Photo by Katy Karns // @Katy_kaptures
Andru Defeye
guerrilla poet laureate turned actual poet laureate of sacramento.
Andru Defeye is the Sacramento Poet Laureate Emeritus, a 2022 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow, TEDx speaker, and PBS columnist behind The Great Joy Hunt, a series exploring the neuroscience, storytelling, and cultural architecture of joy.
In 2023, he received the Key to the City for his contributions to Sacramento's civic culture, including citywide arts activations, youth education initiatives, and a locally developed poetry curriculum that has reached more than 250,000 students throughout the region.
He is the founder of Zero Forbidden Goals and the founder and Creative Director of Sacramento Poetry Week, an annual citywide celebration that transforms poetry into public infrastructure through schools, libraries, transit, businesses, museums, and community spaces. The initiative reflects his belief that art should be as accessible as parks, sidewalks, and public libraries: woven into everyday life rather than reserved for a select few.
From 2009 to 2020, Defeye served as Communications Director for Sol Collective, helping shape nationally recognized arts, social justice, and community engagement campaigns. His work has earned recognition as one of Sacramento Magazine's Top 100 business leaders and has been featured by organizations ranging from PBS to the Library of Congress.
Whether speaking to Fortune 500 executives, students, artists, or neighborhood organizations, Defeye explores the intersection of belonging, neuroscience, communication, and civic imagination. Through stories, research, and public art, he helps people and communities notice more deeply, connect more honestly, and imagine what becomes possible when we speak ourselves into existence.
“You Are the Wailers of your generation.”
—Devon I. Evans, founding member of The Wailers
“You are carrying on the outlaw tradition.”
—Alan Kaufman, The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry
“as the month winds down @zfgpromotions reminds us why poetry matters.”
— The U.S. Embassy in Ghana
“Brava! Guerrilla poets are the new bastions of truth and light.”
-William Devault, Creator, AOL Poetry Place
“A masterful storyteller”
— Submerge Magazine
“He took his open mic to the streets and started a movement.”
-Sacramento News and Review
“ZFG looks exactly how the Hip Hop community was intended by its founders to look.”
-Domeland
“There is no denying that Andru defeye spills nothing but 100% facts.”
— UndergroundHipHop.com
Awards
2023 Key to the City - Sacramento, CA
2022 American Academy of Poets Fellowship
2021 Sacramento Magazine’s “Sacramento 100” Business Leaders
2021 Nominated for Honorary Doctorate from CSUS
2020-2025 Sacramento Poet Laureate
2020 Best Hip Hop Nominee - Sacramento News and Review
2020 Best Emcee Nominee - Sacramento News and Review
2018 Emerging Arts Leader - Sacramento Arts and Business Council
2016 Block by Block Grant Recipient - James Irvine Foundation and the Crocker Art Museum