The next Blue Whale Reading will feature Stephanie Barbé Hammer and Perie Longo on Wednesday, September 9 at 5:30 pm at Unity of Santa Barbara Chapel, 227 E. Arrellaga St., Santa Barbara. There will be a limited open mic after the featured readers.

Stephanie Barbé Hammer is a seven-time Pushcart Prize nominee in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. She is the author of two poetry chapbooks: Sex with Buildings (Dancing Girl Press), and City Slicker (Bamboo Dart Press) as well as the full-length collection How Formal? (Spout Hill Press). She is also a fiction writer, and her most recent novel Journey to Merveilleux City (Picture Show Press) features an intrepid poet determined to find her voice. A professor emerita and distinguished teacher in Comparative Literature at the University of California, Riverside, Stephanie now lives in Santa Barbara with her husband, writer and political organizer Larry Behrendt. 

Perie Longo, Poet Laureate emerita of Santa Barbara, California (2007-2009), has published five books of poetry: Milking The Earth (1986), The Privacy Of Wind (1987), With Nothing Behind But Sky: a journey through grief (2006), Baggage Claim (2014) and chapbook A Mosaic of Poetry for Kids (2013).  Her work has appeared in numerous journals including Atlanta Review, Connecticut Review, International Poetry Review, Nimrod, Paterson Literary Review, Poet Lore, Prairie Schooner, Rattle, Salt and Solo as well as in recent anthologies: The Nature of Our Times ((2025), When a Woman Tells the Truth: by Woman Over 80 (2024) and Women in a Golden State (2025). She has taught poetry for the Santa Barbara Writers Conference since 1984, California-Poets-in-the-Schools (1985-2016) and privately. As a psychotherapist, she integrates poetry writing for healing. In 2025 she was awarded the Inaugural Literary Champion for Santa Barbara County. 

The Blue Whale Reading Series is hosted by Christine Kravetz and Christopher Buckley. A donation of $5 is requested to help pay for the venue rental. Please bring cash to pay.