California Quarterly, LA Weekly, OC Weekly, Lana Turner, Metropolis, The Architect's Newspaper, LA Alternative Press, Los Angeles Review of Books, LA Taco, LAist, LA Parent and more. Sonksen has also been awarded on three separate occasions by the City of Los Angeles, including the Mayors' Office in 2008. Sonksen has been a guest speaker at over 100 universities and high schools. He has also presented his poetry on public radio stations KCRW, KPFK and KPCC and TV stations like Spectrum News. In 2013, the Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center honored Sonksen for "Distinguished Service to the Los Angeles Poetry Community.