The San Luis Obispo County Poet Laureateship was founded in 1999 when the first laureate committee chose jazz drummer, merchant marine sailor, and beat poet extraordinaire Ray Clark Dickson. 

In the late 1990s, the proposal for a laureateship was originally tied to boosting both local arts and tourism. Kevin Patrick Sullivan, the co-founder of the SLO County Poetry Festival, had been speaking to the SLO Chamber of Commerce, stressing the importance of the arts—including poetry—as an incentive to promote tourism. At about the same time, the city of San Francisco announced a committee to choose their first poet laureate, and Sullivan promoted the idea for the central coast. 

The committee eventually grew under the auspices of the SLO County Arts Council and developed specific criteria for the award. The nominee must live in SLO County and over time must have established a body of published work, preferably in book form, recognized for its excellence. The nominee would also have a history of service or a willingness to serve the local poetry community and San Luis Obispo County. Ideally, selectees would develop a program to promote poetry in the county during their two-year tenure. 

Since the selection of Dickson, sixteen other poet laureates have been chosen, including editor and literary benefactor Glenna Luschie; Chilean artist and expatriate Hernan Castellano-Giron; county poetry advocate Kevin Patrick Sullivan; Chicano poet and novelist Gloria L. Velasquez; award-winning professor James Cushing; creator of the online series “Poem Most Days” Jeanie Greensfelder; former Cal Poly director of creative writing Kevin Clark; and current Poet Laureate, critically-acclaimed poet and musician Caleb Nichols.