The 17th Annual Morton Marcus Poetry Reading
Lee Herrick
Join us on November 19, 2026 at 6:00 PM
UC Santa Cruz, Merrill College Cultural Center
Featuring Caifornia Poet Laureate Lee Herrick and hosted by Poet Gary Young. The evening will include an announcement of the winner of the Morton Marcus Poetry Contest (recipient receives a $1,000 prize).
Seating will be first come, first served. Registration required.
Registration & Directions for the Free Event coming soon.
Further information ....coming soon.
These annual readings keep the spirit of Marcus' work and writing alive, bringing the best national poets to Santa Cruz and the art of poetry to a new generation. This was a huge part of Mort's work when he was alive, and we are thrilled that his legacy continues through this annual event.
Lee Herrick is the California Poet Laureate and the first to be reappointed to a second term. He is the author of four books, most recently In Praise of Late Wonder: New and Selected Poems (2024). He co-edited The World I Leave You: Asian American Poets on Faith and Spirit and the AGNI Portfolio of Adoptee Writing. His writing appears in anthologies such as Here: Poems for the Planet, with an introduction by the Dalai Lama; Indivisible: Poems of Social Justice, with an introduction by Common; and Dear America: Letters of Hope, Habitat, Defiance, and Democracy, among others. Born in Daejeon, Korea and adopted to the United States at ten months, he lives with his wife and daughter and teaches in Fresno, California.