Judy Keeslar Santamaria
"Offbeat author. Magical realist. Musical by nature. Book addict. Perpetual Tourist. Fan of all things coastal."
Award-winning author Judy Keeslar Santamaria has a Bachelor of Arts ( Music) and a Master’s in Education (Creative Arts in Learning).
She’s enjoyed being a classroom teacher, music specialist, private piano teacher, and accompanist.
You Can't Fool a Mermaid, Judy's second novel, won the First Place Award for Magical Realism and won Grand Prize for Literary and Contemporary Fiction in the 2023 Chanticleer International Book Awards held on April 20, 2024.
Her first novel, Jetty Cat Palace Café, debuted in December 2019 and won the First Place Award for Women's Fiction in the 2021 Chanticleer International Book Awards held in 2022..
Judy lives near San Francisco with her husband who shares her passion for travel.
During a visit to Venice
Author Judy Keeslar Santamaria treasured a moment of profound appreciation at the burial site of beloved composer, Igor Stravinsky, whose Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments inspired both her award-winning novels, Jetty Cat Palace Café and You Can’t Fool a Mermaid.
During a visit to Paris
In May of 2026, the author visited the epic Paris Opera House where 102 years ago Igor Stravinsky premiered his Concerto for Piano & Winds. She’s forever grateful because that composition inspired both her novels, Jetty Cat Palace Café and You Can’t Fool a Mermaid.
During the same trip, she also visited Théâtre des Champs Élysées where 113 years ago Igor Stravinsky premiered his riotous ballet “Rite of Spring.” The Rite’s eerie bassoon solo is the leitmotif in her novel You Can’t Fool a Mermaid.