Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has named Carol Muske-Dukes as the state’s new poet laureate. L.A. Now shares some of her background:

Muske-Dukes has been a professor of English at the University of Southern California (USC) since 1993, where she founded the graduate program in literature and creative writing in 1999 and served as director of the program until 2002… She is a regular critic for the New York Times Book Review and the L.A. Times Book Review. Muske-Dukes previously served as a poetry columnist for the L.A. Times Book Review from 2001 to 2004. Muske-Dukes is the author of seven books of poetry, including her most recent work, “Sparrow,” which was a National Book Award finalist, and “An Octave Above Thunder,” which was nominated for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. She has also written four novels, including the Los Angeles Times best-seller “Channeling Mark Twain” and two collections of essays…

Read more: Sacramento Bee, California Arts Council.