Tag archives: sb literary festival

Between the First Sentence and the Last
By Zach Rosen   |   May 4, 2026

The first thing Ace Atkins and I discuss is that writing used to be slower. Not the thinking, not the storytelling, but the act itself. Notes taken by hand, facts checked line by line, interviews reconstructed from memory and scribble. Now there are recorders, transcripts, digital trails that can be followed and revisited. The work […]

SB Literary Festival: Story, Meet Place
By Zach Rosen   |   April 7, 2026

It’s not hard to see why writers end up in Santa Barbara. Sure, the weather helps, but it’s more than that. There’s space to think here, and a kind of quiet that doesn’t feel isolating. Montecito, in particular, has long been home to a number of well-known writers (see Steven Gilbar’s mini tome), while downtown […]