Don Thompson was born in Bakersfield, California, and has spent most of his life in Kern County. He has been publishing poetry since the early sixties, including a dozen books and chapbooks. Back Roads won the 2008 Sunken Garden Prize. He was the subject of an LA Times profile, "Planted in the San Joaquin." He and his wife, Chris, live on her family's farm near Buttonwillow in a house that has been home to four generations. In 2016, he was selected as the first Poet Laureate of Kern County.