{"id":716,"date":"2026-09-10T15:22:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T15:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sbpoetry.net\/home\/?p=716"},"modified":"2026-11-12T23:26:03","modified_gmt":"2026-11-12T23:26:03","slug":"mahri-kerley-receives-the-2026-sb-literary-champions-award-nov-23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sbpoetry.net\/home\/mahri-kerley-receives-the-2026-sb-literary-champions-award-nov-23\/","title":{"rendered":"Mahri Kerley receives the 2026 SB Literary Champions Award, Nov. 23"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"819\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/sbpoetry.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/2026-Santa-Barbara-Literary-Champion-819x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-717\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sbpoetry.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/2026-Santa-Barbara-Literary-Champion-819x1024.jpg 819w, https:\/\/sbpoetry.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/2026-Santa-Barbara-Literary-Champion-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/sbpoetry.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/2026-Santa-Barbara-Literary-Champion-768x960.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sbpoetry.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/2026-Santa-Barbara-Literary-Champion.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 819px) 100vw, 819px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Not just a poetry post, but what poet in town hasn&#8217;t spent hours and dollars at&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/50197560783\/user\/100063538334344\/?__cft__[0]=AZj7Q-bjFzAm0cATK1j-bI2IAEEeihG5yBCDR2CZsVbz-xrhwED_BAfcTTxGCUSYHyFulw8Hh-d38io9GI-qE26hljBx9lub_p3AzSNU2B7yaDCnEYfN-rnhL_N65Xg8zEP6zcUu0Ns&amp;__tn__=-]K-R\">Chaucer&#8217;s Bookstore<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Join Santa Barbara Poet Laureate George Yatchisin at Chaucer\u2019s Bookstore, 3321 State St., on&nbsp;<strong>Monday, November 23, at 6 p.m.<\/strong>&nbsp;as he presents Mahri Kerley with this year\u2019s Santa Barbara Literary Champions Award.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kerley founded Chaucer\u2019s in 1974 and spent five decades supporting authors and readers through author events, school book fairs and independent bookselling. Since selling the store in 2024, she has continued her longtime arts advocacy, serving on the boards of Opera Santa Barbara and the Community Arts Music Association. Join us to celebrate her lasting contributions to Santa Barbara\u2019s literary life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This award follows in the tradition begun when Perie Longo won the 2025 SB Literary Champions Award.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kerley, longtime owner Chaucer&#8217;s Bookstore, will be the county&#8217;s 2nd Literary Champion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sb-poet-laureate-event"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbpoetry.net\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbpoetry.net\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbpoetry.net\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbpoetry.net\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbpoetry.net\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=716"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sbpoetry.net\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":718,"href":"https:\/\/sbpoetry.net\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716\/revisions\/718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbpoetry.net\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbpoetry.net\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbpoetry.net\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}