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 and a 2022 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow. He is a TEDx speaker and a PBS columnist for The Great Joy Hunt, a series exploring the neuroscience and cultural architecture of joy. In 2023, he received the Key to the City for his contributions to civic culture, including the creation of citywide arts activations, youth education initiatives, and a locally sourced poetry curriculum reaching over 250,000 students across the Sacramento region.
He is the founder of Zero Forbidden Goals and the creator of Sacramento Poetry Week, a multilingual civic arts initiative integrating education, public infrastructure, and intergenerational recognition. From 2009 to 2020, he served as Communications Director for Sol Collective, shaping community rooted arts programming regionally and nationally. His 2025 collection, UNLOCKED: The Laureate Years, documents five years of artistic and civic work during a period of social, cultural, and personal transformation. He has been named one of Sacramento Magazine’s Top 100 business leaders. He is devoted to the space where cultural ritual, neuroscience, and communication meet, helping people feel more deeply and connect more honestly.
“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