SB Poet Laureate to Read at Westmont
Chryss Yost, Santa Barbara poet laureate, reads from her collection of work Tuesday, Feb. 11, at 4 p.m. in Hieronymus Lounge at Westmont’s Kerrwood Hall. The reading, part of the Westmont Reading Series that began last spring with novelist Ron Hansen, is free and open to the public. The event is supported by Poets & Writers Inc. through a grant it has received from the James Irvine Foundation.
“Chryss Yost brings youth and freshness and piquancy to some of the oldest and most formal structures of poetry,” says Paul Willis, Westmont English professor and former Santa Barbara poet laureate. “Her poems are full of swift surprises; she and her work are as dynamic as they come.”
Yost, former director of the Santa Barbara Poetry Series, teaches poetry at the Santa Barbara Music and Arts Conservatory and hosts “Writer’s Café” on KCSB radio.
She moved to Santa Barbara from her native San Diego in 1990 and earned a bachelor’s degree at UC Santa Barbara, graduating with highest honors and distinction.
Yost has published two fine-press chapbooks, “Escaping from Autopia” and “La Jolla Boys.” She has coedited two major poetry anthologies, “California Poetry: From the Gold Rush to the Present” and “Poetry Daily: A Year of Poems from the World’s Most Popular Poetry Website.” Her poems have been set to music and she is a frequent collaborator with local artists and galleries.