The sixth and newest Sonoma County Poet Laureate is Gwynn O’Gara of Sebastopol, known in Northern California both as a writer and as a writing teacher.

She has been active in the California Poets in the Schools program for the past 20 years, and recently taught classes in the popular “Writer’s Sampler” series at Sebastopol Community Center for the Arts.

And she is the author of three poetry collections : “Winter at Green Haven,” 2008; “Fixer-Upper,” 2007; “Snake Woman Poems,” 1983. She is the co-author of “Fruit of Life: Poems of Passion and Politics,” 2006.

For a quick sample of her work,  here’s the last stanza of the title poem from  “Fixer-Upper”:

Pour your savings into me.
Give me all you’ve got.
You could use a fresh start.
Renew, renew.
Not just me, but you.

O’Gara was chosen by a committee including representatives from the Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Sonoma State University, Santa Rosa Junior College, the Sonoma County Library and each of the county’s five supervisor districts, as well as the previous poet laureates. Her term will run through 2011.

The selection committee will host a public reception honoring Gwynn at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 29 at the main branch of the Sonoma County Library, Third and E Streets, Santa Rosa.

For information, call the Sebastopol Center for the Arts at (707) 829-4797.

Tired of the same old  holiday fare year after year? Maybe you’re ready something a little bit … twisted.

North Bay writer and actor David Templeton (above) hosts his seventh annual staged reading and variety show, “Twisted Christmas,” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 5,  at Glaser Center in  Santa Rosa.

A few samples of what you’ll see:

* Satirist Will Durst reads “Crumbs at Midnight.”

* Actor Tim Kniffin performs “Mr. Spock’s First Christmas.”

* KRSO Radio’s Steve Jaxon reads Ken Kesey’s “Skid Row Santa.”

* Renee De La Prade, accordionist for Culann’s Hounds, plays the Christmas hits of Weird Al Yankovic.

* Food writer Michele Anna Jordan reads Garrison Keillor’s “7 Principles of a Successful Christmas.”

And there’s more.

The details: $20 in advance; $25 at the door. 547 Mendocino Ave. 568-5381, glasercenter.com.

For a beleaguered high school literature student, there are few reading assignments quite as welcome as John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men.”

It’s easy to read, tells a powerful story and (compared to many of the great novels) it’s blessedly short.

But even for those motivated partly by short attention span, this tale of two men on the road in search of work makes a lasting impression.

And if you’re not in a reading mood at the moment, you still can experience the story.

Barter Theatre of Virginia, a professional drama company founded in 1946,  brings its traveling stage production of Steinbeck’s story to Wells Fargo Center at 8 p.m. Oct. 29.

It’s easier than ever now to relate to the story of George and his hulking, childlike friend, Lennie,  as they wander Depression era America looking for work and hoping to save enough to buy their own place someday.

All poor Lennie wants to do is tend some rabbits, and pet them sometimes, but not too hard.  The big guy doesn’t know his own strength.

The details: 50 Mark West Springs Road, Santa Rosa.  $20-$35.  wellsfargocenterarts.org,  546-3600.

Last spring, Jennifer King directed a production of “All the Great Books (Abridged)” at Sebastopol’s Sonoma County Repertory Theater that had audiences howling with laughter.

If you missed it, don’t worry. You’re getting a second chance.

Long a mainstay at the Rep, King is also artistic director at Napa Valley College, and she’s bringing back the show for a reprise on campus, with the same cast.

The premise is a variation on a nightmare familiar to most of us: you’re in a makeup class for world literature, required for graduation. And graduation is two hours from now.

The only tutors available to help you cram for the last-minute lit exam are, from left above, the Student Teacher (Keith Baker), the Coach (Dodds Delzell) and the lofty Professor (Chad Yarish).

A quick recap from last May’s review — abridged, of course:

“In a John Madden-style chalk talk, the Coach breaks down the action in Louisa May Alcott’s ‘Little Women.’ When the girl’s father enters the Civil War, Coach observes, ‘He was signed by the Yankees.’

“The Prof talks over everyone’s heads, but the Student Teacher isn’t daunted by his superior’s vocabulary. ‘I’m not celibate,’ the apprentice educator retorts. ‘My parents were married.’

“Pop culture allusions mingle with fractured literature. ‘Into the Valley of the Dolls rode the 600,’ one of the book manglers recites. (Tennyson’s ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ was never lighter.)”

The show was written by Austin Tichenor and Sonoma’s Reed Martin, resident mad geniuses of the Reduced Shakespeare Company, famed for reducing all of the Bard’s work to a single evening’s entertainment.

The Napa Valley College performances of the show will be at 8 p.m. Sept. 11-12 and 18-19, with matinees at 2 p.m. Sept. 13 and 20. $10-$15. 259-8077.