Edited by Santa Barbara Poet Laureate George Yatchisin, A Feast for Santa Barbara contains literary morsels from over 100 Santa Barbara area poets, celebrating the diverse farming, dining, and drinking in our community.

Poets from the collection will read their poems, including: Cie Gumucio, Rebecca Horrigan, Simon Kiefer, Lillian Kurosaka, Monica Mody, Juliana Moore, Enid Osborne, Valerie Zell, and more. Yatchisin will host and introduce the book project. All poets in the collection present will be available for signing the anthology afterward.

A Feast for Santa Barbara: Poets Celebrate Food & Drink (Gunpowder Press) features over 100 poets ranging in age from sixth-graders to 90-year-olds, from writers publishing their first work to all nine living Santa Barbara Poets Laureate. The writers explore themes including local farms, agriculture, wineries, restaurants, labor in food industries, and home cooking. The aim of the anthology is to capture the essence of Santa Barbara’s connection to what it grows, prepares, and shares.

Conceived as a literary celebration of the region’s rich gastronomic traditions, the project highlights the intersection of culinary experience and community identity. Yatchisin, who brings extensive experience as a food and drink journalist, emphasized the anthology’s role in documenting local culture.

“I doubt I need to convince anyone about the bounty of our region’s farms, the delight we find in our restaurants and wineries and distilleries,” Yatchisin says. “This anthology attests to all that food and drink means to Santa Barbarans, and the ways that food shapes our culture and relationships.”

Wednesday, May 20, 6 -7 pm

Chaucer’s Books, 3321 State St., Santa Barbara