Paul J. Willis is a professor of English at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. His creative work includes seven collections of poetry, the most recent of which is Somewhere to Follow (Slant, 2021); two collections of creative nonfiction, the most recent of which is To Build a Trail: Essays on Curiosity, Love & Wonder (WordFarm, 2018); a quartet of eco-fantasy novels, The Alpine Tales (WordFarm, 2010); a YA Elizabethan time-travel novel, All in a Garden Green (Slant, 2020); and an edited anthology, In a Fine Frenzy: Poets Respond to Shakespeare (University of Iowa Press, 2005)

His poems and essays have appeared in Poetry, Image, and Wilderness, and have also been anthologized in The Best American Poetry 1996 (Scribner’s), The Best Spiritual Writing 1999 (HarperSanFrancisco), The Best American Spiritual Writing 2004 (Houghton Mifflin), and The Best Christian Writing 2006 (Jossey-Bass).  More recently his poems have been featured on Verse Daily and The Writer’s Almanac.  He completed a term of service as poet laureate of Santa Barbara for 2011-2013, and served as an artist-in-residence in North Cascades National Park from 2014-2015.

Learn more at www.pauljwillis.com.