Gill Sotu is a Navy veteran, poet, playwright, DJ, and performing artist.  He is a 2x Grand Slam Poetry Champion, 2x Raw Performing Artist of the Year, and 5x TEDx San Diego presenter. Currently, he is a teaching artist and a commissioned playwright with The Old Globe Theatre & La Jolla Playhouse, teaching artist with the Oceanside Theatre Company, and the official Poet in Residence for the San Diego Writers' Festival.  He has over 10yrs of experience teaching written and performing arts within the penal system, working directly with incarcerated persons & in recovery settings, as well as with veterans and students from junior high to college.  

His screenplay “The History Of Joy” in 2022 won two Gold Anthem Awards, was an Official Selection of the SoCal Film Awards and The San Diego Movie Awards, as well as the Silver Award for Best Drama at the Paris Film Awards, and was a Finalist at the Cannes World Film Festival.  The poem he created and performed for Project Clean Water won the Gold MarCom Award for advertising and has been shown at AMC & Regal Cinemas across San Diego County.

Gill was the Poet in Residence for the 2024 Inhabit Conference, former program director and teaching artist with Intrepid Theatre, creative director for TEDx San Diego, 2020 Artist in Residence for the Gainesville Creative Forces Art Summit, and the former Artist in Residence for The Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation and Makers Church. He has been commissioned to produce original pieces for leading arts and community organizations, including The San Diego Symphony, New Village Arts Theatre, The Unity Way, Feeding America, SD Fringe Fest, and the San Diego Opera, among others.   His play on the life of the French composer Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges is commissioned by Classical Kids Live!, premiered in 2023 with both the Toronto Symphony and San Francisco Symphony and is currently touring across the country.