Morton Marcus

The Morton Marcus Memorial Poetry Reading has become an established annual poetry reading series bringing some of the most accomplished poets in the country to Santa Cruz County. This annual event is held in November each year, is free to the public, and is sponsored by UC Santa Cruz, Cabrillo College, Poetry Santa Cruz, Ow Family Properties, Bookshop Santa Cruz, and the family of Morton Marcus. Featured poets include: 2010 Robert Hass, 2011 Kay Ryan, 2012 Arthur Sze, 2013: Naomi Shihab Nye, 2014: Peter Everwine and Chuck Hanzlicek, 2015: Al Young, 2016: Joseph Stroud, 2017: Dorianne Laux, 2018: Gary Snyder, 2019: Gary Soto, 2020: Morgan Parker, 2021: Gary Young, and 2022: Natasha Trethewey.

In addition to poetry, Morton Marcus also authored The Brezhnev Memo (1980) a novel, and Striking Through The Masks: A Literary Memoir (2008). Marcus also translated the works of Serbian poet Vasko Popa in The Star Wizard's Legacy (2010).

Morton Marcus (1936–2009) was a poet and author having published more than 500 poems in literary journals across the country, including Poetry (Chicago), TriQuarterly, Ploughshares, Chelsea, The Chicago Review, The Iowa Review, Zyzzyva, Poetry Northwest, and The Denver Quarterly. Four times his work was selected to appear in prize poem annuals (The Borestone Mountain Awards of 1967 and 1975, and the 1985 and 1987 Anthology of Magazine Verse). His work has appeared in over 90 anthologies in the United States, Europe, and Australia. He also has served as the poet in residence for several universities, and led workshops at colleges across America. Marcus was also a long time co-host of The Poetry Show on KUSP (a former Santa Cruz public radio station). It was the longest running poetry radio show in the United States.