In honor of Women’s History Month, the Benicia-Vallejo branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) will bring together three area poets laureate for “Voices of Change: American Women Poets Who Have Made a Difference.”

The evening will feature Johanna Ely, Benicia’s poet laureate; Diana Lang, Vallejo’s poet laureate; and Genea Brice, Lang’s predecessor who also had the distinction of being Vallejo’s first poet laureate. They will be reading poems by six pivotal female poets and talk about the impact they made.

Ely said she was approached by the AAUW last year about hosting an American female poetry event for Women’s History Month. She accepted and also invited Vallejo’s poets laureate to be a part of the event as well.

“It’s been in the works for about a year,” Ely said.

The three poets laureate will each highlight two poets, focusing on their biographies and influence while reading their poetry. Lang will be talking about two Jewish female poets, Alicia Ostriker and Emma Lazarus. Brice will discuss two African American poets, Maya Angelou and Sonia Sanchez. Ely will be presenting works by wordsmiths she views as feminist poets: Diane Di Prima and Marge Piercy.

Di Prima was born in Manhattan and became involved with the Beat poetry movement of the ‘50s and ‘60s, keeping company with the likes of Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. Afterward, she moved to San Francisco in the late ‘60s where she co-founded the Institute of Magical and Healing Arts, and was named as the city’s poet laureate in 2009, a position she held for two years. Di Prima also published 16 books and was one of several Beat poets to read at The Band’s famed “Last Waltz” concert at Winterland Ballroom in 1976.

Di Prima was one of the first female poets that Ely read when she was in high school. Ely admires the fact that Di Prima made it on her own in a movement as male-dominated as the Beats.

“She wasn’t a girlfriend,” Ely said. “She wasn’t a wife. She was a poet in her own right and made a choice very early on to be a poet as well as a single mother.”

Piercy is a Detroit-born poet and author whose works have depicted themes of feminism and social justice. She is best known for her 1976 speculative science fiction novel “Woman on the Edge of Time,” which tells the story of a Mexican-American woman imprisoned in a mental institution for a violent outburst and then time travels to the 22nd century where the goals of the ‘60s social movements have been achieved.

Ely discovered Piercy as a freshman at the University of California, Berkeley. She was most struck by the way Piercy viewed relationships, which changed the way she looked at relationships.

Ely will be reading three poems by Di Prima and four by Piercy. She will also be reading one of her own poems, but she has not decided which one yet.

“I didn’t necessarily choose these two people because I think their poetry is the best poetry I’ve ever read, but I really like their philosophy on life and how they express it through poetry,” she said.

Ely hopes the event will highlight the importance of women’s poetry as well as expose people to poets they may not be familiar with.

“I know most people know Maya Angelou, but some of the other poets we’re gonna be discussing may not be so well-known,” she said. “We’re hoping people will come away with a little more knowledge about those women and how they influenced poetry, women’s poetry and feminist poetry in the United States, probably the world.”

“Voices of Change” will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, March 24 at the Benicia Public Library, located at 150 East L St. The event is free, and light refreshments– as well as handouts of all of the poems– will be provided.

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