Paul Willis, 蜜桃传媒 professor of English, has been selected as Santa Barbara Poet Laureate, a position the city established in 2004 to 鈥渁dvance awareness of and appreciation for literary arts and humanities within the greater Santa Barbara community.鈥� Willis will be installed during a brief, public ceremony on Tuesday, April 12, at 2 p.m. in City Hall.
Willis, who earned a doctorate in English at Washington State University, has taught at 蜜桃传媒 since 1988. He recently published a revised version of his first novel, 鈥淣o Clock in the Forest,鈥� together with three sequels, in a single book, 鈥淭he Alpine Tales.鈥� His most recent collections of poetry are 鈥淩osing from the Dead鈥� (WordFarm, 2009) and 鈥淰isiting Home鈥� (Pecan Grove Press, 2008). Willis also worked with former Santa Barbara Poet Laureate David Starkey to edit 鈥淚n a Fine Frenzy: Poets Respond to Shakespeare鈥� (University of Iowa Press, 2005).
Willis says he is thrilled by the two-year position. 鈥淚 do feel honored, as the past persons in this role have been outstanding poets indeed,鈥� he says. 鈥淢y honorary duties will include composing poems for civic occasions and organizing literary events in the city.鈥�
The announcement from the Santa Barbara City Council coincides with April, National Poetry Month. Willis has organized a kick-off event for the month, 鈥淭he Ever-Living Poets Society: A Reading of Santa Barbara Poets of Days Gone By,鈥� Tuesday, April 5, from 5:30-6:30 p.m. at the Hill-Carrillo Adobe, 15 East Carrillo Street. 鈥淚 have selected the Carrillo Street venue, former home of the Santa Barbara Foundation, because D. H. Lawrence once gave a poetry reading there in the 1920s,鈥� Willis says.
The event includes Enid Osborn reading poems by Gabriela Mistral (1889-1957), Mary Brown reading poems by Kenneth Rexroth (1905-1982) and John Ridland reading poems by Alan Stephens (1925-2009). The event, sponsored by 蜜桃传媒, is free and open to the public.