
- Publisher: Gunpowder Press
- Editor: Laure-Anne Bosselaar
- Available in: Paperback
- ISBN: 978-0-9986458-8-9
- Published: April 1, 2021
Santa Barbara Poet Laureate Laure-Anne Bosselaar has edited a collection of original poems from 80 poets across Santa Barbara County. Envisioned as a collection to support people as they wait—especially during waiting times that can be stressful, anxious, or simply boring—the book has also been adapted to a Covid-safe website, so readers can easily and safely access the poems in While You Wait (plus some additional poems) from their smartphones online at whileyouwait.org.
While You Wait includes poems by 80 Santa Barbara County poets: Ronald A. Alexander, Lisl Auf der Heide, Rick Benjamin, Ann Bennett, Elizabeth Blakeslee, Gudrun Bortman, Jessica Bortman, Laure-Anne Bosselaar, M. L. Brown, Christopher Buckley, Molly Jane Burns, José María Carpizo, Katherine Casey, Eric M. Castro, Susan Chiavelli, Kundai Chikowero, Clayton Clark, Susan Read Cronin, Frances Davis, Pamela Davis, Margarita Delcheva, Camille Diehl, Danielle Diehl, Andrea Ellickson, Joshua Escobar, Mary Freericks, Maya Shaw Gale, Louise Borad Gerber, Christina Gessler, Cie Gumucio, Ellen Hayward, Roy Hildestad, Barbara Holguin, Linda L. Holland, Rebecca Horrigan, Ibn Salma Ibrahim, e. j., Eliot Jacobson, Finn Janssen, Luci Janssen, Ellen Chavez Kelley, Lois Klein, James Ph. Kotsybar, Nancy Lee, Shirley Geok-lin Lim, Perie Longo, Jacqueline Lunianski, Teddy Macker, Gracie Meinzer, Claudine Michel, Kathee Miller, Anne Neubauer, Enid Osborn, Dairine Pearson, Christine Penko, Peg Quinn, Diana Raab, Tamara Zdenek Riley, Sojourner Kincaid Rolle, Shelly Rosen, Nicolasa I. Sandoval, Lauren Schweitzer, Greg Spencer, David Starkey, Daniel Thomas, Emma Trelles, Jace Turner, Sydney Vogel, Isabelle Walker, Kaelie Walker, Mark Walker, Carol Ann Wilburn, Bruce Willard, Paul Willis, Ann Michener Winter, George Yatchisin, Estella Ye, Olivia York, Chryss Yost, Marilee Zdenek.
While You Wait is made possible thanks to the generous support of the Karoff Family Poetry Fund, the SB Poetry Fund, the Helen Foundation, the Simon and Diana Raab Foundation, Luci Janssen, and J. Alfred Roofrock. With their support, Santa Barbara Poet Laureate Laure-Anne Bosselaar’s idea for the While You Wait project evolved to include 80 Santa Barbara Country writers, from young students to awarded poets, an unprecedented print run, a companion website, and posters in local medical offices and busses. We were able to donate over 1,750 copies of the book to healthcare heroes at Sansum Clinic.