Julie Murphy & Paul Willis Poetry Reading

Thanks to Santa Barbara’s strategic place on California’s Coast, the “Guess Who’s in Town” series, hosted by former SB Poet Laureate Laure-Anne Bosselaar, offers readings by emerging and established poets from out of town who come to visit our beautiful city. Our visitor poet will share the reading with a local poet.

Julie Murphy lives in rural Santa Cruz, California, surrounded by redwoods, pines, and live oak trees. Her poems appear or are forthcoming in River Heron Review, Chicago Quarterly Review,  Atlanta Review, Massachusetts Review, CALYX, Catamaran, SWWIM, Common Ground Review, The Louisville Review, The Red Wheelbarrow, The Alembic, and How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope, among other journals. A licensed psychotherapist, Julie developed Embodied Writing™ and taught poetry at Salinas Valley State Prison. As a member of the Hive Poetry Collective, she organizes poetry readings and hosts poetry programs on KSQD, featuring local and international poets. Julie is a member of the Community of Writers and a founding member of the Right to Write Press.

Paul Willis is a former SB Poet Laureate and Professor Emeritus at Westmont College. He is the author of eight collections of poetry, most recently Losing Streak.