The Library of Congress announced Juan Felipe Herrera as the next U.S. poet laureate. He will be the first Latino to hold that position. It's the nation's highest honor in poetry.

Herrera says he was inundated with happiness upon hearing the news. He served as California’s poet laureate from 2012 to 2014, but sees the new appointment as a “bigger stage” with even bigger responsibilities.

"It's a beautiful set of possibilities," he says. 

Herrera is a prolific writer. He has penned more than a dozen books, which include novels in verse and children’s books. When he was younger, he spent much of his time in libraries and universities. 

He comes from a family of farmworkers and self-made artists. As a child, his mother would sing corridos, or ballads, to him.

"The one I remember is 'El Corrido del Contrabando del Paso Villa' — 'The Ballad of the Contraband of El Paso' — that talks about, you know, crossing the border and being apprehended by the border patrol. It's just that, you know. It's in the corrido. It's in the ballad. And I loved it as a child. My mother knew it, so I learned it." 

He is expected to start his position in the fall.