Lily Van Middlesworth is a poet who is published in various literary magazines across the country. She holds a BA in writing from Savannah College of Art and Design. Lily has recently sold her first screenplay.

Brad Buchanan taught literature and creative writing at Sacramento State University until his retirement in 2016. His poetry, short fiction, and scholarly articles have appeared in more than 200 journals. He has published four collections of poetry, including The Scars, Aligned: A Cancer Narrative (Finishing Line Press, 2019), three academic books, and a medical memoir.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Jenny Kaminer is an interdisciplinary scholar of Russian culture whose publications have encompassed a broad range of historical epochs—from the nineteenth century to the present day—as well as genres and media, including, drama, prose, film, and television. Kaminer established their reputation within the field of Slavic Studies as a specialist in gender and Russian culture, the representation of maternity in particular. Their first book, Women with a Thirst for Destruction: The Bad Mother in Russian Culture (Northwestern UP, 2014), received the Heldt Prize for Best Book in Slavic/East European/Eurasian Gender Studies.

Natassia Choi and Julia Holten are students at UC Davis. They are employees of ASUCD, and are helping organize the 2026 Whole Earth Festival

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Paul Corman-Roberts is the author Bone Moon Palace from Black Lawrence Press (2021) a CLMP Firecracker nominated full length poetry collection. He is also author of the graphic chapbook The Sincere (with illustrator Ray Swaney) from Libran Apocalypse Books (2022.) He is a founder and current organizer of the Beast Crawl Lit Festival  in Oakland CA. He currently teaches workshops for the San Francisco Creative Writing Institute. He sometimes fills in as a drummer for the U.S. Ghostal Service, The Jennifer Blowdryer Band and the Poznansky Sisters, but mostly he is just exhausted

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Dave Boles has worked as an Alternative Publisher, Writer and Designer since 1982. Founder of the magazine Primal Urge, he also created The Sacramento Free Press and Cruisin' Magazine. He has published, designed, edited and written numerous books, magazines and articles both nationally and internationally. His publishing company, Cold River Press, has helped many new writers, artists, poets, illustrators and photographers further their careers. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Mary Mackey is a bestselling author and award-winning poet who has written fourteen novels some of which have appeared on the New York Times and San Francisco Chronicle Bestseller Lists. She is also the author of nine volumes of poetry including The Jaguars That Prowl Our Dreams, winner of a the 2019 Eric Hoffer Award for Best Book Published by a Small Press and a 2018 CIIS Women’s Spirituality Book Award; Sugar Zone, winner of the 2012 Oakland PEN Josephine Miles Award for Literary Excellence; and Creativity, a non-fiction exploration of how ideas and bursts of insight come, not just to writers, but to us all. In 2025 Marsh Hawk Press published In This Burning World: Poems of Love and Apocalypse, a collection which not only asks us to imagine what the world will be like as the Earth’s climate changes, but how we can preserve joy and compassion in times of catastrophe.

Dr. Jeremy DeWayne Greene received a Bachelor of the Arts in Psychology with a Minor in African American & African Studies from the University of California-Davis (UCD). He also received his Masters of the Arts in Education (School Psychology) and Pupil Personnel Services Credential from California State University-Sacramento (CSUS). Mr. Greene is a Nationally Certified School Psychologist via the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) and, in his spare time, writes, records, and performs spoken word poetry around Shanghai. Though previously from Sacramento (California), Mr. Greene connects strongly with his familial roots firmly planted in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

John López’s research takes a comparative and interdisciplinary approach to examining the visual, material, and spatial practices between early modern Europe and the New World. López earned a Ph.D. from the History, Theory, and Criticism of Architecture and Art program at MIT and was a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Chicago. He is currently writing a book, The Aquatic Metropolis, that examines the centuries-old efforts by the Aztec and Spanish to end catastrophic inundation at Mexico City via image making, urban planning, and environmental change. López’s research has been supported by the National Endowment of the Humanities, the John Carter Brown Library, the Newberry Library, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, the Social Science Research Council, and the Academic Council of Learned Society, among others.  

Michael G. French is an arts and theatre events marketing specialist for the UC Davis College of Letters and Science. He promotes performances and events for the departments of Art and Art History, Cinema and Digital Media, Design, Music, and Theatre and Dance. French previously held similar positions at Southern Utah University’s College of Performing and Visual Arts, American Musical Theatre of San Jose, Pacific Conservatory Theatre and the Walnut Street Theatre. He earned his bachelor’s degree at New Jersey City University.

Connie Johnstone is a Professor of English and Chair of Creative Writing at American River College. Johnstone, is a former hospice chaplain with Kaiser Permanente, she specialized in Narrative Therapy during her career transition. She holds an MFA from Bennington College and a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School. The River of Perpetual Departure is Connie Johnstone’s first book of poetry. Her poems have appeared in many journals: Amethyst Review; The Brussels Review; The Calendula Review; Comstock Review; Ginosko Literary Journal; Gyroscope; Loss: Anthology 9; The Orchards Poetry Journal; Ravenous: le Terroir de Montolieu; Paris: Great Cities Vol. 1; Spoon Knife Anthology: Numbers; Tule Review; Voices 24; and others.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Anthony Xavier Jackson is the recent winner of The 2024 Sacramento Poetry Week’s Annual Poetry contest. Anthony Xavier Jackson has been writing poems and songs since his teens, drawing inspiration from sci-fi, myths, all genres of music, and all manner of spiritual pursuits, including recovery. Anthony has recently published his first collection of poetry, The Razor of Your Smile, available on Amazon and other venues. Anthony has enjoyed publishing honors from the likes of Bar Bar, Wingless Dreamer, Dipity, The Word’s Faire, and Tule Review 2024. Anthony is a member of GTFO Poetry Collective based in Sacramento. You may find his poems paired with his music on SoundCloud and Bandcamp. Anthony is also a Substance Use Disorder Counselor who aspires to Social Work credentialing. Anthony firmly believes everyone deserves healing.

Bahia Yackzan is a Talk4TV, radio and podcast host. Her program Its Your Voice engages conversations in diversity, equity, and inclusion. Yackzan, a certified Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) Practitioner, is also the founder of Know What You Want Coaching. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Patrick Burns (Music Director) is a Sacramento-based composer, music director, and arts administrator whose work spans musical theatre, opera, and interdisciplinary performance. At UC Davis, he previously served as accompanist for The Threepenny Opera. Regional credits include music direction and conducting for theatres and universities throughout California, New York City, and nationwide. Patrick spent five years as Production Manager at Broadway Sacramento, where he oversaw large-scale musical productions and supported the development of emerging artists. He maintains an active creative practice alongside his work in arts leadership and education.

Michael G. French is an arts and theatre events marketing specialist for the UC Davis College of Letters and Science. He promotes performances and events for the departments of Art and Art History, Cinema and Digital Media, Design, Music, and Theatre and Dance. French previously held similar positions at Southern Utah University’s College of Performing and Visual Arts, American Musical Theatre of San Jose, Pacific Conservatory Theatre and the Walnut Street Theatre. He earned his bachelor’s degree at New Jersey City University.

Susan Wolbarst is a reporter for the weekly Independent Coast Observer in rural Gualala, California. Her work has been published in pioneertownlit.com, The Ledge Poetry and Fiction Magazine, Naugatuck River Review, Poetry Now, Yolo Crow, Valley Voices, Eat This Poem Anthology, and others. She self-published one cookbook. When she’s not writing, Susan enjoys hiking, kayaking and cooking the world’s offerings in her three cast iron pans.

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Ted Geier received his PhD. in Critical Theory and Comparative Literature from UC Davis in 2015, followed by a Mellon Postdoctoral post in the Rice University Humanities Research Center as an investigator on the Rice Seminars 2015-16 project, “After Biopolitics.” He recently co-founded and is Associate Editor of the UC Press journal, Animal History: https://online.ucpress.edu/ah His primary philosophical specialties are in moral theories pertaining to animals and environmental studies, while his broader training and expertise include narrative theory, literature and film, economic-cultural analysis, American Studies, the History of Ideas, and Interdisciplinary Humanities. He is especially interested in Disney and eco-apocalyptic themes. Dr. Geier organized an animal studies research group at UC Davis and was formerly Managing Editor of Interdisciplinary Studies of Literature and Environment (Oxford UP) and Research Editor in the Harvard Law School Animal Law & Policy Program. He has published two books, an edited journal issue, and various book chapters and scholarly articles (mostly about animals and culture). Current projects include an edited volume on Cormac McCarthy and environment and a book on Terrence Malick.

Cristina Deptula is a a copy writer, enthusiastic publicist, and social media manager. Will find and hone your core messages, then identify and reach influencers and audiences over traditional and social media to spark worthwhile conversations about complex topics. Deptula’s freelance journalistic writing encompasses topics ranging from autism research to climate change to biophotonics to the Mars rover launch.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Vaani Tiwari is an IB Diploma student and emerging researcher focused on the psychology of identity, culture, and mental health. Her work explores why people think and cope the way they do, and how storytelling can make behavioral science more accessible. Tiwari's first book, an Amazon #1 bestseller in Asian American Poetry, examined adolescent mental health and identity through a narrative-psychological lens. She has since been published with Novelly, featured in literary magazines, and awarded the Governor’s Medallion in the Arts. Beyond her research, Tiwari creates psychology-centered social content with multiple viral videos and serve as an IB Ambassador at her school. 

Grant Faulkner is the co-founder of Memoir Nation, the co-founder of 100 Word Story, and an executive producer on America’s Next Great Author. He has published three books on writing: The Art of Brevity: Crafting the Very Short Story; Pep Talks for Writers: 52 Insights and Actions to Boost Your Creative Mojo; and Brave the Page, a teen writing guide. He’s also published All the Comfort Sin Can Provide, a collection of short stories, Fissures, a collection of 100-word stories, and Nothing Short of 100: Selected Tales from 100 Word Story.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Dr. Mahnaz Badihian is an Is a Poet, painter, and translator whose work has been published in several languages worldwide. Mahnaz runs the Literary magazine MahMag.org to bring the world’s poetry together.  She finished translating a book about the uprising in Iran in 2009 called Spalding Arise with Jack Hirschman, published in San Francisco in 2014. She received her MFA in poetry from Pacific University. Her latest poetry collection, Raven of Isfahan was Published in 2019. She edited 300 pages of Covid, Anthology Art, and poetry from around the world in 2020. She is a member of the San Francisco RPB (Revolutionary Poet Brigade). In 2018, Mahnaz had three days of an art exhibition in San Francisco. Her new collection of poems, Ask the Wind was nominated for Pushcart by Vagabond in 2022. Mahnaz traveled to many countries for poetry events, including Kerala, Chile, Cuba, Italy, England, Bolivia, Peru, and more. Mahnaz is a guest poet at the Kathmandu poetry festival in February 2023. Her Novel Gohar was published in 2024.

Lissa Provost is the founder and chaos director of New Alexandria Creative Group. She's the author of a poetry book, chapbook, and a journal/planner for neurodivergent or medically challenged individuals called Maggie's Planner. She's also the Director of the San Francisco Writers Conference.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Susie Meserve is a poet, essayist, and novelist. She’s been teaching writing for over twenty years. She has a certificate in mind-body coaching from The Embody Lab, a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and a BA from Tufts University. Susie lives in the Bay Area but is a New England girl at heart. Married to the love of her life and mother to two fantastically wonderful and strange sons, she is the author of the poetry collection Little Prayers and essays and poems that have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, and many literary journals and anthologies. 

Susan D. is a Sacramento poet and community activist.

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Gabrielle Myers has earned a B.A. from Hampshire College in Massachusetts, an A.O.S. in Culinary Arts from the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, an M.A. in English from the University of California at Davis, and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Saint Mary’s College of California. She has taught English courses at Saint Mary’s College, UC Davis, Diablo Valley College, Yuba College, Las Positas College, and Sacramento City College. Gabrielle's memoir, Hive-Mind, details her time of love, awakening, and tragic loss on an organic farm. Her poetry books Too Many Seeds (2021), Break Self: Feed (2024) and Points in the Network (2025) are published by Finishing Line Press. Her poetry books Go Forth: Lose Yourself into Life and La Ruta es Clara are forthcoming in 2026. Her poetry has been published in the Atlanta Review, Evergreen Review, Adirondack Review, San Francisco Public Press, Fourteen Hills, pacificREVIEW, Connecticut River Review, Catamaran, Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, Sand Hills, Sheila-Na-Gig, University of Alabama’s Al Dente, Cathexis Northwest Press, American University’s Folio, Reunion: The Dallas Review, and American Poetry Review. Gabrielle is the Farm-to-Fork columnist for Inside Sacramento magazine

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Nina Amir, the Inspiration to Creation Coach, inspires writers and bloggers to create published products and careers as authors. Additionally, she helps her clients and readers achieve their potential, fulfill their purpose and make a positive and meaningful difference with their words. She is the author of How to Blog a Book, The Author Training Manual, and Creative Visualization for Writers, all published by Writer’s Digest Books. As a hybrid author, she also has published 17 books independently. She is a nonfiction book editor and doctor, proposal consultant, and an Author Coach and Trainer as well as a Book and Blog Coach. Some of her clients have sold 320,000+ copies of their books and been published by major publishing houses. Nina also is an award winning blogger and journalist, international speaker and founder of National Nonfiction Writing Month, also known as the Write Nonfiction in November Challenge, and the Nonfiction Writers’ University. Also a Certified High Performance Coach, Nina strives to help creative people Achieve More Inspired Results personally and professionally.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Professor Gail Finney received her A. B. degree in German summa cum laude from Princeton University and her Ph.D. in comparative literature from UC Berkeley. She has also studied in Freiburg, Aix-en-Provençe, Tübingen, and Berlin. From 1980-1988 she taught at Harvard University as an Assistant and then Associate Professor of German. She returned to Harvard as a Visiting Professor of German in Spring 1997. Since 1988 she has been teaching at UC Davis as Professor of German and Comparative Literature. From 1997-2000 she held a halftime position as Assistant Vice Provost for Academic Personnel, and in 2007-2008 she worked as Faculty Assistant for Academic Personnel to the Dean of Humanities, Arts, and Cultural Studies.

Ms. Sheila is a midwest native turned west coast lifer and is a work-force development and team-building professional with over 35 years of experience. She creates welcoming art experiences during the holiday season for empty-nesters and the elderly, including her Kwanza inspired Principle Paint Party. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Catherine Dixon is a former Post-Doctorate in the Department of Animal Sciences at UC Davis, trivia buff, and cow-gut microbiome maven.

Peter Shahrokh was born in Berkeley, California, in 1950.  He first picked up a watercolor brush in 2004, and currently produces many works in the medium. Shahrokh holds three graduate degrees from UC Davis, and more information about his watercoloring and ongoing endeavors can be found at https://www.petershahrokh.com/about

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

The Video Game Orchestra at UC Davis was started by Ziad Asadi and Sogol Aliabadi in 2017, with the goal of allowing college musicians to explore the wonders of video game music. What started out as a small group of 9 musicians has now grown into a community of more than 100 members! All of their members are current students or alumni of UC Davis, and all of our pieces are arranged by their own members. Each quarter, they select a theme for their concert that explores a genre of video games, allowing them to cover a diverse array of games throughout the year. In past concerts, they have played tracks from games such as Kingdom Hearts, Hades, Undertale, Journey and more. 

Catriona McPherson (she/her) was born in Scotland and immigrated to the US in 2010. She writes: preposterous 1930s private-detective stories about a toff; realistic 1940s amateur-sleuth stories about an oik; and contemporary psychothriller standalones. These are all set in Scotland with a lot of Scottish weather. She also writes modern comedies about a Scot-out-of-water in a “fictional” college town in Northern California. She has won multiple Anthonys, Agathas, Leftys and Macavitys for her work and been shortlisted for an Edgar, three Mary Higgins Clark awards and a UK dagger. McPherson is a proud lifetime member and former national president of Sisters in Crime.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Gbenga Adesina joins the program to discuss his recent publication Death Does Not End at the Sea, which asks questions about grief, immigration, and the art of poetry. Adesina states that every immigrant story is a private epic, and details how his book emerged from his lived experience, moving to America after the passing of his father. He reads a poem, “I Carried my Father Across the Sea,” before the next guests, Jon Racini and Diego Mitotli Martínez-Campos appear on the show. Jon is the curator/mentor on Written and Directed By and Diego is one of the directors of an original play. They elucidate features of their short form and one act plays, including No Que No, directed by Martínez-Campos. These plays will be performed at the Wyatt Pavilion theater. The program concludes with a talk by composers James Larkins and Bryndyn Moondy, featured ensembles at the Tap Root New Music Festival. 

Gbenga Adesina is a Nigerian poet and essayist. He is the author of the poetry collection Death Does Not End at the Sea (University of Nebraska Press, 2025), which was long-listed for the National Book Award.Adesina was the 2019–2020 Olive B. O’Connor Fellow at Colgate University. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Jon Racini is the author of two books: Contemporary Latina/o Theater: Wrighting Ethnicity (Southern Illinois University Press, 2008), and the Pragmatic Liberation and the Politics of Puerto Rican Diasporic Drama (University of Michigan Press, 2024, available open access thanks to UC Davis and the TOME initiative). His current scholarly work combines continued consideration of Latine theatre and performance with new thinking on writing and performance that explores expanded (experimental, creative, performative?) critical writing in relation to performance.

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, Robby Nykodym, and by members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Arturo Mantećon is the first guest of the program. He discusses his move to Alabama to join his grandchildren, and his translations of Leopoldo María Panero. Mantećon highlights Panero’s logical approach to poetry and his psychiatry, while emphasizing that Panero’s institutionalized status does not reflect work that is chaotic. He reads a Panero poem, “Palabora de lectura,” before sharing two of his own poems that aimed to be in conversation with Panero's, titled “Parable of the Dictionary,” and “The four folds of nothingness.”  Mantećon credits Bill Lavender for taking a chance to reissue his translations of Panero and his own original, experimental works. He concludes the episode by sharing another poem about Marinda Melendez.

Arturo Mantecón is a poet and literary translator whose poems have appeared in various reviews and anthologies. His books of translation include three volumes of the collected works of Leopoldo María Panero and selected works by Francisco Ferrer Lerín (for which he won the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles award in 2017) and Mario Santiago Papasquiaro.

 The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, Robby Nykodym, and by members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Chris Erikson is the first guest of the hour. He joins the program to discuss his recently released novella Henrytown, which operates not only as a piece of literature, but one of performance art. Erickson states the book's vernacular is drawn from Central Illinois, where he grew up. He talks about his book tour before reading a sample from Henrytown. Greg Miller is the second guest on the program. Miller joins in conversation with Erickson and Dr. Andy early in the episode, where he shares insights from his time as a book reviewer and an ice-cream scooper. Miller describes his mostly-short form fiction that he will read at the upcoming poetry in Davis series. He also reads a story, “Something Else.”

Chris Erickson is the author of Henrytown, a debut novella recently published by Dzanc Books. Joe Wenderoth has said, “Henrytown is the funniest serious prose (and the most serious funny prose) I have encountered in contemporary American literature.” Erickson’s writing has appeared or is forthcoming in The American Reader, Gigantic, Action Spectacle, The Capilano Review, Seneca Review, PANK, benmarcus.com, The Hobo-Tramp Voice, Byline, and The Glacier. A graduate of the Creative Writing Program at UC Davis, Erickson is also the former host of “Boxcar Whitey’s Old-Time Music & Lore Progr’m,” which aired on KRCL FM Salt Lake City from 2003-05 and then on KDRT FM in Davis from 2006-08. He works as an educator in the City of Davis.

Greg Miller has taught writing, journalism, and literature at UC Davis for more than 20 years. He previously worked as an ice cream scooper, a door-to-door salesman of fine knives, and an author of personalized detective novels. A former Fulbright Fellow and Editor in Chief of the journal Prized Writing, he has published more than 100 articles and reviews in places such as The Los Angeles Review of Books, The San Francisco Chronicle, Film News (Canada), Modern Drama, and The Michigan Quarterly Review. His degrees include an M.F.A. from Warren Wilson College and a Ph.D. from UC Davis.

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, Robby Nykodym, and by members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Peter Coyote joins the show to discuss Buddhism, Northern California, environmental activism, and his upcoming appearance at the Davis Jazz Beat festival. Coyote is the keynote speaker at the festival, which will take place on October 11th in Davis. It will be a multidisciplinary event, the first of its kind since the post-pandemic-era, that will have performers, art installations, and collaborations from the high school and college. The next guest on the program is Natalie Shapero. Her most recent release, Stay Dead, was longlisted for the National Book Award in Poetry. Shapero states that she feels her collections execute their own project, but her poetry arc as a whole is on a continuum of a larger inquiry. She shares two poems, “Larger Papers,” and “Black on Dark Sienna on Purple,” discusses housing markets, and credits her students for helping her immerse in inspiring writing communities. The last guest of the hour is the former host of Dr Andy’s Poetry and Technology Hour Katerina Hanks. She details her upcoming art showcase at Delta of Venus in Davis, and plays a game where Dr.Andy guesses the name of her pieces!

Peter Coyote (born Robert Peter Cohon; October 10, 1941) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, author, and narrator of films, theater, television, and audiobooks. He worked on films, such as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Cross Creek (1983), Jagged Edge (1985), Bitter Moon (1992), Kika (1993), Patch Adams (1998), Erin Brockovich (2000), A Walk to Remember (2002), and Femme Fatale (2002). His voice work includes his narration for the opening ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics. He narrated the PBS series The Pacific Century (1992), winning an Emmy. He won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Narrator in 2015 for his work on Ken Burns's documentary miniseries The Roosevelts: An Intimate History.

Natalie Shapero’s latest book is Stay Dead (2025). Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The London Review of Books, The New York Review of Books, The Paris Review, The Nation, and elsewhere. She is the author of the previous poetry collections Popular Longing (2021), Hard Child (2017), and No Object (2013), and she has performed at The Pulitzer Arts Foundation, The Poetry Project at St. Mark’s, and elsewhere. She lives in Los Angeles and teaches writing at UC Irvine. 

Katerina Hanks is a local Davis artist and an alumna of UC Davis. 

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, Robby Nykodym, and by members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Sacramento poet Lawrence Dinkins (NSAA) joins the program to discuss his upcoming reading in Davis, aging, and the Sacramento poetry scene. Dinkins states that poetry readings are a democratic space where voices can be heard, and highlights how they foster special connections decoupled from traditional media. The Warrior Poet then reads, “Inner-City Love Poem,” before Indigo Moor joins the program. Moor updates listeners on his upcoming collection, Reconstruction of Eden, and shares his excitement about the upcoming 2027 Association of Writers & Writing programs 2027 conference. The last guest on the program is  Dr. Karma Waltonen, the former president of the Margaret Atwood society. She details California Free Thought Day,  which occurred Sunday, October 12th, at the state capital building. Waltonen encourages resistance to the current attacks on the first amendment.   

Lawrence Dinkins (NSAA) is a Detroit transplant to Sacramento, and began writing poetry here a few decades ago. A dynamic performance poet (who describes his style as neo-folk spoken word), he has recorded two CDs: NSAA Live (The Mario Ellis Hill Recordings) and ElectroPoeticCoffee, with guitarist Ross Hammond. He organized and hosted poetry and 3 spoken word events for over twenty years, notably at Luna’s Café and at the Mahogany Urban Poets series. His Open Mic Sketchbook chronicles his hosting events in photographs, art and poetry. His selected poems, Warrior Poet, was published by Random Lane Press in 2019.

Poet Laureate Emeritus of Sacramento, Indigo Moor’s fourth book of poetry, Everybody’s Jonesin’ for Something, took second place in the University of Nebraska Press’ Backwater Prize. Jonesin’—a multi-genre work consisting of poetry, short fiction, memoir pieces, and stage plays—was published in the spring of 2021. Through the Stonecutter’s Window, won Northwestern University Press’s Cave Canemprize. His first and third books, Tap-Root and In the Room of Thirsts & Hungers, were both parts of Main Street Rag’s Editor’s Select Poetry Series. Indigo is part of the visiting faculty for Dominican’s MFA program, teaching poetry and short fiction. His stageplay, Live! At the Excelsior, was a finalist for the Images Theatre Playwright Award. The subsequent screenplay was optioned as a full-length film.

Dr. Karma lives and teaches and writes in Northern California. She writes about her successes and failures (the failures are mostly in dating and in figuring out how to treat chronic medical stuff) here for her friends and is surprised that anyone else reads this. She has three cats and a son (aka The Boy), who lives at home and goes to college nearby. Most of her writing is academic, but it’s on awesomely geeky topics like Doctor Who, The X Files, and Star Trek. She is an expert on The Simpsons, stand-up comedy, and Margaret Atwood. Her work has been featured at ComicCons and on NPR.

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, Robby Nykodym, and by members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. NSAA and Bob Stanley will be the featured poets on October 2nd.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Laura Rosenthal is the first guest of the program. Rosenthal states that her practice as a public attorney taught her how to better negotiate the tension between viscerality and beng understood as a poet. She then shares some exciting upcoming events that she is participating in and leading, including one by Calyx, the oldest feminist literary journal in the U.S. Calyx will be hosting “Reproductive Rites: Writing the Write to Choose," which will serve as a collaborative workshop environment for attending parties. Laura also led a daylong workshop on writing as spiritual practice on December 14 for the Sacramento Buddhist Meditation Group. She reads a poem titled, “Dove.” Dr.Andy reads “The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock” before John Natsulouas joins the program to advertise the upcoming October 11th Jazz Beat Festival in Davis. It will be a multidisciplinary event, the first of its kind in the post-pandemic-era, that will have performers, art instillations, and collaborations from Davis highschool and university.

A public interest attorney before returning to her first love, writing, Laura Rosenthal has published, or has poems forthcoming, in Chicago Quarterly Review, Raleigh Review, Tampa Review, Calyx, Calul, and other journals. Laura leads workshops on writing and spiritual practice. She holds degrees from Cornell University and Stanford Law School as well as an MFA from Pacific University.

Fresh out of college, John Natsoulas began his work with Amnesty International in East and North Africa, where he campaigned against the imprisonment and torture of political prisoners. In 1986, Natsoulas organized Amnesty International’s first fundraising exhibition, Artists for Amnesty. The event precipitated the release of the Moroccan prisoner, Mohammed El Mousari. Natsoulas established a gallery in his hometown Davis, California where he could continue to pursue humanitarian causes through the arts.

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, Robby Nykodym, and by members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas joins the episode to discuss her upcoming readings at the Poetry in Davis reading series, California Writer’s Club’s 100th anniversary reading, and her two most recent poetry publications, Handful of Stallions at Twilight and A Shared and Sacred Space. She states that writing as an isolated activity can be lonely, so the communities established at readings allow one to understand vulnerabilities and feel socially connected. Stevenson Grellas reads a poem titled “At Dinner Time,” which is fashioned after “On the Back Porch" by Dorianne Laux, and another titled “Deer in the Garden.” The next guest of the hour is John Bell. He speaks on his writing habits post-retirement, expressing gratitude for his newly acquired free time. Bell reads a poem from The Sacramento Poetry Center’s 2024 Tule Review titled, “The Hawks,” before outlining some ongoing events and collectives doing great work in the Sacramento poetry scene.

Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas is a recent graduate of Vermont College of Fine Arts with an MFA in Writing. In 2012, her chapbook, Before I Go to Sleep, won the Red Ochre Press Chapbook contest. In 2018, her book In the Making of Goodbyes was nominated for the CLMP Firecracker Award in Poetry, and her poem “A Mall in California” took 2nd place for the Jack Kerouac Poetry Contest. In 2019, her chapbook An Ode to Hope in the Midst of Pandemonium was a finalist in the Eric Hoffer Book Award. In 2020, her sonnet “Water Goddess” won first place in the Literary Nest poetry contest. In 2021, her collection Alice in Ruby Slippers was short-listed for the Eric Hoffer Grand Prize, receiving an honorable mention in the poetry category. 

John Bell, a graduate of the Wichita State University MFA program, is a retired English professor at American River College. His poetry has appeared in Thorny Locust, Tule Review, Sacramento Voices, Burning the Little Candle, and Teaching English in the Two-Year College. In an earlier life he earned a BA in Spanish from the University of New Mexico. He lives in Sacramento with a demanding tomcat and sings bass in a local choir. 

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, Robby Nykodym, and by members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. The 9/17/25 iteration of the Poetry Night reading series will feature poets Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas and John Bell.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Dr.Andy is joined by two Ph.Ds who are speaking at the upcoming 2025 Summer Institute on Teaching and Technology. SITT 2025 features UC Davis faculty during two-half days of online presentations on the mornings of September 11th and 12th. The first guest on the program, Tricia Bertram Gallant, will be giving the lead-off talk at SITT 2025 on The Opposite of Cheating: Teaching for Integrity in the Age of AI (2025), which is also the title of her recently released book. Gallant discusses the role of teachers to facilitate and certify learning, tasks that are growing in complexity within the new technology landscape. She states that offloading cognitive tasks to AI as a student is fundamentally different from non-student offloading, as to achieve successful learning outcomes students must often overcome friction and frustration within their processes that AI can jump over for them. Margeret Merrill is the next guest on the program. Dr. Merrill is one of the primary organizers of SITT, and reflects on how SITT started, shifted virtual in 2020, and has grown to an annual event with an attendance of over 100 faculty members. She states that the Institute offers rich Q&A sessions. Merrill feels that the collaboration of multiple academic disciplines fosters a great space for bridging silos between different departments at R1 universities.  

Tricia Bertram Gallant, Ph.D. is the Director of Academic Integrity and Triton Testing at UC San Diego, President Emeritus of the International Center for Academic Integrity. Tricia has authored numerous pieces on academic integrity and artificial intelligence. Her latest book (co-authored with David Rettinger) is The Opposite of Cheating: Teaching for Integrity in the Age of AI (2025) and her next book on Generative Artificial Intelligence and Academic Integrity - co-authored with Mary Davis (UK) & Zeenath Khan (UAE) - will be published by Cambridge Elements in 2026. 

Margaret Merrill, PhD, is a Senior Instructional Design Consultant at the University of California, Davis. She works with faculty as they consider how to use technology in strategic and pedagogically sound ways in their face-to-face, hybrid, or online teaching. She creates and teaches workshops on technology and pedagogy, and researches, pilots, and supports technologies for teaching. Dr. Merrill is interested in how active learning, mobile learning, instructional use of video, and Universal Design for Learning can improve teaching and learning experiences. She has presented on mobile learning, accessibility, communities of practice, the design of faculty development programs, and communities among language instructors. Previously, Dr. Merrill has developed and implemented faculty support programs, created technology-supported foreign language learning materials for higher education and government projects, taught junior high French, and held the boom mic for the filming of a movie in Romania.

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, Robby Nykodym, and by members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. The 9/17/25 iteration of the Poetry Night reading series will feature poets Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas and John Bell.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Neil McRoberts joins the program to discuss being a plant epidemiologist, educator, poet, and lifelong learner. He shares a poem called “San Lucas,” which spawned from his long work-related drives across California. McRoberts recalls his move to the United States in 2010, and expresses excitement about his upcoming reading with Catriona McPherson at this week's Poetry Night in Davis reading night series. Dr. Andy finished the episode by reading an essay from his Substack titled, “Serendipity and Friendship."

Neil McRoberts has written poetry since a high school English teacher encouraged her class of 12 year olds to give it a go. In a notable early “triumph,” Neil won the high school annual speech contest four years later with a nihilistic tirade about the pointlessness of atomic bomb response drills, written in a mixture of prose and rhyming couplets. Since 2020, Neil has collaborated regularly with English ambient music composer and producer Harry Towell to write poetry for various releases on the WhitelabRecs label. His first professionally published poem will soon appear in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine.

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, Robby Nykodym, and by members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. The featured readers for the September 4th, 2025 iteration of poetry night will be mystery novelist Catriona McPherson and Poet Neil McRoberts

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Kindra McDonald is the author of the books Teaching a Wild Thing, In the Meat years, and Fossils. She received her MFA from Queens University of Charlotte. She is a teaching artist, educator, and conservationist, who leads a nonprofit organization in Norfolk, Virginia.

Luisa A. Igloria is the author of Caulbearer (Immigrant Writing Series Prize, Black Lawrence Press; 2024), Maps for Migrants and Ghosts (Co-Winner, 2019 Crab Orchard Open Poetry Prize, Southern Illinois University Press, 2020),The Buddha Wonders if She is Having a Mid-Life Crisis (Phoenicia Publishing, Montreal, 2018), 12 other books, and 4 chapbooks. She was the inaugural recipient of the 2015 Resurgence Poetry Prize, UK—the world’s first major award for ecopoetry (now known as the Ginkgo Prize), selected by a panel headed by former UK Poet Laureate Andrew Motion. She is lead editor, along with co-editors Aileen Cassinetto and Jeremy S. Hoffman, of Dear Human at the Edge of Time: Poems on Climate Change in the United States (Paloma Press, September 2023). She is also co-editor, along with Aileen Cassinetto and David Hassler, of a new ecopoetry anthology to be released from Paloma Press on September 18, 2025 - THE NATURE OF OUR TIMES: POEMS 

California poet Mariam Ahmed grew up in the Bay Area and Folsom. Ahmed has an MFA in Poetry from San Diego State University and a BA in English Literature with a minor in Sociology from the University of California, Davis, where she was a student of Dr. Andy. Her work has appeared in Poetry International, The Los Angeles Review, Panorama: The Journal of Travel, Place & Nature, and many other literary journals. Her debut full-length collection, Hidden Parts, was published in January 2025. A certified Poet-Teacher with California Poets in the Schools, Ahmed spends her days guiding young writers in the classroom. She also mentors youth through local nonprofits and teaches English to newly arrived Afghan women and children. Ahmed lives in San Diego, where she enjoys teaching yoga and finding inspiration by the ocean.

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, Robby Nykodym, and by members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Dyson Kona Smith joins the program to talk about his post-graduate life, poetry, and his next steps. He outlines a desire to publish his manuscript, Tomboy Ballet, and reads an untitled poem and “Lai about Home Followed By Analysis.” Smith also shares that he is now a Data Analyst for Turning Point Community Programs, helping evaluate programs tailored to help Northern Californians on their recovery journeys. The next guest on the hour is Roman Spinale. Roman discusses leveraging social media as a tool to propel his comedy career, before sharing about an upcoming Fair Oaks event on Friday, August 22nd “Comedy Under the Stars,” which will start at 8:00 P.M. and feature great comedians far and wide. 

Dyson Kona Smith is a recent Statistics, English, and Sociology Graduate from the University of California, Davis.  He was awarded the Herbert A. Young Award as the College of Letters and Science’s Medalist, given to the graduating senior they determine the most outstanding. His honors thesis in Poetry, Tomboy Ballet recently won the Lois Ann Lattin prize for UC Davis’s Best Honors Creative Writing Project. Poems from the collection have been published in journals such as but not limited to Open Ceilings, Poet News, GTFO Poetry’s 2024 Anthology of Sacramento Poets, Euphemism and The Madison Review. Beyond poetry, Dyson is a social statistician who wrote his research thesis on the association between social proximity to gun violence and chronic health conditions in California. He has worked on other projects pertaining to housing insecurity in Davis and deaths of despair among formerly incarcerated persons. Dyson was previously a Community-Coordinator and DJ at the campus and community radio station KDVS, a Researcher at the UC Davis Innovations and Research Lab, and the producer of Dr. Andy’s poetry and technology hour.

For over a decade Roman has been entertaining audiences with his signature brand of clean and introspective comedy. Today Roman can be seen regularly opening for Jay Leno, as well as touring dates across comedy clubs, corporate events, and private gatherings.

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, Robby Nykodym, and by members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Atim Udoffia is a theatre artist and a mother of two working in theatre and film/video in the Sacramento and Bay Area. While continuing to expand her body of work as an actor and director, Udoffia aims to build a creative pipeline enabling trained, experienced theatre artists to initiate projects and generate their own creative opportunities. Favorite stage roles include Emilie in EMILIE LA MARQUISE DU CHATELET DEFENDS HER LIFE TONIGHT (The Stage @ Burke Junction), Lady Macbeth (STC), and Rosalind in AS YOU LIKE IT, which she also adapted and produced. Udoffia’s film credits include the feature films No Address, Fairyland, and Where Sleeping Dogs Lie. As a director, her work includes the solo show MINE FOR THE TRIBE, DANNY AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA, OTHELLO, and the one-act CHARLIE AND NELL, for which she received a Best Director Award. Udoffia earned a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University before pursuing acting training in London and Los Angeles. 

Brad Buchanon’s poetry, short fiction, and scholarly articles have appeared in more than 200 literary journals. He has published four book-length collections of poetry, most recently Chimera (Finishing Line Press, 2022). Buchanan has also published three academic books, most recently ’Indict the Author of Affection’: Affectation and Catachresis in Hamlet (McGill-Queens University Press, 2023). His medical memoir, Living with Graft-Versus-Host-Disease, was published by Armin Lear Press in 2021. Spy's Mate, his historical chess-espionage thriller set in the late Cold War Soviet Union, will be published this fall.

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, Robby Nykodym, and by members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Partners Robin Ekiss and Keith Ekiss are the first guests on the program. A former colleague of Dr.Andy’s, Robin reflects on her time at UC Davis, mentored by poets such as Sandra McPherson and Sandra Gilbert. Keith discusses his recent book, Burial Fragments, which co-won the Barry Sparks Poetry Prize for 2024 from Gunpowder Press. He describes the collection as his “San Francisco book report,” documenting change in the city since the dot-com bubble. They then both share poems, with Robin reading “The bird of God.” and Keith reading a piece titled “Explaining Shockley.” The next guest on the show is Santi Elijah Holley, who describes his recent publication in the New York Times column Letters of Recommendations, “I don’t believe in God I believe in Gospel music.” He describes his journey with gospel music, and how he came upon the genre later in life. Holley credits listening to music from a critical lens as a reason why he was able to become a successful writer, writing an award winning book about the Shakur family. He recommends the gospel songs “Previous Lord Take my Hand,” “How I Got Over” and “Sit down Servant." 

Robin Ekiss earned her MA in creative writing from UC Davis so many years ago that Dr. Andy was actually one of her graduate student colleagues. A former Stegner Fellow in Poetry at Stanford, she’s the author of The Mansion of Happiness, winner of the Shenandoah/Glasgow Prize and a finalist for the Northern California Book Awards. Her poems and prose have appeared inThe Atlantic, POETRY, APR, and elsewhere. She’s a recipient of a Rona Jaffe Foundation Award for emerging women writers, and residencies from the MacDowell Colony, Millay Colony for the Arts, and Headlands Center for the Arts. 

Keith Ekiss is the author of two collections of poetry — Burial Fragments, co-winner of the Barry Spacks Poetry Prize for 2024 from Gunpowder Press — and Pima Road Notebook (New Issues Poetry & Prose, 2010), a book about growing up on the edge of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community in Arizona. As a translator, his works include The Fire’s Journey (Tavern Books, 2019), an epic poem by the Costa Rican writer Eunice Odio in four volumes and Territory of Dawn: The Selected Poems of Eunice Odio, published in 2016 by The Bitter Oleander Press. He has been a lecturer in the Creative Writing program at Stanford since 2007.

Santi Elijah Holley is an award-winning journalist and a recipient of the 2019 Robert B. Silvers grant for Work in Progress, and a 2017 Oregon Literary Fellowship for nonfiction. His 2023 nonfiction book, An Amerikan Family: The Shakurs and the Nation They Created, was selected as a New York Times Editors' Choice, an NPR selection for “Books We Love,” "Best Book of the Year" by Kirkus Reviews, and longlisted for the 2024 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. His book on Black American independent cinema is forthcoming by Mariner Books. He lives in Los Angeles.

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, Robby Nykodym, and by members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. Robin and Keith Ekiss will read at the 8/7/25 iteration of Poetry in Davis.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Allison Proffitt joins the show to discuss her upbringing in music and upcoming performances in Sacramento. Proffit outlines how her upbringing in Illinois, and transition to California helped develop her artistic sensibilities and practices. She details the Light Opera Theatre of Sacramento’s iteration of Dracula; or the town of Sibiu, which will show at the 24th Street Theater in Sacramento on August 8, 9, 10, 15, 16 & 17, 2025. Proffit then sings a song, “Corpus Christi Carol,” specifically the Benjamin Britten setting. The next guest of the hour is Joseph Finkelman, who describes his forthcoming solo show at Viewpoint Photographic Art Center which is located at 2015 J St Sacramento, held between 1-4 P.M. on August 10th. He then reads a poem which was published in the Marin Poetry Center’s 2024 Anthology, “The Sacred Plans of Small Spaces.” Finkelman finishes his segment by speaking on his poetic practices, which include writing thirty different poems in thirty different forms this past January.

Allison Proffitt is a classical soprano who performs with the women's vocal ensemble Vox Musica and the Light Opera Theatre of Sacramento. Allison holds a B.S. in Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior from UC Davis, where she sang in the Early Music Ensemble. Allison works at UC Davis Health conducting clinical research studies. She also enjoys performing at Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis.

Joseph Finkleman was born in Hollywood California. He was educated as a Photo-Journalist.  He was a Literature major both in German and English. In 1973 he changed majors and went to and graduated from the San Francisco Art Institute with a BFA in 1974 and an MFA in 1976. He was a commercial photographer for over twenty years. Finkleman was a credentialed teacher in both photography and animation, and had taught off and on for the last 47 years. He has written numerous feature articles on photography besides having had a regular column for Close-Up Magazine, now defunct. Finkleman has been in 131 exhibitions over the last 57 years of his career. He has been a Spoken Word Poet for the last 30+ years with numerous featured readings. Finkleman and his wife Susan Finkleman developed a Two Voice poetry series, which resulted in a Chapbook by Rattlesnake Press and two CDs. He finished his first Graphic Novel in 2023 titled Happy Tooth and is currently working on his second novel titled Trouble in the Troupe.

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, Robby Nykodym, and by members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Danielle Collins joins the program to discuss her journey as a burnout survivor. Because of her lived experience with burnout, Collins returned back to school to learn more about coaching others through the ongoing crisis. From their research, coaching experience, and their own journey, Collins wrote the book Work Comes Third:Eradicating Burnout in Overwhelmed Leaders and Their Weary Employees, a rally cry for those faced with burnout. Collins shares the themes of her book, explaining how to manage workloads and set boundaries with demanding bosses. The next guest on the show is Dave Boles, who reflects on his time at Cold River Press. Boles started the VOICES anthology to capture the art of Sacramento Valley region poets, and just published its newest iteration in 2025. Boles also details a special event celebrating the release, which is a five hour reading and potluck in Sacramento on July 26th. He shares two poems, “Circumstances” and a political poem “Inconsequential.” 

Danielle Collins is a previous fundraiser and burnout survivor. She returned to school to pursue a career more aligned with her values and then founded Primavera Strategies for Wellbeing. Today, she is a coach, author, and speaker, helping dedicated leaders who are burning out to renew their passions. Danielle believes that burnout affects the most committed employees, not the weakest. Collins recently published her first book titled, Work Comes Third:  Eradicating Burnout in Overwhelmed Leaders and Their Weary Employees. You can connect with her at PrimaveraStrategies.com.

Dave Boles has worked as an Alternative Publisher, Writer and Designer since 1982. Founder of the magazine Primal Urge, he also created The Sacramento Free Press and Cruisin' Magazine. He has published, designed, edited and written numerous books, magazines and articles both nationally and internationally. His publishing company, Cold River Press, has helped many new writers, artists, poets, illustrators and photographers further their careers. 

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, Robby Nykodym, and by members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Dane Cervine joins the program to discuss how his meditative writing process has changed over time. He discusses the difference between his two recent releases, At Home in the [Burning] World, which reads like a nonfiction travel book, and Nine Volt Nirvana, a poetry collection. Cervine then shares samples of his work, a sample of Adela Najaro’s work, and praise for his and Adela’s writing group, Emerald Street Writers. Joseph Fasano is the next guest on the program. Fasano reflects on his training as a poet, and how it has led him to be apt to write his prose in multiple genres. He describes the importance of writing between tensions and trying to discover our wholeness as people through writing mediums. Fasano then reads a poem “Sudden Hymn in Winter,” before discussing what it means to write for other people versus just writing for other poets. Cervine also leads a discussion and shares praise for the late, great poet Andrea Gibson. The episode concludes Andrea Gibson's last reading and TV interview.

Dane Cervine’s recent books of poetry include Nine Volt Nirvana (Word Poetry Press), DEEP TRAVEL – At Home in the [Burning] World (Saddle Road Press), The World Is God’s Language (Sixteen Rivers Press), Earth Is a Fickle Dancer (Main Street Rag), and The Gateless Gate – Polishing the Moon Sword (Saddle Road Press). Dane’s poems have won awards from Adrienne Rich, Tony Hoagland, the Atlanta Review, Caesura, and been nominated for multiple Pushcarts.

Joseph Fasano is a poet and novelist whose works have been translated into more than a dozen languages. His most recent books include THE LAST SONG OF THE WORLD and THE MAGIC WORDS.

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, Robby Nykodym, and by members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Jamil Jan Kochai joins the show to discuss his upcoming reading at CapLit and his recent release, The Haunting of Hajji Hotak. Kochai details how his writing about Afghanistan and Sacramento grow with distance and in parallel to each other. He also discusses the writing process more broadly, and how that encompasses being a receptive learner. The next guest on the show is Naomi J. Williams, who further details the genesis of CapLit and their upcoming events. Williams discusses how CapLit goes about choosing novels that could be interesting as performances. She also shares praise for Priya Balasubramanian, who is performing at CLARA with Jamil 7/18/24 at 7 P.M. The last guest on the hour is Eve Imagine, who imparts on a conversation surrounding her recent release of autofiction, Body In Script. Imagine shares a section from her, titled “Heart Murmur.” She then outlines upcoming events, including a live reading on Facebook next Friday with Miriam Dorsett, and Rock Art by the Bay this upcoming Saturday.

Jamil Jan Kochai is the author of 99 Nights in Logar (Viking, 2019), a finalist for the Pen/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel and the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. His second book, The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories (Viking, 2022), won the 2023 Aspen Words Literary Prize, the 2024 Clark Fiction Prize, and was a finalist for the 2022 National Book Award in Fiction. His short stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Ploughshares, Zoetrope, The Sewanee Review, VQR, and A Public Space, and they have been anthologized in The O. Henry Prize Stories, The Best American Short Stories, and A Century of Fiction in The New Yorker. He was a Truman Capote Fellow at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University, and a Hodder Fellow at Princeton University. Kochai was born in an Afghan refugee camp in Peshawar, Pakistan, but his family originally hails from Logar, Afghanistan. He is a graduate of California State University, Sacramento, University of California, Davis, and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. 

Naomi J. Williams is the author of the novel Landfalls. Her short fiction and essays have appeared, most recently, in LitHub, Bourbon Penn, Electric Literature, the Brevity Blog, and the Sacramento Noir anthology. Honors include a Pushcart Prize, Best American Short Stories honorable mention, Best Horror of the Year recommendation, and artist residencies at Hedgebrook, Virginia Center for Creative Arts, Vermont Studio Center, Willapa Bay, and the Djerassi Resident Artists Program. She’s taught creative writing at UC Davis, Sacramento City College, Saint Mary’s College, and, since 2018, the low-residency MFA program at Ashland University in Ohio. A biracial Japanese-American, Naomi was born and partly raised in Japan and lives today in Sacramento, California.

Eve Imagine is a writer living in midtown Sacramento. She teaches English at Sacramento City College Working to get her first novel Body In Script in more readers’ hands.

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, Robby Nykodym, and by members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Richard Loranger describes the creative panic that they have felt over the past couple years, taking on projects in many media, including podcasting and product naming. Along with these outlets, Loranger discusses writing in multiple genres and leading multiple workshops. Loranger shares three poems from an unpublished chapbook centered around the writing process, “The Truth,” “Your Body,” and “Bowery Poetry Club.” The next guest on the show is Jeffrey Bryant, the forthcoming author from Cherry Pie Press, which emerged from publisher Natasha Dennerstein in wake of the United States 2024 presidential election. Bryant then shares two poems titled “August Abade” and  “Kissing and Kissing.” The last guest of the hour is Terry Tierney, who reflects on the release process of their most recent release Why Trees Stay Outside. Tierney states how he believes that everything has a voice, and that he tries to platform the voice of the natural world through environmental activism in his poetics. He then reads the title poem of the collection, “Why Trees Stay Outside.” 

Richard Loranger is a multi-genre writer and spoken word artist who has been working around the United States for over forty years. He has done over 500 featured readings and performances from the Davis (CA) Jazz & Beat Festival to the main stage at Lollapalooza to The Bowery Poetry Club in New York. He leads writing workshops and offers a variety of literary services. He has work in over 100 journals and anthologies, and is the author of six books and ten chapbooks of poetry and flash prose.

Jeffrey Bryant is a Pushcart-nominated queer poet. His work has appeared in numerous publications including the LA Times, LA Weekly, Synkroniciti Magazine, Quill and Echo and Tension Literary, as well as the anthologies Coiled Serpent, Altadena Literary Review, Shadowplay Literary Journal and Sparring with Beatnik Ghosts. His debut collection The Catacombs of Vanished Lovers is forthcoming from Cherry Pie Press.

Terry Tierney is the author of the poetry collections Why Trees Stay Outside and The Poet’s Garage and the novels Lucky Ride and The Bridge on Beer River. His poems and stories recently appeared in The Bellevue Literary Review, Remington Review, Reed Magazine, Ghost Parachute, Flash Fiction Magazine, Rust + Moth, Typishly, Valparaiso Poetry Review, The Lake, and other publications. He lives in the Bay Area with his family, including two fluffy cats and an enthusiastic Golden Retriever. Website: http://terrytierney.com.

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, Robby Nykodym, and by members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. Our July 3 Poetry Night will be a Wide-Open Mic night.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

The first guest on the hour is Nicolette Daskalakis, who joins the show to detail her career in the arts, which started as a high schooler at KDVS. Daskalakis reveals she was at one point the youngest ever staff member at the station, serving as the news director, before she went off to earn an undergraduate degree at USC and then to earn an MFA in France, impressively completed in the French language. Daskalakis details her inspirations for her most recent published poetry collection, Tell Me I'm Not On Fire (2024), before sharing a poem “Welcoming the Arsonist.” Dyson Kona Smith is the next guest of the hour, and he reflects on his undergraduate journey at UC Davis. Coming from Chicago, Illinois, Smith talks about his transition into academia and obtaining a multidisciplinary education. He shares praise for mentors, peers, and the campus-community radio station KDVS, before outlining the thematics of his senior thesis, Tomboy Ballet.  Smith then reads three poems, “Duplex,” “Mine/Chicago,” and “Afterlife Poem.”

Born in the fog of San Francisco, Nicolette Daskalakis is a poet, filmmaker, and multidisciplinary artist based in Paris. Her writing has been anthologized by HarperCollins, nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and published in numerous literary journals. Nicolette is the author of multiple poetry books, including Tell Me I'm Not On Fire (2024) and Portrait of Your Ex Assembling Furniture (2018). She holds a BA in Film & Television Production from the USC School of Cinematic Arts and an MFA from the institut supérieur des arts et du design de Toulouse.

Dyson Smith is a recent Statistics, English, and Sociology Graduate from the University of California, Davis. He was awarded the Herbert A. Young Award as the College of Letters and Science’s Medalist, given to the graduating senior they determine the most outstanding. His honors thesis in Poetry, Tomboy Ballet recently won the Lois Ann Lattin prize for UC Davis’s Best Honors Creative Writing Project. Poems from the collection have been published in journals such as Open Ceilings, Poet News, GTFO Poetry’s 2024 Anthology of Sacramento Poets, Euphemism and The Madison Review. Beyond poetry, Dyson is a social statistician who wrote his research thesis on the association between social proximity to gun violence and chronic health conditions in California. He has worked on other projects pertaining to housing insecurity in Davis and deaths of despair among formerly incarcerated persons. In the past school year, Dyson was a Community-Coordinator and DJ at the campus and community radio station KDVS, a researcher at the UC Davis Innovations and Research Lab, the producer of Dr. Andy’s Poetry and Technology Hour, a data analyst for Davis's Data Driven Change Club, and a submissions reader for the literary magazine Open Ceilings. His mom owned a bike shop in Chicago. 

June 20th we will be taking a Summer Break from Poetry Night. Please plan to join us on every subsequent first and third Thursday of the month at 7PM at the John Natsoulas Gallery for the Poetry Night Reading Series. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Heather Bourbeau joins the show to discuss her most recent release, Monarch, detailing that she spends a lot of time outside to better understand the protective lands which she writes about. Bourbeau then reads two poems, “Consequences: Cascades that Skew National Monuments,” and “Steelhead at Devil’s Gulch.” The next guest on the show is Tim Kerbavaz, who joins the show to recount his career as a Technical Producer and founder of Talon AV. He discusses his experiences building a queer-owned business in Yolo County, and the importance of small businesses supporting community-driven events like Davis Pride. Guests Morgan Strong and Breanna Garman finish the show representing events and ongoing showcases in the UC Davis Art Studio department, including their joint exhibit “Kindred Spirits” and the June 6th Art Walk from 12-3 P.M.

Heather Bourbeau’s award-winning poetry and fiction have appeared in The Irish Times, The Kenyon Review, and The Stockholm Review of Literature. Her writings are part of the Special Collections at the James Joyce Library, University College Dublin, and her latest poetry collection, Monarch, examines overlooked histories from the US West (Cornerstone Press, 2023). Much of her creative work is influenced by her work as a researcher, analyst, and writer with various UN agencies, including the UN peacekeeping mission in Liberia and UNICEF Somalia. In addition, she is a winter wildlife docent at Point Reyes National Seashore and organizes the annual Reyes the Pen writing workshop. She is currently working on a poetry collection about protected lands in the Western United States.

Tim Kerbavaz is the Founder and Principal Technical Producer at Talon Audio Visual, a Yolo-County Based Technical Production Agency which he founded 15 years ago in a college bedroom in Davis. As a Technical Producer, Tim manages the behind the scenes tools and processes that enable live events to bring people together, with a focus on connectivity and accessibility solutions for live events. Talon AV is proud to be providing audio and production support to Davis Pride for the 11th consecutive year, this Saturday, June 7, in Davis Community Park.

Breanna Garman is a 4th year UC Davis student soon to graduate with degrees in both Art Studio and Applied Chemistry. Garman serves as the programming director and a longtime DJ at the campus and community radio station KDVS.

Morgan Strong is an interdisciplinary artist specializing in printmaking and visual art. Strong is an Undergraduate at UC Davis, Radio DJ at KDVS, and an artist who aims to experiment ruthlessly, use water as a reservoir, exhibitions as community, discursive questions to disrupt patterns of complacency, and her intuition as a compass.

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, Robby Nykodym, and by members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. Our June 5 Poetry Night will feature poets and authors Heather Bourbeau and Andrea Ross.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

UC Davis alumna Allison Field Bell discusses her upcoming, debut poetry collection ALL THAT BLUE, thinking through themes of sexuality and womanhood. Field Bell shares her journey in academia, starting as an undergraduate in Davis, California, then transitioning as an MFA student at New Mexico State University, and now as a PhD candidate in Creative Writing and English Literature at the University of Utah. She then reads two poems from the collection, “O’Keefe Country” and “Garden.” Stephanie Roberts is the next guest on the show, and she reflects on her intentional humor within her poetics. Roberts explains how her recent collection, UNMET expands on the thematics of her first book, rushes from the river disappointment, exploring themes of justice and rescue. She then reads two poems, “Nothing of the Month Club” and one of the many poems in the manuscript titled “UNMET.” The last guest of the hour, Diane Frank, discusses her role as Chief Editor at Blue Light Press, and her newly published book Mermaids and Musicians. Frank states the novel is literary fiction, magical realism, and a romance, where a violinist falls in love with a mermaid. She outlines how the book chose her to write it, and is a labor of love. Frank closes the episode by sharing a long sample from her new novel.

Allison Field Bell is a writer from California. She is a PhD Candidate in Creative Writing at the University of Utah, and she holds an MFA from New Mexico State University. Her debut poetry collection, ALL THAT BLUE, is forthcoming in 2026. She is also the author of two chapbooks, WITHOUT WOMAN OR BODY and EDGE OF THE SEA. Find more of her writing at allisonfieldbell.com

Stephanie Roberts is the Canadian author of the poetry collection UNMET (Biblioasis Books, April 2025).  Her debut collection, rushes from the river disappointment (McGill-Queen's University Press, May 2020) was an A.M. Klein Poetry Prize finalist. Widely featured in periodicals and anthologies in the U.S., Canada, and Europe such as Poetry Magazine, Atlanta Review, Event Magazine, New York Quarterly Books, Verse Daily, Crannóg (Ireland), and The Stockholm Review of Literature, she is the winner of The Sixty-Four: Best Poets of 2018 (Black Mountain Press). Stephanie was born in Panama, grew up in NYC, and is a citizen of three countries.

Diane Frank is author of eight books of poems, three novels, and a photo memoir of her 400 mile trek in the Nepal Himalayas. She is also Chief Editor of Blue Light Press. Her collection While Listening to the Enigma Variations: New and Selected Poems won the 2022 Next Generation Indie Book Award for Poetry. Diane plays cello with the College of Marin Symphony Orchestra. She teaches poetry, flash fiction and memoir workshops at San Francisco State University and Dominican University. Her first novel, Blackberries in the Dream House, won the Chelson Award for Fiction and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Her website is www.dianefrank.com. 

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, Robby Nykodym, and by members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Eve West Bessier joins the program to talk about her New Mexico poetic endeavors. She shares details about her two most recent collections, both poetic micro-essays: Poems Before Breakfast (2023), and The Road Home (2024). Bessier shares two poems “The Clothes Translation Hope” and “This Labor Mess.” The next guest is Kevin Smokler, who discusses his new book, Break the Frame: Conversations with Women Filmmakers, published by Oxford University. Smokler conducted 24 career-length interviews for this book, focusing on the successes of these women throughout their careers directing films. The last guest on the hour is Grant Faulkner, who details his new project, Memoir Nation, which highlights that everyone has a story to tell and a life to document. He also details the membership tiers and benefits that Memoir Nation has to offer.

Eve West Bessier is a poet laureate emerita of Silver City and Grant County, New Mexico; and of Davis and Yolo County, California. She served on the steering committee for the Southwest Word Fiesta, and has been a festival presenter. Eve is a retired social scientist, educator, and voice coach. She is a published author, jazz vocalist, photographer and nature enthusiast currently living in Alamogordo, New Mexico.

Kevin Smokler is the author of 4 books about pop culture including has latest Break the Frame: Conversations with Women Filmmakers, out tomorrow. He also directs documentary films including the award winning VINYL NATION about the comeback of vinyl records in America, available at www.vinylnationfilm.com. He lives in San Francisco.

Grant Faulkner is the co-founder of Memoir Nation, the co-founder of 100 Word Story, and an executive producer on America’s Next Great Author. He has published three books on writing: The Art of Brevity: Crafting the Very Short Story; Pep Talks for Writers: 52 Insights and Actions to Boost Your Creative Mojo; and Brave the Page, a teen writing guide. He’s also published All the Comfort Sin Can Provide, a collection of short stories, Fissures, a collection of 100-word stories, and Nothing Short of 100: Selected Tales from 100 Word Story.

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, Robby Nykodym, and by members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. 

On Tuesday, May 27th, we will have the monthly convocation of the Village Homes Performers’ Circle featuring the quintet NoteWorthy. NoteWorthy have fun writing, singing, playing, and sharing songs.  NoteWorthy includes Meri Superak, Wendy Silk, Meg Alison, Ron Goldberg and Mike Elfant.  Meg is celebrating the recent release of her second album, “No Matter What Breaks,” recorded at Foxtail Studios (https://megalison.hearnow.com/). All five members treasure the community and connections they’ve made at Performers Circle - some for over 20 years! 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Mary Mackey joins the show to discuss her poetics, the planet, and how to preserve hope and joy in the face of catastrophe. In her new book In This Burning World: Poems of Love and Apocalypse, Mackey imagines what life may be like as the climate changes, and how that will move us to mobilize as people. Through her poetic series, she outlines how creating places where grief cannot enter, participating in collective activism, and fostering appreciation of the earth can help offset the impending fear and doom of climate change. Mackey shares two poems titled “Memories of Snow” and “The Kama Sutra’s Kindness: Position #4” before detailing her upcoming book tour, including locations in Davis, San Francisco, Berkeley, and Sacramento. The next guest is Robby Nykodym, who outlines their poetic journey that spanned the length of their undergraduate career, now a featured reader at Poetry Night in Davis. Nykodym describes the intersection between their molecular biology research and writing, outlining the different lenses that the fields take and how they help inform each other. They then read a poem titled “Bless This Body Pale.” Nykodym also discusses some of the thematics of their unpublished manuscript “This White Dress,” and the process of trying to publish that body of work. To end the show, Dr. Andy reads a poem, “Ode to a Nightingale” by John Keats.

Mary Mackey became a writer by running high fevers, tramping through tropical jungles, being swarmed by army ants, and reading. She is the author of 9 poetry collections, including Sugar Zone, winner of a PEN Award, and The Jaguars That Prowl Our Dreams, winner of the Eric Hoffer Award for Best Book Published by a Small Press. Her poetry has been praised by Wendell Berry, Jane Hirshfield, D. Nurkse, Al Young, Daniel Lawless, Rafael Jesús González, and Maxine Hong Kingston for its beauty, precision, originality, and extraordinary range. She is also the author of 14 novels including The New York Times bestseller A Grand Passion.

Robert Nykodym is a poet and scientist, born and raised in Northern California. Their poetry is deeply personal, exploring the relationships between themself, the land in which they were raised, and the bodies around them every day. In addition to writing poetry, Robert spends their time following his creative vision through collage and photography. They can also frequently be found in the lab, researching molecular biology at the forefront of medicine. Their work has appeared previously in the Open Ceilings literary magazine. 

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, Robby Nykodym, and by Thea and the other members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. Our May 15th Poetry Night will feature local poets Mary Mackey and Robby Nykodym. We meet at 7 PM on the roof of the John Natsoulas Gallery, and we hope you can join us

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Doria E. Charlson joins the show to discuss the Department of Theater and Dance’s upcoming spring dance “Rules of Play.” She outlines the process behind the department’s plays, with an informal showing in the fall, and a formal showing in the spring quarter platforming the work of selected students. Charlson states the play highlights student’s unique dance training, interdisciplinary studies, modes of inquiry and approach to dance. This week's performance will highlight the legacy and generational impacts of racist practices in performance such as jim crow blackface minstrelsy. The next guest on the show is Mark Wish, who reads the first five minutes of his recent novel Necessary Deeds, which was nominated for a national book award. He describes his professional journeys, taking full time, adjunct, and editor positions alike. Wish also shares the thorough process of reviewing submissions for the anthology COOLEST AMERICAN STORIES. 

Doria E. Charlson is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance in the Department of Theatre and Dance at UC Davis. Doria earned her PhD in Theatre Arts and Performance Studies from Brown University, from which she also holds MA degrees in History and Theatre Arts and Performance Studies. She also earned a BA in History with a minor in Drama from Stanford University. Her manuscript project, Consuming Crises: Migrant Labor, Spectacle, and Precarity in the 20th Century considers how the laboring body becomes mobilized during moments of economic and social crisis. Doria’s research and scholarship is deeply informed by her decades of praxis as a dancer. She has trained with ODC/Dance, Mark Morris Dance Group, the Alvin Ailey School, the Joffrey Ballet School, and at Stanford University. She completed her residency as an oncology chaplain at UCSF Medical Center and holds a certificate in Interreligious Chaplaincy from the Graduate Theological Union. 

MARK WISH is the author of the novels Necessary Deeds, Watch Me Go, Show Up Look Good, and Confessions of a Polish Used Car Salesman, receiving praise from the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic's C. Michael Curtis, Salman Rushdie, Anne Serling, Daniel Woodrell, Jonathan Lethem, and Rebecca Makkai. Mark is also the founding editor of Coolest American Stories, an award-winning annual anthology of short stories by writers from all walks of life for readers from all walks of life. His own short stories have appeared in more than 125 print venues. He is the recipient of a Tobias Wolff Award, a Kay Cattarulla Award, an Isherwood Fellowship, and a Pushcart Prize. His narrative poems have appeared in venues such as Poetry, The Iowa Review, Ecotone, Prairie Schooner, New York Quarterly, Post Road, and Poetry International. Mark served as the fiction editor of California Quarterly, was the founding fiction editor of New York Stories, and a contributing editor for Pushcart. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. On Thursday, May 1, the Poetry Night Reading Series is proud to present Patrick Grizzell and Oswaldo Vargas. We meet at 7 PM on the roof of the John Natsoulas Gallery, and we hope you can join us! Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Oswaldo Vargas joins the show to discuss his role as a board member of the Sacramento Poetry Center, coordinating and facilitating events. Vargas discusses his efforts to highlight and platform the intersection of Sacramento’s queer and poetry communities together, and how his identity and life experience influence his poetics. He speaks on behalf of the Sacramento Poetry Center as a place that hosts open mics, events, memorials, educational events, and charitable efforts for community members in need. He shares a poem “Antiprom” before discussing his upcoming champbook project and prospective writing future. The next guest on the show is Patrick Grizzell, who details the Big Day of Giving in Sacramento, which serves as a celebration of the nonprofits serving the Sacramento region. He underlines his efforts to make the Sacramento Poetry Center more equitable, stating his efforts to include spoken word poetry in the newest iteration of the Tule Review. Grizell describes his new project The Vignettes, which he is hoping to publish in the coming years, before sharing a poem called “Help Me.” 

Oswaldo Vargas is a former farmworker and a 2021 recipient of the Undocupoets Fellowship. He has been anthologized in Nepantla: An Anthology Dedicated to Queer Poets of Color (Nightboat Books, 2018) and Here to Stay: Poetry & Prose from the Undocumented Diaspora (HarperCollins, 2024). His work can also be found in Huizache: The Magazine of a New America, the American Academy of Poets' "Poem-A-Day" series, and Narrative Magazine (among others). He lives and dreams in Sacramento, CA.

Patrick Grizzell is a poet, songwriter, journalist and visual artist. His books include Dark Music, Chicken Months (about which Robert Bly wrote, "... the poems have a sweet spontaneity and tenderness.”), Minotaure Into Night (with sumi paintings by Jimi Suzuki), 13 Poems, It's Like That, and The Vignettes, a work in progress. A founding member and current president of, as well as an editor for, the Sacramento Poetry Center, he founded or co-founded most of the SPC publications, and was editor-in-chief of On The Wing, an arts magazine, and has written reviews and articles for many other publications. He has performed poetry and music with Allen Ginsberg, Anne Waldman, Leon Redbone, Jim Ringer, Ed Sanders, Robert Creeley, Gary Snyder, Shizumi Shigeto Manale, William Stafford, and others. His band, Proxy Moon, released its premiere CD in 2016. A second is in the works. John Lee Hooker once said he "sound pretty good" on the dobros.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. On Thursday, May 1, the Poetry Night Reading Series is proud to present Patrick Grizzell and Oswaldo Vargas. We meet at 7 PM on the roof of the John Natsoulas Gallery, and we hope you can join us! Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, visit his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Barbra Ruth Sanders joins the show to speak on the publication of her debut collection. Hearing Voices. Ruth Sanders states that the collection took years of work and contains poems that touch on family, places from the past, and hearing voices. She shares two poems, one that closes the book, “Wayfinding at Pere Lachaise,” and another, “Ode to Wicklow Mountains,” before delving into a discussion surrounding her vivid imagery. The next guest of the program is Veronica Jarboe, who discusses her recently published chapbook Dragon Girl. Jarboe shares the title poem from her Chapbook and also describes how her creative projects often lead into each other. She discusses workshops with Joshua McKinney and the process of boiling down poems into a body of work. The last guest of the hour is Indigo Moor, who reveals he has a book coming out next March titled Reconstructing Eden. He discusses how jazz influences his work and explains his creation of the invented form “The Bastard Villanelle.” Moor ends his segment by sharing a poem, “Transubstantiation.”

Barbara Ruth Saunders writes poetry, memoir, and criticism and performs at poetry readings and solo performance venues in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her debut poetry collection, Hearing Voices, was released in 2024, and her work has recently appeared at Highland Park Poetry and in the anthology, Silence is Consent.

Veronica Jarboe is the author of the MicroChap collection i tell the finches with Rinky Dink Press, which earned her a Pushcart nomination. She is also the author of Sweethearts and Sorrows, and Dragon Girl with Bottlecap Press. Some of her other published works can be seen in Re-Side Magazine, Yours Poetically, Moss Puppy Magazine, The Broken Spine, Ethel, and Folio Magazine, among others. Veronica is currently an undergraduate English Major at California State University, Sacramento. Additionally, she is a prose and poetry reader for Moss Puppy Magazine. Veronica can be found on Instagram @veronicajarboe and Twitter @VJarboe.

Poet Laureate Emeritus of Sacramento, Indigo Moor’s fourth book of poetry, Everybody’s Jonesin’ for Something, took second place in the University of Nebraska Press’ Backwater Prize. Jonesin’—a multi-genre work consisting of poetry, short fiction, memoir pieces, and stage plays—was published in the spring of 2021. Through the Stonecutter’s Window, won Northwestern University Press’s Cave Canem prize. His first and third books, Tap-Root and In the Room of Thirsts & Hungers, were both parts of Main Street Rag’s Editor’s Select Poetry Series. Indigo is part of the visiting faculty for Dominican’s MFA program, teaching poetry and short fiction. His stageplay, Live! At the Excelsior, I was a finalist for the Images Theatre Playwright Award. The subsequent screenplay was optioned as a full-length film.

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, and by Thea and the other members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Eric Paul Shaffer joins the show to discuss his upcoming and recent book publications, Free Speech and Green Leaves. Shaffer recounts his time at the University of California, Davis and discusses his most recent collection, written in two long sequences. Shaffer then praises Coyote Arts Press and reads a poem, “Watch for falling rocks” and two verses that can be sung along to The United States National Anthem. Julia B. Levine is the next guest on the hour, and details her upcoming reading on April 17th at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Levine discusses her various writing projects and her feelings upon being awarded a Pushcart and the 2024 Terrain Poetry Prize. She explains how she writes about death, love, sex, and aging, trying to articulate the unique vulnerabilities each of these domains contain. Levine then shares a poem titled “This American Spring.” 

Eric Paul Shaffer is author of nine volumes of poetry, most recently Free Speech and Green Leaves, Selected & New Poems, Even Further West, A Million-Dollar Bill; Lāhaina Noon, and Portable Planet. More than 650 individual poems appear in reviews in the USA, Australia, Canada, England, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Nicaragua, India, Iran, Scotland, Singapore, and Wales. Shaffer received Hawai‘i’s 2002 Elliot Cades Award for Literature; Ka Palapala Po‘okela Book Awards for Lāhaina Noon (2006) and Even Further West (2019); and 2009 James M. Vaughan Award for Poetry. Shaffer is a retired professor of English and lives on Oʻahu.

Julia B. Levine’s poetry has won many awards, including a 2021 Nautilus Award for her fifth poetry collection, Ordinary Psalms, (LSU press, 2021), as well as the 2015 Northern California Book Award in Poetry for her fourth collection, Small Disasters Seen in Sunlight, (LSU, 2014).  Recently she has won a 2024 Pushcart Prize in Poetry, the 2024 Terrain Poetry Prize, 2023 Oran Perry Burke Award in Poetry from The Southern Review, as well as a 2022 American Academy of Poetry Poet Laureate Fellowship for her work in building resilience in teenagers related to climate change through poetry, science, and technology. Her work has appeared in many literary journals, including, Ploughshares, The Missouri Review and Prairie Schooner.  She received a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from University of California, Berkeley and an MFA in poetry from Pacific University. Her chapbook, Lullaby for the Sixth Extinction, won the Wolfson Poetry Prize and will be published in early fall, 2025.

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on the first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM in the John Natsoulas Gallery. The event is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, and by Thea and the other members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Clarence Major joins the show to discuss his storied career as a writer and his upcoming release, Four Days in Algeria. He shares a poem from the collection titled “Closed on Sunday” before the next guest, Professor Anne Schilling joins the show. Professor Schilling details the upcoming play which is coming to the UC Davis Campus, “Diving Into Math with Emmy Noether,” which will play at the Wyatt Theater, April 9th at 6 P.M. The next guest of the hour is Seo Nguyen, who outlines some exciting upcoming events hosted by UC Davis’s Fashion and Design Society (FADs). Nguyen describes FADs new print magazine and their upcoming Fashion Show on Picnic Day, “Through the Looking Glass.” The last guest on the show is April Ossman, who details the thematics of her recent release, We. Her collection takes an unapologetically spiritual stance in bridging politicized divides, exploring conscious and unconscious prejudices with lyricism, warmth, and self-implicating humor. Ossman shares two poems, “Knee Deep” and “Deer Atilla.”

Clarence Major won a National Book Award Bronze Medal for Configurations: New and Selected Poems. He is the author of seventeen collections of poems. His forthcoming collection is Four Days in Algeria (2025). He has contributed to The New Yorker, The New York Times Book Review, Harvard Review and many other periodicals. Major is distinguished professor emeritus in English at the University of California Davis.

Professor Anne Schilling studies quantum algebras and representation theory using combinatorial methods. In particular she is interested in affine crystal graphs [2], which first arose in the exactly solvable lattice models in statistical mechanics. She is also involved in the study of affine Schubert calculus [1], which is a vast generalization of classical Schubert calculus. Many parts of her research involve computational experimentation. She is an active developer for Sage, http://www.sagemath.org/.

Seo Nguyen is a third year double major in Design & Psychology. As the Co-editor in chief for FADS, Seo manages a team of graphic designers and is designing the first physical issue of the FADS magazine that will be printed in May! She derives a lot of inspiration from Japanese and editorial fashion magazines from the early 2000's and is creating something unique and physical to keep and remember FADS by.

April Ossmann is the author of We (Red Hen Press, 2025), Event Boundaries and Anxious Music, recipient of a VAC Creation Grant, and former director of Alice James Books, and an independent editor at: www.aprilossmann.com

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on the first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM in the John Natsoulas Gallery. The event is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, and by Thea and the other members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. The readers on 4/3/25 will be Clarence Major and April Ossmann. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Allison Proffitt joins the show to discuss the duality of her scientific and artistic practices. She details the upcoming event "ASSEMBLAGE: A Concert of Music Featuring Rare and Intriguing Instruments" which will feature seven newly commissioned works, highlighting the guzheng, shakuhachi, duduk, glass harp, kamancheh, and taiko drum. Proffitt then shares lyrics to “Mantra” by Santiago Veros. Chris Hennessy is the next guest of the program, and he shares exciting news about his upcoming memoir Touched by Hannah. He shares a sample from the manuscript before the last guest of the programs, Isabelle Sato joins. Sato speaks on her love and appreciation for the natural world, and how that influences her poetics. Sato describes the writing class she has been taking, which author Grant Faulkner teaches before sharing a poem   “Bright Midnight.”

Allison Proffitt is a classical soprano who performs with the professional-level women's vocal ensemble Vox Musica. She has been performing in choirs for over twenty years. Allison holds a B.S. in Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior from UC Davis, where she sang in the Early Music Ensemble. Allison works at UC Davis Health conducting clinical research studies. She is a regular performer at Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis.

Award-winning filmmaker, author, and speaker. Board Member, California Writers Club, Sacramento. Chris Hennessy dominated the San Francisco Bay Area's independent filmmaking scene from 1990 to 2018, marketing, selling, and producing over 1,500 professional projects for clients, including Google, eBay, the SF 49ers, Deloitte, Office Max, and The American Cancer Society. His digital content has garnered more than 8 million views across various platforms. After retiring from professional filmmaking in 2018, Hennessy launched his television series Yolo YoYo's which won Sacramento's Best New TV Cable Series (2019). The show attracted 125,000 Facebook views (TV stats unavailable), aired four segments on CBS's GoodDay Sacramento, and generated multiple newspaper articles written by Hennessy. The series' season two premiere, "Miracles on College Street"—produced to promote his forthcoming memoir, Touched by Hannah—won the prestigious 'Film Heals' award (most inspirational) at the 2022 Manhattan Film Festival and was runner-up for 'Best Narrative Episode West Coast' at the 2022 ACM Western Region WAVE Cable TV Awards.

Isabelle Sato graduated UC Santa Barbara in 2020 with a B.S. in Physics. While in college she hosted 2 Startup Weekends. And after graduating, she worked as a Jr. Scientist at TAE Technologies in the field of fusion energy for 3 years doing computational plasma reconstructions. She left in Nov of 2023 and since then she has been exploring new topics and ways of being through reading, traveling, volunteering. She has recently picked up hobbies like poetry, music production, and designing clothes.

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on the first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM in the John Natsoulas Gallery. The event is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, and by Thea and the other members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Michael Todd Gallowglas joins the show to discuss his upcoming reading and storytelling event at the John Natsoulas Gallery. On Thursday March 20th at 7:00 P.M., Gallowglas will be reading from his new book, The Re-Imagined Princess, a book that combines poetic narrative and storytelling. Gallowglas also shares a poetic section from his new book, and touches on his storytelling practice along with writing in multiple genres. The next guest on the show is Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas. She discusses the recent publication of her two books of poetry, and outlines how she sticks to a regimented schedule to keep her writing life on track. Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas cites being a lifelong scholar of the genre and an active reader as inspiration to her craft, and discusses the works and life of Slyvia Plath with Dr.Andy. She then shares a poem titled “Maybe If.”

Michael Todd Gallowglas is a creative writer. He originally wanted to be a comic artist, but he couldn't draw, so he thought telling stories with words and sentences would be much easier. Three degrees in writing later, he occasionally wonders if he should have learned to draw instead. Still, with over 30 book credits to his name across fiction, poetry, and non-fiction, Gallowglas has settled into his stride. His most recent publications include Dance Among the Lighting Bolts, book four in his Tears of Rage sequence, The Four Principles of Engaging Writing, and The Re-Imagined Princess - an epic fairy tale in verse that explores the heroine's journey and the relationship between children and their imaginary friends, releasing on March 20th, World Story DayTo find out where he's performing next and to purchase books directly from him, you can visit his website - mtoddgallowglas.com.

Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas is a graduate of Vermont College of Fine Arts, with an MFA in Writing. She is a 13-time Pushcart Prize nominee and a seven-time Best of the Net nominee. In 2012, she won the Red Ochre Chapbook Contest with her manuscript Before I Go to Sleep. In 2018, her book In the Making of Goodbyes was nominated for The CLMP Firecracker Award in Poetry, and her poem, A Mall in California, took 2nd place for the Jack Kerouac Poetry Prize. Her poems have been published widely online and in print and recently featured in The Comstock Review, Poets and Artists, and Mezzo Cammin. She is a former editor-in-chief for the Tule Review and The Orchards Poetry Journal. Her latest collections of poetry, Handful of Stallions at Twilight (Finishing Line Press) and A Shared and Sacred Space (Kelsay Books), were released in 2024.

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on the first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM in the John Natsoulas Gallery. The event is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, and by Thea and the other members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Pia Baur joins the show to speak on her recent essay “Every Day Anew” which touches on her lived experience with epilepsy. The essay was recently chosen for the Felice Buckvar Prize for Nonfiction and will be published in the Bellevue Literary Review this Spring. Baur then details her colleague Elizabeth Mitchell’s upcoming horror-sci-fi anthology called "The Claw Machine," which Baur will be contributing to. Will Alpers then joins the show to discuss his upcoming workshop, where he will teach prospective authors about self-publishing their work. He shares a poem titled  “In a middle school biology class”, before the last guest of the program, Grant Faulkner calls in. Faulkner describes the structure of his upcoming reading at Avid Reader in Davis, California where he will be discussing his book titled The Art of Brevity: Crafting the Very Short Story. He also details how he came about starting his Write-minded podcast and his virtual writing classes that he runs out of Berkley, California.

Pia Baur is a writer born to German and Korean parents and raised in the United States. She received her BA in English from UC Davis in 2011 and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Montana in Missoula. She lives and works in the Pacific Northwest. 

Will Alpers has self-published one book of poetry, The Demon is Curious About My $45 Lunch, which will soon be available for purchase on Amazon.

Grant Faulkner is the co-founder of 100 Word Story, the co-host of the Write-minded podcast, and the author of The Art of Brevity: Crafting the Very Short Story, All the Comfort Sin Can Provide, a collection of short stories, and Fissures, a collection of 100-word stories. His “flash novel,” something out there in the distance, a collaboration with the photographer Gail Butensky, is coming out in September 2025 with the University of New Mexico Press. His essays on creativity have been published in The New York Times, Poets & Writers, Lit Hub, Writer’s Digest, and The Writer.  

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on the first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM in the John Natsoulas Gallery. The event is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, and by Thea and the other members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Professor Jesse Drew joins Dr. Andy in the studio to discuss the Davis screening of his upcoming movie, Open Country. He shares details on the event, which is occurring this Friday, March 7, at Sudwerk‘s Beer Hall, before telling a  story about his time spent interviewing the American Folk legend Pete Seeger. The next guest on the hour, the poet Anthony Xavier Jackson, joins the show to speak about an event for late poet and friend Al Cortez. The event occurred Wednesday, March 5th at Sacramento’s California stage, but the organizers will still be collecting donations to pass on to the family of Al Cortez. The last guest on the hour, Christina Deptula, opens her segment by sharing a poem, “Spontaneous Grace.” She then shares details about an upcoming event, “The Hayward Lit Hop, " a writing group gathering to share and improve their respective crafts.

Jesse Drew is an American artist, author, media activist, and educator. He became a teenage runaway at age 15, and lived on communes in Vermont and California. In 1974, he was a candidate for the State Legislature of Vermont on the Liberty Union Party ticket with Bernie Sanders. In 1975, he was recruited by Fred Ross to work for the United Farmworkers Union in California. He was a boycott organizer in San Francisco before moving into industrial organizing in the San Francisco Bay Area. Drew is now a professor in the Cinema and Technocultural Studies (CaTS) program at the University of California, Davis.

Anthony Xavier Jackson is the recent winner of The 2024 Sacramento Poetry Week’s Annual Poetry contest. Jackson has been writing poems and songs since his teens, drawing inspiration from sci-fi, myths, all genres of music, and all manner of spiritual pursuits, including recovery. Jackson has recently published his first collection of poetry, The Razor of Your Smile, available on Amazon. Jackson is a member of GTFO Poetry Collective based in Sacramento. You may find his poems paired with his music on SoundCloud and Bandcamp. 

Cristina Deptula is a UC Davis alumna, a science journalist, book publicist, and publisher of the online literary magazine Synchronized Chaos. 

Our March 6th, Poetry night will feature local poets Cindy Juyoung Ok, Jade Menshew, and Roy Magat. We meet at 7PM at the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis, and we hope you can join us.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Ethan Gallogy joins the show to discuss his award-winning novel The Trail, which follows two character’s journeys on the John Muir Trail. Gallogy shares his experiences on the John Muir Trail, stating that a month straight in the wilderness was an unforgettable experience. He reiterates the importance of being disconnected from technology, and outlines some of the traits of the novel's main character Gil. Gallogy then imparts some advice about how to go about hiking, seeking out trails, and joining hiking groups. Connie Poet then calls in to discuss her poetic habits, including submitting to a variety of journals, as well as setting writing goals. Post shares a poem titled, “The Wandering” before stating that she intentionally writes poems about topics like Sexual Assault in aim to help readers in their healing. She ends the episode by sharing another poem, this one in honor of her late brother titled, “Broken Metronome.”

Ethan Gallogy is a local author and an avid hiker and backpacker. He graduated from UC Davis with a PhD in Physical Chemistry in 1993, has taught around the world, including at UC Berkeley and in mainland China, and is an emeritus professor from Santa Monica College, and has now returned to live in Davis. He has written two books and is the author of The Trail, an award-winning novel set on the John Muir Trail in the High Sierra.

Connie Post’s work has appeared in Calyx, Slipstream, Comstock Review, 2 River, American Journal of Poetry, River Styx, Spoon River Poetry Review, Slippery Elm, and Verse Daily. Her poetry awards include the Caesura award, Liakoura award, and the Crab Creek Poetry Award.  Her full-length collections include Floodwater, Prime Meridian and Between Twilight. Between Twilight was a finalist in the 2023 Best Book Awards and the International book award. Her 2023 chapbook, Broken Metronome has been a finalist for six book awards and won the American Fiction award for a chapbook. 

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, and by Thea and the other members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Denisha Coco Blossom joins the show to discuss how she aims to uplift the world with poetry. She cites music as an influence of her early poetics and reflects upon her journey from  open-mic nights to becoming  a published author. She then shares a poem from her book The Makings of a Project Queen titled, “Welcome to Opportunity” about her time at the University of California, Davis.  Blossom then explains her role in Sacramento-Area Youth Speaks, where she inspires the community and individuals alike through sharing culturally relevant literature and media with her students. Anthony Xavier Jackson is the next guest of the program, who joins in to speak on the release of his new book The Razor of Your Smile. He then details the lengthy process of collecting and curating the poems that make up his collection. Anthony Xavier Jackson then shares a poem in honor of the late Al Cortez, one of the original founders of the GTFO Poetry collective, titled “Promises.” He also outlines some upcoming projects the collective is working on, including publishing the posthumous works of Al Cortez. 

Denisha Coco Blossom is a Poet-Mentor, Educator, Author, and Scholar-Activist recognized for her advocacy, community empowerment, and storytelling. Raised in South Sacramento, she serves as Associate Director of Sacramento Area Youth Speaks (SAYS), mentoring youth to find their voices and create change. With degrees in African American Studies, Education, and Organizational Communication, Blossom combines her academic background with a passion for spoken word as a tool for healing and empowerment. She has performed at major events like the Sacramento Women’s March and opened for Hillary Clinton. Her accolades include the Sacramento Poetry Day Award and the SAYS Tupac Scholar Award. Her poetic memoir, The Makings of a Project Queen, available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and her website, captures her journey, faith, and philosophy: Love yourself first before you lose yourself. To learn more about Denisha Coco Blossom, visit her website at www.cocoqueendom.com or visit her social media @cocoqueendom across all platforms. 

Anthony Xavier Jackson is the recent winner of The 2024 Sacramento Poetry Week’s Annual Poetry contest. Anthony Xavier Jackson has been writing poems and songs since his teens, drawing inspiration from sci-fi, myths, all genres of music, and all manner of spiritual pursuits, including recovery. Anthony has recently published his first collection of poetry, The Razor of Your Smile, available on Amazon and other venues. Anthony has enjoyed publishing honors from the likes of Bar Bar, Wingless Dreamer, Dipity, The Word’s Faire, and Tule Review 2024. Jackson is a member of GTFO Poetry Collective based in Sacramento. Find his poems paired with his music on SoundCloud and Bandcamp. Jackson is also a Substance Use Disorder Counselor who aspires to Social Work credentialing. He firmly believes everyone deserves healing.

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, and by Thea and the other members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. The featured speakers of 2/20/25 will be Denisha Coco Blossom and Anthony Xavier Jackson.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Catharine Bramkamp joins the show to discuss her role as a coach for other writers looking to publish their work. Bramkamp then shares how she has three different books coming out simultaneously, working with different publishers and media. Her work explores the women behind famous artists and ekphrastic poetry. She then shares a poem constructed through rearranging the works of Virginia Woolf, and another that uses words from James Joyce. The next guest on the show, O’Cyrus, outlines how he became a podcast host, writer, educator, and independent publisher.  O’Cyrus states that reading bedtime stories for his children helped reimmerse him into creative writing. He also discusses his military upbringing and the quintessential role his father played in shaping his work ethic, before sharing a poem titled “Fallen Angels.”

Catharine Bramkamp is a world traveler, poet and belly dancer. In her spare time she is a writing coach and workshop facilitator. She has authored 27 fiction, non-fiction and poetry books. She holds a MA in Creative Writing and her poetry books:  Stealing all the Blue, Sad Music for the Perfect Soul and Poet as Scribe were released January 2025.  She lives in Nevada City.

O'Cyrus is a 17x award-winning author, poet, podcast host of The Author's Lounge, and the founder of the independent publishing house, Ocyrus Ink Publishing. Currently serving as an active duty member of the United States Air Force and married with three children, O'Cyrus focuses his time of creative writing between the time of 3am-7am 5-6 days weekly. His goal as a writer and publisher is for his work to positively impact people's lives, help them identify their own gifts, and seek in their purpose to add true value into the world.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Professor Heghnar Watenpaugh joins the show to discuss the 2025 Templeton Colloquium in Art History, which will explore the need for protection of cultural heritage around the world. Watenpaugh outlines the scope of Cultural Heritage within art history, while also describing some of the immediate threats to Cultural Heritage such as unwise development, climate change, and intentional destruction from war. Professor Watenpaigh also shares  how speakers at the event will approach the issues from the lens of archaeological materials and as art critics. The next guest on the show is Alex Gershman, who joins the show to discuss his writing and reading journey as an Undergraduate Creative Writing student. He shares the process of some of his craft, while also explaining how he has worked to build a writing and reading community on his popular youtube channel, @agwriting. Gershman converses about the works of many authors, such as George Saudners, Nabakov, Kaveh Akbar, and Gwendeloyn Brooks. Gerhsman reaffirms the importance of place, and specifically the importance of place within the cityscape in literature and the human experience.

Heghnar Watenpaugh is Professor of Art History at the University of California, Davis. She researches the visual cultures of the Middle East, including architectural preservation, museums, and cultural heritage.  Professor Watenpaugh is the author of two award-winning books, a fellow of the Guggenheim Foundation, and is currently the President of the American Research Institute of the South Caucasus. 

Alex Gershman is a writer from Chicago, Illinois. He’s currently pursuing a degree in creative writing from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he’s working on several projects, including a novel and an essay collection centered around urban literature. He discusses writing and interviews authors on his YouTube channel, @agwriting, and is the fiction editor of The Madison Review. 

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, and by Thea and the other members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. Our next event on February 6th will be a wide open mic.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

On the 1/29/25 Edition of Dr Andy’s Poetry and Technology Hour:

The first guest on the show, Katharine Burnett, joins to speak on the Global Tea Institute’s (GTI) 10th Anniversary Colloquialism. The theme for the colloquialism is tea and peace, as one of the institute’s initiatives is to bring community together. Mariam Ahmed then joins the show to discuss the release of her newest poetry collection, Hidden Parts. Ahmed explains why she defines herself as a California poet, and details some of her publication process. She then shares a poem titled, “You belong here,” before the next guest on the show, Maya Sinha phones in. Sinha outlines the success of Stories on Stage Davis’s recent move to Sudwerk. And shares details for their upcoming Flash Fiction night on Sunday, February 9th. Sheryl J. Bize-Boutte is the last guest of the show, and joins to share praise of the upcoming San Francisco Writers Conference. She describes the conference as a place where a diverse group of writer’s join in co-presence to formulate life-long connections and gain confidence in their craft. Bize-Boutte will feature on the conference's Saturday, “Power of Process” panel.

Professor Katharine Burnett is Founding Director of UC Davis’s Global Tea Institute for the Study of Tea Culture and Science. A professor of Chinese art history, her research explores how cultural values are manifested in art, what it means to collect art, and now also, what we can learn about cultures and societies through studying individual and diverse tea cultures. 

Mariam Ahmed is a Californian poet. Mariam earned her MFA in Poetry from San Diego State University and her BA in English Literature with a minor in Sociology from the University of California, Davis. Her newest poetry collection, Hidden Parts was published on January 13, 2025 by Broken Tribe Press.

Maya Sinha is a lawyer, writer, and former reporter. For two years, she wrote a humor column for the Davis Enterprise called 'Lowbrow,' which led to a monthly humor column for The Saturday Evening Post. Her award-winning 2022 novel, The City Mother, has been presented at Stories on Stage Davis and The Avid Reader, and she is the current director of Stories on Stage Davis.

Sheryl J. Bize-Boutte is an award-winning, internationally published poet and novelist. She is the co-author of the poetry books, “No Poetry No Peace™” (a poetry reading series),  and “Traipsing In Poetry Prose and Vignette,”  written with her daughter Angela. Sheryl is the San Francisco Writer’s Conference (SFWC) 2025 “Writing for Change” Track Coordinator and has been appointed as the Poetry Summit Coordinator for SFWC 2026. 

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, and by Thea and the other members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. Our next event on February 6th will be a wide open mic.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Jordan Rice joins in to talk on her writing life, meditation, reading habits, and award-winning poetry. She describes the voices of her poems as echoes of other works she adores, as well as linguistic cornerstones of her diction that help her find a starting point in a poem. Rice then shares a poem, “Lost Body.” Next Lissa Provost, Director of the San Francisco Writers Conference, calls into the show. Provost outlines the agenda for the 2025 SFWC, including publishing workshops, panel discussions, and the world's longest (allegedly) open mic. She describes the intimacy of the writer’s conference, offering emerging writers the chance to directly interact with published authors. The last guest on the show is Read Forrest. Forrest details his musical influences, pulling inspiration from genres such as Latin American Pop and Folklore. He also reflects on his musical journey, before sharing the details of his upcoming performance at the Odd Fellows Lodge in Davis..

Jordan Rice is a transgender poet and writer, and the author of Constellarium (Orison Books, 2016), a finalist for the 2017 Kate Tufts Award. Her poems have been published in various literary magazines and online platforms, including The Feminist Wire, Blackbird, The New York Times Magazine, The Verse Daily, and the Academy of American Poets."Rice's work has been recognized with several poetry prizes, including the Indiana Review Poetry Prize, the Gulf Coast Poetry Prize, the Yellowwood Poetry Prize from Yalobusha Review, the Richard Peterson Poetry Prize from Crab Orchard Review, and the Milton-Kessler Memorial Prize from Harpur Palate. 

Lissa Provost is the founder and chaos director of New Alexandria Creative Group. She's the author of a poetry book and chapbook and a journal/planner for neurodivergent or medically challenged individuals called Maggie's Planner. A creative dynamo, Provost is also the Director of the San Francisco Writers Conference .

Chilean musician Read Forrest is performing Tuesday January 28 at Odd Fellows Hall, his band Viramundo presenting in Rumsey for Capay Valley Almond Festival on February 23, and his other band Vuela Colibrí at Morgan’s Mill in Woodland, on February 21.

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, and by Thea and the other members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. Our next event on February 6th will be a wide open mic.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Amanda Hawkins joins the show to discuss the recent publication of their debut collection, When I Say the Bones I Mean the Bones. Hawkins discusses some of the symbolic pillars of their collection, which include bones, stones, fire, and whales, before discussing their process of getting the manuscript published. They then read the title poem of the collection before further revealing how they distilled their collection to its most potent form. The next guest on the show, Mischa Kuczynski, joins to discuss the thematics of her poetry, which are  intertwined with the delights and horrors of being trapped in the human body. Kuczynski outlines how the politicization of the body has been intertwined with her craft, before sharing two relevant poems, “Morning Song” and “I Won the Lottery.”

Amanda Hawkins’ debut poetry collection, When I Say the Bones I Mean the Bones, is out now with Wandering Aengus Press. They are Tin House, Bread Loaf, and Mellon Public Scholar, winner of the Editor’s Prize for poetry from The Florida Review and the Emerging Writer Award from Key West Literary Seminar. Their work has been published in Orion, The Cincinnati Review, The Cortland Review, Honey Literary, Terrain, and Image.

Mischa Kuczynski is a finalist for the Ruth Lilly Fellowship and the Oxford Poetry Prize, Mischa Kuczynski’s work has appeared in American Poetry Review, Pleiades, Fence, Sinister Wisdom, Honey Literary and elsewhere. She holds an MFA from UC Davis

Our January 16th Poetry Night will feature local poets Amanda Hawkins and Mischa Kuczynski. We meet at 7 PM at the John Natsoulas Gallery, and we hope you can join us!

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, visit his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Ariela Gittlen joins the show to speak on her recent publication in the New York Times’s Letter of Recommendation column. Gittlen reflects on her journey as an essay writer, while also mentioning that poetry has taught her that failure is imperative in the writing process. She then shares a poem titled, “I hope we can be friends.” The next guest on the show is Dan Kehew, who discusses his new Davis based storytelling group, “Stories & Fire.” He talks about the intentional space that the group will meet in, stating that he spent multiple years looking and crafting the right setting. The storytelling will occur around a fireplace, and little technology, emphasizing the importance of the speaker’s voice. The last guest on the show is Susie Meserve.  She first outlines her bicoastal identity as a New-England born, East-Bay resident informs her writing identity, before discussing how being goal-oriented deters her from writer's block. Meserve then discusses the inauguration of her new writing class, Writing for Renewal, which focuses on getting writing routines established in the New Year. She then shares a poem “Bioluminescence.”

Ariela Gittlen is a poet, marketing, and creative strategist working out of Brooklyn, New York. Gittlen is a seasoned Art Director and Design Lead with more than eight years experience creating elevated branding and marketing design in the realms of wellness, food, art, and fashion. She is a graduate from the Fashion Institute of Technolgy has articles published in the New York Times.

Dan Kehew is best known in Davis as leader of the California Bicycle Museum, the joint effort by UC Davis, the City of Davis, and community interests that brought the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame to Davis. Kehew was also an original member of the City of Davis Bicycle Advisory Commission and a graduate of UC Davis' King Hall School of Law. Dan currently works as a senior attorney for California's Department of Real Estate.

Susie Meserve grew up outside of Boston and was educated at Tufts university and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Her poems have appeared in Indiana Review, Cimarron Review, Bateau, Gulf Coast, and others. Meserve works as a poet, educator, and creative coach. She is also the author of the chapbook Faith (Finishing Line Press) and lives in Berkeley, California, with her husband and two young sons

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, visit his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Poet Nicolette Daskalakis begins the episode recalling her time as a KDVS radio DJ, joining the station because of an interest in journalism and hosting a music show platforming underground 60s music. Daskalakis then shares how she chose to study film, as she viewed it as an amalgamation of many different art genres where she could employ her multimedia expertise. Daskalakis outlines some of her career work and the steps that led her to France before sharing two poems, “Aftermath” and “Everyday Fantasies.” Dorine Jennette is the next guest of the episode. Jennette leads a fascinating discussion about the mindset of writing poetry, stating she intentionally writes and thinks about writing poems, paying special attention to her surrounding world and unique authorly inclinations. She then shares two poems, “Disaster Zone” and “Spring Cleaning.”

Born in the fog of San Francisco, Nicolette Daskalakis is a poet, filmmaker, and multidisciplinary artist based in Paris. Her writing has been anthologized by HarperCollins, nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and published in numerous literary journals. Nicolette is the author of multiple poetry books, including Tell Me I'm Not On Fire (2024) and Portrait of Your Ex Assembling Furniture (2018). She holds a BA in Film & Television Production from the USC School of Cinematic Arts and an MFA from the institut supérieur des arts et du design de Toulouse.

Dorine Jennette is the author of Urchin to Follow. Her poetry and prose have appeared in journals such as the Colorado Review, Puerto del Sol, the New Orleans Review, and the Georgia Review. Originally from Seattle, she earned her MFA at New Mexico State University and her PhD at the University of Georgia. She lives with her family in Davis, California, where she is a writer and editor for The Doctors Company.

At our first Poetry Night of 2025, on January 2nd, we will feature the France-based poet Nicolette Daskalakis with Dorine Jennette, of Davis. We meet at 7 PM at the John Natsoulas Gallery.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, visit his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Professor Oliver Jones joins Dr.Andy in a discussion about Christmas, family, artistry, and the best movies of 2024. Jones reiterates the importance of December in film culture, as many great movies tend to be released during the holiday seasons and before large film festivals. He shares that one of his favorite movies of the year, “Dìdi (弟弟),” debuted at the Sundance Film Festival among other great films. Jones outlines some similar themes between what he felt were the best films of the past year, before detailing some of his work critiquing high-budget and low-budget films alike. The next guest on the show, poet Katy Brown, opens describing some of her favorite nature spots in Yolo County. She talks about her love for birds, photography, and exploration. She then shares a poem, “Ah, The Life” before sharing details of her upcoming “Capturing Wakamatsu” event at the Georgetown Library, which she recently secured funding for. 

Oliver Jones has a more than 25-year career working as a journalist for the top circulation magazines and highest readership websites, including a decade spent as a staff writer for People magazine. His expertise is in film, television, popular culture and the entertainment industry, as well as the history of Los Angeles’ underrepresented population and the city’s social justice movements. Since 2012, he has taught journalism and inclusion at Emerson College; he first taught for Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications in the summer of 2022. Over the last five years, he has made the history and practice of film criticism a focus of his academic and professional work. He has written over 200 reviews for the New York Observer and is a member of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Born and raised in Washington D.C., Jones has lived in the West Adams neighborhood of Los Angeles since 2007.

Katy Brown is a local poet and photographer.  She has won awards in The Ina Coolbrith Circle, California Federation of Chaparral Poets, and The International Dance Poetry competition. Her poetry has appeared in numerous journals such as but not limited to: Sutterville Review, Song of San Joaquin, Poetalk, Persimmon Tree, Harp Strings, And anthologies: Poeming Pigeons, Sacramento Voices, California Fire and Water, and The Ina Coolbrith Society’s Gathering anthologies. She is a three-time Pushcart nominee. Katy Brown also leads a quarterly “Capturing Wakamatsu” event featuring poetry and exploration of the historic American River Conservancy site with the help of Taylor Graham.  

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, and by Thea and the other members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. The next poetry night on January 2nd 2025 will feature France-based poet Nicollete Daskalakis

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, visit his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Cami DuMay phones in to discuss her move to Austin, Texas in pursuit of her MFA where she has written 41 poems this past semester. She describes her warm feelings for the Davis writing community and its instrumental effect on her undergraduate writing journey. DuMay outlines how the variety of workshop voices is helping shape her poetic practice, before sharing two poems, “Infancy” and “What Would You Give to Be So Hungry.” The next guest on the show is Tim Kahl, who has a reading this upcoming Sunday with poet Joshua McKinney. Kahl states the themes informing his most recent book, Drips, Spills, Bursts, Tangles, and Washes, which is composed mostly of prose poems and arose from a magazine prompt. He talks about the musical elements of his poetry, and how he tries to utilize traditional sounds, before sharing a poem about when he taught in Brazil “The Little Way of the Brazilian.”

Cami DuMay is a UC Davis aluma currently in her first year at the Michener Center for Writers in Austin, Texas. She writes about myriad aspects of life, but has a fascination with nature, madness, worship, and the human animal.

Tim Kahl is the author of six books of poems, most recently Omnishambles (Bald Trickster, 2019), California Sijo (Bald Trickster, 2022) and Drips, Spills, Bursts, Tangles, and Washes (Cold River Press, 2024). He is also an editor of the literary space Clade Song He builds flutes, plays them and plays guitars, ukuleles, charangos and cavaquinhos as well. He currently teaches at California State University, Sacramento, where he sings lieder while walking on campus between classes.

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, and by Thea and the other members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, visit his weekly newsletter  at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Naomi Janowitz is Professor of Religious Studies. Her areas of interest are Judaism in the Greco-Roman context, Hellenistic religions, methods in the study of religions, and the psychoanalytic study of religion. Publications include: Icons of Power: Ritual Practices in Late Antiquity (Penn State University Press, 2002) and Magic in the Roman World (Routledge, 2001). Her first book won the Outstanding Academic Book Award from Library/Choice Journal. She has also won an essay prize from the American Psychoanalytic Association and a teaching award from the UC Davis Academic Senate.

Davis Poet Laurete Julia B. Levine’s poetry has won many awards. Recently she has won the 2024 Hippocrates International Prize for Poetry and Medicine, the 2023 Oran Perry Burke Award from The Southern Review, the 2022 Steve Kowit Poetry Prize, the 2020 Bellevue Literary Review Poetry Award, as well as a 2022 American Academy of Poetry Poet Laureate Fellowship for her work in building resiliency in teenagers related to climate change through poetry, science and technology. She received a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from University of California, Berkeley and an MFA in poetry from Pacific University.

Dyson Smith is a Chicago born poet studying Statistics at the University of California, Davis. Smith serves as the Co-Community-Coordinator and DJ at the  KDVS, a Researcher at the UC Davis Innovations and Research Lab, and the producer of Dr.Andy’s poetry and technology hour. His work has been published in KDVATIONs, Open Ceilings, The Sacramento Poetry Center’s Poet News, GTFO Poetry’s 2024 Anthology of Sacramento Poets, and has two poems forthcoming in The Madison Review.

The Poetry Night Reading Series will feature Davis junior high poets and their new book, Seeds of Hope. We meet at 7 PM on Thursday, December 5th, 2024, on the first floor of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, visit his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Gerald Fleming joins the show and describes 16 Rivers Press, which publishes poetry collections annually. He then explains the craft behind his recent collection, The Bastard and the Bishop, a collection of prose poems. He then shares a poem, “Refugee” before the next Florencio Milito joins the show. Milito shares how her experiences in Argentina and Venezuela have affected her modern-day poetics, and then shares a poem titled “Lullaby.” She then speaks on her bilingual collection Exiles and Reveries, which details her family life and imagination as a form of resistance. Francisco Aragón, the last guest on the show, discusses the importance of virtual poetry readings during the pandemic. Aragón then outlines how he balances his writing life with his professional practice, before sharing his translation of an untitled Francisco X Alacón sonnet.

Gerald Fleming is known for the high quality of his verse, and for his support of other poets. Fleming’s most recent book is The Bastard and the Bishop, (prose poems, Hanging Loose Press, Brooklyn). Other titles include One, an experiment in monosyllabic prose poems (also Hanging Loose), The Choreographer (Sixteen Rivers, San Francisco), Night of Pure Breathing (HL), Swimmer Climbing onto Shore (Sixteen Rivers), and others. Fleming recently edited The Collected Poetry and Prose of Lawrence Fixel (Sixteen Rivers), has edited various literary magazines (traditional, epistolary, vitreous).

Florencia Milito is a bilingual poet whose work has appeared in ZYZZYVA, Indiana Review, Catamaran, Diálogo, 92nd Street Y, among others. In 2022, Militod Community of Writers alumna and San Francisco Writers Grotto and CantoMundo fellow, her writing has been influenced by her early experience fleeing the U.S.-supported 1976 coup in Argentina, subsequent childhood in Venezuela, and immigration to the United States at the age of nine. Her bilingual collection Ituzaingó: Exiles and Reveries / exilios y ensueños was originally published in 2021 by Nomadic Press. Her chapbook Sor Juana, published by Gunpowder Press in 2023, won the Alta California Chapbook Prize and 

Francisco Aragón is the author of three books of poetry, including After Rubén (2020), Glow of Our Sweat (2010), and Puerta de Sol (2005).  His more than twenty anthology publications include Latino Poetry: The Library of America Anthology (2024); Queer Nature: An Ecoqueer Poetry Anthology (2022) and Why To These Rocks: 50 Years of Poems from the Community of Writers (2021). A native of San Francisco, CA, he is the son of Nicaraguan immigrants. He is on the faculty of the University of Notre Dame’s Institute for Latino Studies, where he teaches courses in Latinx poetry and creative writing, and directs Letras Latinas, their literary initiative. 

The Poetry Night Reading Series will feature the poets Francisco Aragón, Gerald Fleming, and Florencia Milito at 7 PM on Thursday, November 21st, 2024, on the first floor of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Read Dr Andy's weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

The GTFO poetry collective composed of Kay Miller, Anthony Robles, and Anthony Xavier Jackson join the show to discuss the release of their inaugural GTFO Journal, An Anthology of Sacramento Poets. Anthony Robles discusses GTFO’s goals of bringing the community together by giving local authors publication opportunities. Kay Miller shares some of their favorite Sacramento metro area open mics. Anthony Xavier Robles gives insight into the publication process and an event at Self Designs Art Gallery this Wednesday. Kay Miller then shares a poem, “It’s 9:30 P.M. On a Tuesday and I’m Trying to Remember a Password.”
The next guest on the show is Nancy Miller Gomez, who delineates her consistent effort to further her poetic craft. She elaborates on her academic journey obtaining her MFA at Pacific University, citing studying under many great poets as supporting her writing growth. Miller Gomez also discusses the release of her new book, Inconsolable Objects. She then shares two poems, “How are we doing?” and “Tilt-a-Whirl,” which appeared in the 2021 anthology Best American Poetry.

Anthony Xavier Jackson has been writing poems and songs since his teens, drawing inspiration from sci-fi, myths, all genres of music, and all manner of spiritual pursuits. He works in an ongoing manner on publishing his poetry and continuing to produce music to accompany his poems and songs. Anthony is also a recent winner of Sacramento Poetry Week’s Annual Poetry contest.

Anthony Robles is a minimalist poet who aims to exploit the haiku and cinqauin forms. He is also a contributor to the Sacramento Poetry Day Curriculum. 

Kay Miller, a narrative poet from Sacramento, and has been captivating audiences with their poetry for decades. Their work offers a raw glimpse into the America in Sacramento, seen through liquor store windows and dirty car mirrors. Kay’s art serves as a powerful reminder of the resilience of the human spirit and the importance of  LGBTQA+ perspectives in poetry.

Nancy Miller Gomez is the author of Inconsolable Objects (YesYes Books) and Punishment (Rattle chapbook series). Her work has appeared in Best American Poetry, Best New Poets, Prairie Schooner, Lit Hub, The Adroit Journal, New Ohio Review, The Rumpus, Rattle, Verse Daily, and elsewhere. She received a special mention in the 2023 Pushcart Prize Anthology. She co-founded an organization that provides writing workshops to incarcerated women and men and has taught poetry in Prisons, Jails, and the Juvenile Hall. She lives in Santa Cruz, California. More at www.nancymillergomez.com.

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, and by Thea and the other members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s projects visit his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Julia B. Levine joins Dr. Andy in conversation after her 2024 Pushcart Prize win, stating the gratitude and shock she felt upon winning. She then shares high praise for her peer Murray Silverstein, who will be reading with her at the Poetry Night Reading Series on November 7th, 2024. Levine then shares a poem centered around joy titled “The Dove.” She also recommends John Murillo’s collection Kontemperary Amerikan Poetry. The next guest on the show, Natalie Shapero, phones in to discuss her upcoming reading at Shields Library, and her excitement to see the trees of Davis, California. Shapero describes her poetic life and career from Washington D.C, to Boston, and now to California. She thereafter shares the thematic throughlines of her most recent collection, Popular Longing, a collection that outlines the power dynamics at play within the financial structures of art institutions. Shapero then shares two poems, “My Hair is My Thing” and “Magpie.”  Shapero also discusses the natural time it takes her to assemble a collection of poetry,

Julia B. Levine is the poet laureate emerita of Davis, California. Levine’s poetry has won many awards, including a 2021 Nautilus Award for her fifth poetry collection, Ordinary Psalms (LSU press, 2021), as well as the 2015 Northern California Book Award in Poetry for her fourth collection, Small Disasters Seen in Sunlight (LSU, 2014). Recently she has won the 2024 Pushcart Prize, the 2023 Oran Perry Burke Award from The Southern Review, the 2022 Steve Kowit Poetry Prize, the 2020 Bellevue Literary Review Poetry Award, as well as a 2022 American Academy of Poetry Poet Laureate Fellowship for her work in building resilience in teenagers related to climate change through poetry, science and technology. Her work has appeared in many literary journals, including Ploughshares, The Southern Review, The Missouri Review, The Nation and Prairie Schooner. She earned a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from University of California, Berkeley and an MFA in poetry from Pacific University.

Natalie Shapero was born in Chester, Pennsylvania and earned a BA in Writing Seminars from the Johns Hopkins University, an MFA in Poetry from the Ohio State University, and a JD from the University of Chicago. For the 2011-2012 year, Shapero served as the Steven Gey Fellow with Americans United for Separation of Church and State. She is the author of the poetry collections No Object (Saturnalia, 2013), Hard Child (Copper Canyon Press, 2017), and Popular Longing (Copper Canyon Press, 2021). Her writing has appeared in The Believer, The New Republic, Poetry, The Progressive, and elsewhere, and she is an editor at the Kenyon Review. In 2012-2014, she was a Kenyon Review fellow. Shapero teaches at Tufts University. She lives in Los Angeles and teaches writing at UC Irvine.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, visit his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Vincent Kobelt calls in to share about his upcoming reading at the Kings and Queens of Poetry event in Sacramento. Kobelt discusses his undergraduate experience at UC Davis and how he came about poetry in academia. He cites discussing work among his classmates in a Sandra McPherson poem as a main mechanism that helped him grow as a young writer. He then reads a poem “Allentown,” a recently authored piece. Kobelt also describes the poetry album he released last year, A Pinch of Salt. Sarah Pape is the next guest on the show, and she phones in with exciting news of her debut poetry collection, Forgive the Animal. Pape states that the publication of her book feels like closing the circle, as some of the poems and ideas in the book are over a decade old. She also discusses her hardy revision process with her manuscript, saying she is grateful for all of the poets in her life who helped along the way. Pape then shares the collection’s first poem “Kin,” which was spawned from a prompt she gave her students. She also delineates her constant attempt to be present in our “dailiness” to improve her vocabulary before sharing another poem, “A Gardener’s Guide to the End.”

Vincent Kobelt’s early work explored the murals of the Mission where he grew up, the music of jazz, a cry for justice, the birth of my daughters, the milkweed in the cracks of concrete, the music of speaking between people, and bird shit on the sidewalks of the city.  For some time now Kobelt has been experimenting with poetry that lends itself to musical accompaniment.  This can be seen in his work with Fo’shang at Sacramento’s Earth Day, Catchakoala at the MET, and with KME Band at the Oak Park Farmers Market in Sacramento.  Recently Kobelt started an Open Mic in Sacramento at the Classy Hippy on the Third Thursday of the Month. 

Sarah Pape teaches English creative writing and coordinates the Literary Editing and Publishing program at Chico State. Her poetry and prose have recently been published in: The New York Times, New England Review, Passages North, Ecotone, and others. Her debut poetry collection, Forgive the Animal, was published last month by Cornerstone Press. She curates community literary programming at the 1078 Gallery in Chico and is a member of the Community of Writers. 

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, and by Thea and the other members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, visit his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

William O’Daly calls in to discuss his love of reading poetry to live Jazz. Specifically, he talks about his upcoming reading, at which he will be sharing poems from his latest release, The New Gods.  O’Daly shares a poem about his daughter’s graduation, “Handout” before sharing the exciting news that he is transitioning away from his occupation to focus on living a life even more committed to writing. Dr. V.S. Chochezi is the next guest on the show. She describes the background of her mother-daughter poetry performance duo Straight Out Scribes, which started one night in Oakland, California. Dr. Chochezi also delineates how she aims to incorporate social justice into her poetry readings and writing processes. The last guest on the show is Patrick Grizzell, who joins Dr.Andy to remember the late Sacramento poet B.L. Kennedy. Grizzell recalls the impact Kennedy had on Sacramento, its poetry scene, and poetry publications.  

William O’Daly has translated nine books of Chilean Nobel Laureate Pablo Neruda’s poetry, most recently Neruda’s first volume, Book of Twilight. He has published four chapbooks of poems and, in 2022, his first full-length volume, The New Gods, with Beltway Editions. A National Endowment for the Arts Fellow, he has received national and regional awards and honors for his poetry and translations, literary editing, and instructional design. In September 2021, he received the American Literary Award from the bilingual Korean American journal Miju Poetry and Poetics. O’Daly is the Lead Writer for the California Water Plan.

Dr. V.S. Chochezi is a writer, poet, artist, photojournalist, and college professor. She is the daughter member of Straight Out Scribes (Staajabu is the mother member), a renowned mother/daughter spoken word duo who have self-published eight books of poetry, one sci-fi anthology and two CD compilations. They have produced and coordinated a number of writing, poetry and art related programs and workshops in Sacramento since 1991.

Patrick Grizzell is a songwriter, poet, journalist, and visual artist. His books include Dark Music, 13 Poems, It's Like That, and The Goat of Esmerelda. He was a founding member & current director of the Sacramento Poetry Center and serves as an editor for its publications. He has performed music and poetry with, among others, Leon Redbone, Jim Ringer, Ed Sanders, Allen Ginsberg, and Anne Waldman. Grizzell is the primary songwriter for Proxy Moon, a popular Sacramento group that is about to begin recording its 2nd collection of songs.

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, and by Thea and the other members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, visit his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Tim Hunt joins to share about his post-retirement writing habits, outlining that since retiring from the academy his poetry has not changed: rather, he just has more time to write. Hunt discusses the publication of his newest collection, Western Where, citing his California roots as a throughline throughout his work. He then shares two poems, “Rachel Lindsey Walks the Roads of Kansas Offering Poems for Bread” and “Rodeo Ride.” Thereafter, Michael Gallowglass phones in to discuss his upcoming reading at the John Natsoulas Gallery, where he is featuring and surprising his daughter for her birthday. Gallowglas shares a poem, “Under Martha’s Full Moon” and “How to Lose a Bad Woman on a Good Date” along with discussing past Irish poets.

A fourth generation Californian, Tim Hunt was born in Calistoga and raised primarily in Sebastopol, two small towns north of San Francisco. Educated at Cornell University, he has taught American literature at several schools, including Washington State University and Deep Springs College. At the end of 2016, he retired from Illinois State University, where he was University Professor.  Hunt has published five collections of poetry: Fault Lines, The Tao of Twang,  Poem’s Poems & Other Poems, Ticket Stubs & Liner Notes (winner of the 2018 Main Street Rag Poetry Book Award), and Voice to Voice in the Dark. Hunt has received five Pushcart Prize nominations, and been awarded the Chester H. Jones National Poetry Prize for the poem “Lake County Elegy.” In 2024, he saw the publication of his new book, titled Western Where.  Hunt’s scholarly publications include Kerouac’s Crooked Road: Development of a Fiction, The Textuality of Soulwork: Jack Kerouac’s Quest for Spontaneous Prose, and the five volumes of The Collected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers.  

Michael Todd Gallowglas is a hybrid-author (with mainstream and alternative publications), storyteller, and educator from Northern California. Michael has written over 20 books, including novels, short story collections, poetry collections, and non-fiction books. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University, a Master of Fine Arts in Fiction from Sierra Nevada College, and a Master in Fine Arts in Poetry from the University of Nevada Reno, Tahoe. 

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, and by Thea and the other members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, visit his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Leslie Madsen joins Dr.Andy in an extended conversation about her career and their shared background as onetime graduate students at UC Davis. Madsen shares how she embraces her sense of impostor syndrome because of her nonlinear career path as a multidisciplinary scholar and educator. She describes the intersection and differentiation between her undergraduate and three graduate degrees. Madsen also delineates the effect the COVID-19 had on her work practices. She and Dr. Andy also discusses the impact Generative AI has had on planning for course work and Academic Integrity policies. Madsen then speaks on her new career at Oregon State University, one which pivoted her away from faculty development and towards gardening! 

Leslie Madsen is an educator who enjoys engaging with all kinds of people. Throughout her career, she has focused on designing inclusive, meaningful learning experiences—digital and analog—and leading teams that do the same. Her work as statewide manager of the OSU Extension Master Gardener Program builds on her extensive expertise and experience in formal and informal learning environments. Before arriving at OSU, Madsen served Boise State's students as an associate professor of History and supported faculty as associate director of the Center for Teaching and Learning. Her professional experience includes instructional design, faculty development, academic and emerging technologies, exhibition design, and open educational resources, as well as writing, marketing, and publishing. Madsens holds a Ph.D. in cultural studies and an M.A. in creative writing from the University of California, Davis. My B.A. is in English from Grinnell College.

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, and by Thea and the other members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, visit his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Laura Rosenthal starts off the show describing how her poetry has grown by being more conscious of her reader. She states that maturing throughout life has allowed her to scribe her most complex emotions in her writing. Rosenthal then shares a poem of praise, “Psalm.” Poet Connie Johnson joins next to discuss her recent entrance into the poetry world. She shares a poem, “Winter Relay” before discussing the thematics of her upcoming chapbook The River of Perpetual Departure. The last guest on the show is prominent Polish poet and scholar Kacper Bartczak. Bartczak describes his early poetry as playing off his personal experience and moving towards confession, and recent poetry as more experimental with language. He says both Polish and American poets have influenced his practice such as John Ashberry and Frank O’Hara. He then speaks on his experience as a university teacher and how he tries to show his students that writers in the Romantic era shifted the perception of nature.

Laura Rosenthal is a recovering public interest lawyer and has published in Sacramento Voices, Tule Review, the Boog City Baseball Edition, Buddhist Poetry Review, Driftwood Press, and other journals. She leads workshops on writing and spiritual practice, has served as a senior editor of Tule Review, and is a member of the Community of Writers. In addition to degrees from Cornell University and Stanford Law School, Laura recently received her MFA in poetry from Pacific University.

Poetry found Connie Johnstone in 2021; her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The Ginosko Literary Journal, The Scarred Tree, Poetry of Moral Injury, Orchards Poetry Journal, Ravenous: le terroir du Montolieu, The Amethyst Review, The Tule Review, Loss Anthology 9, The Calendula Review, Journal of Narrative Medicine, Spoon Knife Anthology: Numbers, Voices 24: Anomalies, Pathologies & Paradise; and elsewhere. Her chapbook, The River of Perpetual Departure, will be out in 2025 from Kelsay Books. She published a novel, The Legend of Olivia Cosmos Montevideo (Atlantic Monthly Press); edited an anthology, I’ve Always Meant to Tell You (Pocket Books); was a professor of English and chair of creative writing at American River College; changed careers and was a hospice chaplain with Kaiser Permanente, specializing in Narrative Therapy. Degrees include MFA Bennington and MTS Harvard Divinity School. She lives and writes in Davis, CA.

Kacper Bartczak is a Polish poet, scholar, and translator. Recent poetry volumes include Czas Kompost [Time Compost] (2023), Widoki wymazy (2021), Naworadiowa [Radionaves] (2019), Pokarm suweren [Food Sovereign] (2017), and Wiersze organiczne [Organic Poems](2015). He has translated and published volumes of poetry by Rae Armantrout, Charles Bernstein, and Peter Gizzi. and many other poets into Polish. In English translation, his poetry has appeared (or is forthcoming) in Poetry, Denver Quarterly, Interim, Berlin Quarterly, Aufgabe, Jacket2, and Lyric. He is an associate professor and department chair at the University of Łódź

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Tom Trudgeon phones in to discuss the intersection of poetry and technology. Trudgeon asks Dr.Andy about the history of the podcast and how the program’s goals have evolved over time. He then explains his career as a UX content designer, where he tries to create webpages with familiar and instructive language to optimize user experience. Trudgeon then shares how his background as a poet influences his practice in his profession before reading a poem, “Category 853.” Emeritus professor Robert J Blake is the next guest on the show; he shared the details of his upcoming jazz event at the Davis Wine Bar. He also shares some of the history of his band the “The Midnight Jazz Trio.”

Tom Trudgeon is a poet and UX Content Designer originally from Los Angeles. He's recently moved to Davis with his wife, who is a second year student at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. He received his bachelors in Literature and Music from UC San Diego, and received his MFA from Temple University in Philadelphia. He's won numerous academic awards including a teaching fellowship and tuition remission grant from Temple University, a UpennxTemple exchange fellowship, and the The Frances Tebet Israel Prize in Poetry for his MFA thesis Catalogue. His most recent publication was included in the anthology Best American Experimental Writing 2015 from Wesleyan University Press. 

Emeritus Robert J Blake is a former UC Davis Professor of Spanish and Portuguese. He taught from 1999-2021 and is a retired Spanish linguist. Blake has been an amateur jazz musician for the last 15 years with his band, “The Midnight Jazz Trio”, and is a Former student of Calvin Keys.

The Poetry Night Reading Series, taking place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, and by Thea and the other members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, visit his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Denise Hofffner and Sol Valdes call in to discuss their upcoming educational workshop “Pride in the Workplace.” As a former lawyer herself, Hoffner joins the Davis Phoenix Coalition to provide legislative aid and informational resources to LGBTQIA+ persons facing workplace discrimination. Valdes discusses the goals of their organization, which are to engage community, and to eliminate intolerance and hate-related violence. Poetry Night feature Tim Kahl then joins the show to discuss his new book Drips, Spills, Bursts, Tangles, and Washes, which is composed mainly of ten line poems. Kahl shares the inspiration behind all of the sound companion CD’s to his collections, and shares a poem called “The New Electricity.” He then details some of his many creative processes, such as taking newspaper strips, and making poems that talk to each other. Eve Imagine and her husband Paul Imagine are the next guests on the show. Eve shares the lengthy process of writing her debut book Body In Script, which she started drafting in 1999. She then reads an excerpt from the first chapter of the book titled “A Way a Woman Eats.”

Denise Hoffner is an outreach coordinator at the Davis Phoenix Coalition’s CCWOP (California Covid Worker Outreach Project). Sol Valdes is the Office Coordinator for the Davis Phoenix Coalition, and works closely with the organization’s youth group.

Tim Kahl is the author of Possessing Yourself (CW Books, 2009), The Century of Travel (CW Books, 2012), The String of Islands (Dink, 2015), Omnishambles (Bald Trickster, 2019) and Drips, Spills, Bursts, Tangles, and Washes (Cold River Press, 2024). His work has been published in many journals in the U.S. and abroad. He is also editor of Clade Song. He is the vice president and events coordinator of The Sacramento Poetry Alliance. He plays flutes, guitars, ukuleles, charangos and cavaquinhos. He currently teaches at California State University.

Eve Imagine is a UC Davis MFA graduate and has been teaching as an adjunct English professor at Sacramento City College since 2004. She is a former high school teacher and also serves as a mentor for students at SCC, along with her teaching.

The Poetry Night Reading Series is excited to feature an evening with poets Tana Jean Welch and Tim Kahl at 7 PM on Thursday, September 19th, 2024, on the first floor of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, visit his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Yolo County poet Joseph Finkleman calls in to discuss two-voice poems. He describes the process behind these poems, stating that he utilizes the tension between different speakers as a tool in his art making. Finkleman states that he uses dialogic traits, such as the ways couples finish each other's sentences, to inspire his poetic practices. He then shares a poem, “The Sacred Plans of Small Spaces” which was a fan favorite at the Natsoulas Gallery. Laura Renee Frautso is the next guest, and discusses her experience as a returning fellow at Creature Conserve. She describes the interdisciplinary work she does at Creature Conserve, which entails developing the organization's writing community. Frautso also describes the peer-review process that the magazine goes through, which synthesizes what one would expect from a poetry workshop and the scientific referring process. She then describes her participation in the Ohio Chapter of ArtsVote, where she tries to create networks that encourage individuals to vote.

Joseph Finkleman was born in Hollywood California.  He graduated with a BFA and a MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute.  He has studied literature in German, Spanish, Portuguese and English. He has been a Spoken Word Poet for 30+ years.  He and his wife Susan Finkleman have one chapbook of their two-voice poetry Picture Cloud Quilt/ Torn Silk by Rattlesnake Press.  They have two CDs of professionally recorded poems. Finkleman is a visual artist, having been in 117 exhibitions spanning the last fifty-six years.  In 2023 he finished his first graphic novel Happy Tooth.  He has written librettos for chamber opera, A Blank Page and You Who Know.

Lauren Renee Frausto is a poet, editor, educator, and project manager. Her professional background is in motion graphics and publishing, and her academic background is in science literature and science writing. Her current research and creative writing focus on the use of metaphor in wildlife conservation science communication. You can find her writing in Cola Literary Review, Consilience Art and Science Journal, New Plains Review, and Raw Art Review.

The Poetry Night Reading Series, taking place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, and by Thea and the other members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, visit his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Joshua McKinney’s fifth book of poetry, Sad Animal (Gunpowder Press, 2024), was the recipient of the John Ridland Poetry Prize. His work has appeared in such journals as Boulevard, Denver Quarterly, Kenyon Review, New American Writing, and many others. He is co-editor of the online ecopoetics journal, Clade Song.

Susan Kelly-DeWitt is the author of The Fortunate Islands (Marick Press, 2008), Spider Season (Cold River Press, 2016), Gravitational Tug (Main Street Rag Publishers, 2020), Gatherers’ Alphabet (Gunpowder Press, 2022), and, most recently, Frangible Operas (Gunpowder Press, 2024). Earlier collections include A Camellia for Judy (Frith Press, 1998), Feather’s Hand (Swan Scythe Press, 2000), To A Small Moth (Poet’s Corner Press, 2001), Susan Kelly-DeWitt’s Greatest Hits (Pudding House, 2003), The Land (Rattlesnake Press, 2005), The Book of Insects (Spruce Street Press, 2003) and Cassiopeia Above the Banyan Tree (Rattlesnake Press, 2007) and an illustrated short story The Audience (Uptown Books, 2007). Her work has been included in many national and regional anthologies including The Autumn House Anthology of Contemporary American Poetry (Autumn House Press), When She Named Fire: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry by American Women  (Autumn House Press), In Whatever Houses We May Visit: An Anthology of Poems That Have Inspired Physicians (American College of Physicians) and Claiming the Spirit Within: A Sourcebook of Women’s Poetry (Beacon Press). Her poems have appeared in Poetry, Prairie Schooner, New Letters, North American Review and many others. Susan has been the recipient of  a Wallace Stegner Fellowship from Stanford University, The Chicago Literary Award from Another Chicago Magazine, the Bazzanella Award for Short Fiction and a number of Pushcart nominations.

The Poetry Night Reading Series is excited to feature an evening with poets Joshua McKinney and Susan Kelly-DeWitt at 7 PM on Thursday, September 5th, 2024, on the first floor of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, visit his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Poet Gabrielle Meyers joins Dr. Andy to discuss her incremental writing habits along with the release of her new release Break Self: Feed. She shares a poem from the collection titled “Spring Agrodolce” and describes the pastoral origins of her collection. She then shares a poem titled “Everything We’ve Ever Loved Must and End Die and Reverse.” The next guest on the show is Carl Whithaus. He joins Dr. Andy in a discussion of the life and career of late UC Davis Lecturer John Boe. They recall John bringing joy and curiosity to the classroom and everyday life of academia through his comedic nature. Dr. Jane Beal is the last guest of the episode. Dr. Jane recounts an early memory of her first interaction with John Boe in London. She and Dr. Andy also recall John Boe’s work as an editor for Writing on the Edge, and describe John as a forebear of the UC Davis University Writing Program. She concludes by sharing a poem called “Perspective” that reminds her of John Boe.

Gabrielle Meyers is a writer, professor, and chef. Her memoir, Hive-Mind, published in 2015, details her time of love, awakening, and tragic loss on an organic farm in the Sacramento Valley. Her first poetry book, Too Many Seeds, was published in 2021 by Finishing Line Press. Break Self: Feed is her second poetry book. Her third poetry book, Points in the Network, is forthcoming from Finishing Line Press in 2025. Her poetry has been published in the many acclaimed journals. Meyers is the Farm-to-Fork columnist for Inside Sacramento magazine. Access links to her many endeavors are through her website: www.gabriellemyers.com

Carl Whithaus is a Professor of Writing and Rhetoric at the University of California, Davis. He has served as principal investigator for the journal Splash! milk science update since 2017 and as editor for the Journal of Writing Assessment since 2015.  Carl earned his Ph.D. at the City University of New York (CUNY); he has taught at Stevens Institute of Technology, Old Dominion University, and the University of California, Davis

Dr. Jane Beal is Professor of English Literature and recent past Chair of the English Department at the University of La Verne in southern California. She is also a Lecturer in the University Writing Program at UC Davis. She received her BA, MA, and PhD in English with specializations in medieval and early modern literature. She also received a Certificate in Midwifery from Mercy in Action College of Midwifery. She has taught at Wheaton College, Colorado Christian University, and the University of La Verne, as well as UC Davis, and served as a midwife in the U.S., Uganda, and the Philippines. She regularly publishes poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, visit his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Mary B. Moore discusses the conceptual framework of her forthcoming poetry book Amanda Chimera. The collection is about a twin who passed in utero and spends her posthumous life haunting her living twin. Moore shares the title poem “Amanda Chimera” from her next publication. She then pays respect to the recently passed Sandra McPherson and recounts some UC Davis memories from her time in grad school. Cody Duncan is the next guest, and he shares some of his experience working in law, opening his own law firm, and moving back to California to work in tech law.  He discusses how his background in music production and coding has shaped his hot takes on Gen AI, IP, and sampling. He raises a point that the legislative protection of intellectual property may restrict potential production and further creative innovations. He also describes the dystopian novel he is working on, The Pane Constant. The episode concludes with Davis artist Thea Johnson sharing some details from her upcoming showcase at the John Natsoulas Gallery.

Mary B. Moore’s forthcoming poetry collection Amanda Chimera, the Arthur Smith Poetry Prize winner, will be out in 2025 from Madville Publishing. Her latest poetry book is Dear If, published by Orison Books in 2022.  Poems are forthcoming in POETRY, Artemis and Cider Press Review, and appear lately in Catamaran, Birmingham Poetry Review (BPR), NELLE, Nimrod, Poetic Viva, and South Dakota Review. She received BPR’s 2023 Collins Prize; NELLE’s 2019 Three Sisters Award; several Finalist Awards from Terrain, and the Second Place award in Nimrod’s 2017 Pablo Neruda Prize.  Moore is a native Californian who moved to West Virginia to teach at Marshall University. She has a Ph.D. from the University of California Davis in Renaissance literature.

A UC Davis Alumni and former KDVS DJ, Cody Duncan  studied at Duke Law where he helped launch a nonprofit privacy research organization, the Triangle Privacy Research Hub, in Durham, North Carolina, before going on to spend eight years working in-house at tech companies, including Lyft, and a global health nonprofit. Most recently, he launched his own law practice, C. Duncan Law, and began writing a dystopian detective novel.

Thea Hudson, an oil painter and multimedia artist, voraciously invents new folkloric narratives populated with fantastical figures. In her two-person exhibition with Genevieve Ryan, Friends are Everywhere, they explore themes of connectedness and platonic love, venturing hand in hand through interactive video art, stained glass, and more with whimsical intensity. Thea and Genevieve both graduated from UC Davis, in 2022 and 2021 respectively

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, visit his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com and follow him on Threads at https://www.threads.net/@andyojones. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Poet Mercedes Ibáñez shares her fondness for the Davis poetry community. She shares how her early life in Peru spawned her poetic aspirations, and how Poetry Nights In Davis have inspired her new work. Mercedes then shares two poems, “The Wolf” and “Celia and Sam,” both from her new book, Poems from the Roof. Jean Biegun then joins to discuss the publication of her new book Edge Effects. Jean describes what an Edge Effect is, the negative effects a plant or animal suffers when a human encroaches on their space. She then shares poems titled “Showdown” and “Limbo.”

Mercedes Ibáñez is a poet and retired psychologist who was born in Perú and who has lived in Davis, California since 1976. The author of five books of poetry, Ibáñez won the National Award in Literature (Perú) in 1971. Ibáñez’s translation of Ezra Pound’s Hugh Selwyn Mauberley was published in 1973. Her 1977 book Caterpillars/Collective was introduced by Kate Millett. 2024 saw the publication of her new book, Poems from the Roof. The mother of two daughters, and a grandmother of four, Ibáñez is a crowd-favorite at the Poetry Night Reading Series at the Natsoulas Gallery in Davis.

Jean Biegun’s poems have appeared in over 40 different journals, anthologies, and art exhibits, even in a state DNR annual calendar and a gumball machine at a poetry convention. Her chapbook Hitchhikers to Eden was published in 2022 and recently Edge Effects in 2024, both by Kelsay Books. The title poem “Edge Effects” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize by Gyroscope Review in 2022. Work this year has appeared in Ekstasis, Right Hand Pointing, Third Wednesday, Mad Swirl, Unbroken, Davis arts and culture newspaper The Dirt, and is forthcoming in Amethyst Review’s anthology Thin Places and Sacred Spaces.

The Poetry Night Reading Series is excited to feature an evening with poets Mercedes Ibáñez and Jean Biegun at 7 PM on Thursday, August 15th, 2024, on the first floor of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis. If the weather is nice, we may meet on the roof.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, visit his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com and follow him on Threads at https://www.threads.net/@andyojones. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Rhony Bhopla joins in to discuss her feelings after winning the 2024 Pacific University Alumni Association’s Emerging Leader Award. She describes the gratitude she holds for her community that has recognized her for her hard work. Rhony then shares her thoughts on the important intersection of poetry and politics, and delineates ways to approach such rhetoric through the arts. Dr. Andy and Rhony then have a conversation about the many roles an instructor takes on and activism on college campuses. Dr. Andy delivers a brief story about spontaneous guest lectures from when he would teach his students outside before Rhony reads a two-part ecopoetic poem title she had previously read at Poetry Night at the Natsoulas Gallery. Rhony then describes balancing her creative interests, outlets, inspirations and profession.

Rhony Bhopla is a British-Indo American poet, book critic, and visual artist. She is a Kwame Dawes Mapmakers Scholar and a recipient of a fellowship in the Anaphora Arts Emerging Critics Program. She will receive the 2024 Pacific University Alumni Association's Emerging Leader Award. Rhony serves as the Pacific University Vice President of the Alumni Association Board of Representatives, as the Board Chair of Women's Wisdom Art, and volunteers for the Sacramento Medical Reserve Corps. She works as a science educator for Sierra Nevada Journeys. She holds a Bachelor in Science in Biological Sciences with a minor in Comparative Literature from the University of California, Davis, and an MFA in Writing from Pacific University in Oregon.

The Poetry Night Reading Series is excited to feature an evening with poets Mercedes Ibáñez and Jean Biegun at 7 PM on Thursday, August 15th, 2024, on the first floor of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis. If the weather is nice, we may meet on the roof.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, visit his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com and follow him on X at https://twitter.com/andyojones.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Italian poet Laura Bertolini makes her return to Davis and discusses publishing her book in which she describes the people and experiences from her life in Davis. She then reads a poem titled “Breaths of The Night” in Italian and its English translation. Dave Boles joins to discuss the publication of this year's VOICES anthology. He describes the process of collecting poems for this specific issue to commemorate the late DR Wagner. Tim Kahl dials in to share how he went about deciding to submit a poem to this year's VOICES Anthology. He gives praise for the independent publisher Cold River Press, the Dave Boles press. Vicki Carroll describes how she went about crafting a poem to honor her late friend DR Wagner. She then shares her approaches to her various poetic projects and a poem titled “Nothing Is Perfect.”

Laura Bertolini was born in Cecina, Tuscany, Italy. She lived in Davis from 2009 to 2020. She dedicated a collection to her life in California, published by Mds Editore in 2019. Today, she lives in Italy; she first lived in Tuscany and then moved to Turin. She has won poetry awards both in Italy and abroad. She has published with Italian publishers as well as through self-publishing. Today, she is working on her new poetry book E i sassi e i fiori (And the Stones and the Flowers). 

Dave Boles is a Publisher, Writer and Designer. Founder of the magazine Primal Urge, he also created the anthology Voices, which he publishes through his press, Cold River Press. He has published, designed, edited and written numerous books, articles, and periodicals, both nationally and internationally. 

Tim Kahl is the author of six books of poems, most recently Omnishambles (Bald Trickster, 2019), California Sijo (Bald Trickster, 2022) and Drips, Spills, Bursts, Tangles, and Washes (Cold River Press, 2024). He is also an editor of Clade Song [http://www.cladesong.com]. He builds flutes, plays them and plays guitars, ukuleles, charangos and cavaquinhos as well. He currently teaches at California State University, Sacramento, where he sings lieder while walking on campus between classes.

Vicki Carroll, a Sacramento native enjoys poetry and the spoken word. She has been involved in workshops at Laguna Creek Valley High Library, and James Lee Jobe’s workshop in Davis, Tuesday night at Ethel Hart Senior Center, Nick La Force Friday afternoon workshop. Vicki has also been featured at Sac Poetry Center and published in Medusa’s Kitchen, Sacramento Voices 2018, and Sacramento Voices 2020-2024. She wrote a chapbook, Half a Chap, Vicki Carroll’s Bakers Dozen, and also joined The Sacramento Storytelling Guild in 2021. 

Authors from journal VOICES will be reading on August 1st at the John Natsoulas Gallery to honor and celebrate the life of D.R. Wagner. The Poetry Night Reading Series, taking place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, and by Thea and the other members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. This event is made possible by Kater-ina Hanks, producer of The Poetry Night Reading Series.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Leanne Schwartz describes how she crafts her emotional, complex, and visceral young adult novels while still hitting her assigned deadlines. She shares a sample from her book A Darker Shore.. Stella Beratlis discusses how her career as a librarian informs her poetic verse, detailing how she often reads obscure reference books to inspire poetic ideas. She argues that poets can use their toolkits to write unique historical fictions, and shares a poem about a founding father of California’s central valley visiting current day Modesto, California. Dave Nachmanoff gives the scoop about his upcoming event at Watermelon Music where he will be playing his first album Candy Shower all the way though, and then reads a sequence of short James Joyce poems. 

Leanne Schwartz is the author of the young adult fantasies A Prayer for Vengeance and To a Darker Shore and the adult contemporary romcom My Kind of Trouble, writing as L.A. Schwartz. When she’s not teaching English and poetry, she can be found baking pizzelle, directing scenes for the student Shakespeare festival, and singing along to showtunes. She lives in San Diego with her family. 

Stella Beratlis is the author of Dust Bowl Venus (Sixteen Rivers Press, 2021). Her first collection, Alkali Sink, was shortlisted for the 2016 Northern California Book Awards. Beratlis served as Modesto’s poet laureate from 2016-2020, co-curates a long-running reading series for the Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center, and works as a community college librarian.

Dave Nachmanoff is a guitar virtuoso with a doctorate in philosophy, who performed with Libba Cotten as a child, and went on to tour for years with singer-songwriter Al Stewart. After playing thousands of shows from house concerts to the Royal Albert Hall, Nachmanoff has built a loyal fan base and a unique niche as a performing songwriter. SingOut! has praised his “heartfelt, inspired songwriting … with a delivery both biting and assured.”  Just Plain Folks honored him with the 2001 Songwriter of the Year award, and his songs have been recognized by many regional and national songwriting competitions. In 2023, Dave began to work with a couple of wonderful musicians called The Usual Culprits from Davis, CA. 

The Poetry Night Reading Series, taking place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, and by Thea and the other members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host is Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. This event is made possible by Katerina Hanks, producer of The Poetry Night Reading Series.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, visit his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com and follow him on X at https://twitter.com/andyojones.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas discusses managing the overlapping releases of her two new books. She describes what inspired the titles of her new releases, and the reasoning behind splitting her new collection A Shared and Sacred Space half into formal verse and half into free verse. She then shares a poem from each collection, “The History of Soup” from A Shared and Sacred Space and “The Day I was a Visiting Second Grade Teacher” from A Handful of Stallions at Twilight. Rina Wakefield talks about her lifelong infatuation with poetry and literature, and the connection she feels with words themselves. She recounts balancing her love for libraries, archiving, writing, and platforming diverse voices. Rina then shares a poem titled “DNA.”

Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas lives in the Sierra Foothills, Ca. She recently received her MFA in poetry from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She’s a 13-time Pushcart Prize nominee and a seven-time Best of the Net nominee. In 2021 her book Alice in Ruby Slippers was shortlisted for the Eric Hoffer Grand Prize in Poetry. She has served as the Editor-in-Chief for both the Orchards Poetry and Tule Review. 

Rina Wakefield is a Spoken Word Poet, Podcast Producer, Poetry/Storytelling event Producer/Host. She is a collaborating member of Myrtle Tree Arts from Northern California. Rina is a Master’s Degree candidate studying Library Science with a focus on Rare Book Curation and Cultural Archives from San Jose State University. She holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English Literature from Sacramento State University. 

The Poetry Night Reading Series is excited to feature an evening with poets Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas and Rina Wakefield at 7 PM on Thursday, July 18th, 2024, on the first floor of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, visit his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com and follow him on X at https://twitter.com/andyojones.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Susan Kelly-DeWitt discusses her various inspirations for her new book Frangible Operas, citing loss and aging as two thematic pillars for the collection. Susan also gives an insight into her writing process, then reads a poem about her adolescence in Oahu, titled “Poem After The War.” She read two more pieces, “Teaching Poetry in Prison,” and “Confluence,” while also elaborating on the validity of answering questions with poems. Michelle Bitting cites California native Joan Didion and Polish scientist Marie Curie as muses for her new book Dummy Ventriloquist, and describes how she tries to embrace ventriloquizing speech in her poetics. Michelle talks about a multitude of topics ranging from Oingo Boingo to science experiments in her garage, and reads a poem called “For Phil.” She also describes watching LA change over the years, and the importance of discovery drafts.

Susan Kelly-DeWitt is a former Wallace Stegner Fellow and the author of Frangible Operas, which came out from Gunpowder Press this summer, 2024. She is also the author of Gravitational Tug, Gatherer’s Alphabet, Spider Season, The Fortunate Islands, and a number of other collections. Her past professional and writing life includes having been a reviewer for Library Journal, the editor-in-chief of the online journal Perihelion, the Program Director of the Sacramento Poetry Center and the Women’s Wisdom Arts Program, a Poet in the Schools and a Poet in the Prisons, a blogger for Coal Hill Review, and a longtime instructor for the UC Davis Division of Continuing Education. She is currently a member of the National Book Critics Circle, the Northern California Book Reviewers Association and a contributing editor for Poetry Flash. Please visit her website at www.susankelly-dewitt.com

Michelle Bitting was short-listed for the 2023 CRAFT Character Sketch Challenge,  2020 Montreal International Poetry Prize, and was a finalist for the 2021 Coniston Prize and 2020 Reed Magazine Edwin Markham Prize. She is the author of five poetry collections, including Nightmares & Miracles, winner of the Wilder Prize and recently named one of Kirkus Reviews 2022 Best of Indie. Her chapbook Dummy Ventriloquist is being published this July from C & R Press. Recent poetry appears on The Slowdown, Thrush, Cleaver, The Poetry Society of New York’s Milk Press, and is featured as Poem of the Week in The Missouri Review. Bitting holds an MFA in Creative Writing and a PhD in Mythological Studies, emphasis Poetry and Psychology. She is writing a novel that centers around Los Angeles and her great grandmother, stage and screen actor Beryl Mercer, and is a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing and Literature at Loyola Marymount University. 

The Poetry Night Reading Series, taking place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, and by Thea and the other members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. This event is made possible by Katerina Hanks, producer of The Poetry Night Reading Series. Our next Poetry is on July 18 featuring Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas and Rina Wakefield!

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Dorinda Wegener discusses the growth and organization of her newly released collection, Four Fields. She shares a poem written for her father. Much of her work begins with an image from the natural wold, and frequently helps her process pain. Wegener then reads a poem she wrote for her daughter as she was growing up. Rina Palumbo hones her love for the experimental into the curation process of the journal Third Street Review, a publication she founded. She explains a recent project that coordinates her interests by telling two stories in one novel. She also elaborates on the difficulties that arise when attempting to write historical fiction as someone with a PhD in History, as she has to suspend her knowledge of what was possible during periods. She reads some of a piece called “One Half of Newton's First Law.”

Dorinda Wegener is a Poets & Writers Magazine 2024 Get The Word Out Poetry Cohort Participant. Her debut collection, Four Fields, launched in July 2024. Wegener has work, poems or essays, in LitHub, The Antioch Review, THRUSH, Mid-American Review, Indiana Review, Hotel Amerika, Hayden’s Ferry Review and Hunger Mountain. She is a Perianesthesia Certified Registered Nurse in Richmond, VA, who holds an MFA in Poetry from New England College, where she was a Joel Oppenheimer Award Recipient. You can find her on the web at www.dorindawegener.com

Rina Palumbo (she/her) is working on a novel and two nonfiction long-form writing projects alongside short fiction, creative nonfiction, and prose poetry. Her work appears in The Hopkins Review, Ghost Parachute, Milk Candy, Bending Genres, Anti-Heroin Chic, Identity Theory, Stonecoast Review, et al. https://rinapalumbowriter.com/

The Poetry Night Reading Series, taking place on the first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, and by Thea and the other members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. This event is made possible by Katerina Hanks, producer of The Poetry Night Reading Series, with support from Helaina Flores and Cami Rothmuller.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Todd Cirillo discusses how his residence in New Orleans shapes his creativity and writing style. He then shares a poem. Cirillo elaborates on the creation of his newest book Disposable Darlings, and its careful design. He then reads two more poems from this selection. Dr.Andy closes out the episode by reading some of the writing he posts on Substack and sharing a Gary Snyder reading.

Todd Cirillo has been called “the best American poet writing clean, honest lines." He is a co-founder of Six Ft. Swells Press and one of the originators of the After-Hours Poetry movement. He is sought after as an editor and performer and has worked on numerous collections for poets and writers. Todd is widely recognized for his performances. He has read from Jack Kerouac's On the Road to the accompaniment of famed musician, David Amram, performed at the infamous Bukowski Festival in Long Beach, CA, and been featured in Portland, San Francisco, Sacramento, New York City, New Orleans, Paris, beaches, barrooms and back alleys. His books include; ​Kisses From A Straight Razor, Three For the Road, Burning the Evidence; Sucker’s Paradise; ROXY; Sexy Devils; Everybody Knows the Dice are Loaded; This Troubled Heart; Still a Party; Tonight, You’re Coming Home with Us, and his poems have appeared in numerous national and international literary journals, magazines such as The New Laurel Review, Trumpet, The Poetry Box, Verse on the Vine, Lummox Press, Sacramento Voices, Red Fez, and on cocktail napkins everywhere.    

The Poetry Night Reading Series, taking place on the first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, and by Thea and the other members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. This event is made possible by Katerina Hanks, producer of The Poetry Night Reading Series, with support from Helaina Flores and Cami Rothmuller.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Bob Stanley elaborates on how his ventures inspire his poetry and shares a poem about his travels with his wife Joyce. Autumn Newman explains how curating personal challenges through an Instagram poetry community has helped her as a writer. She then reads a poem titled “Shame.” Maria Steinhauser describes the process of running a 100 mile race and how running has granted her time to wander amidst the natural environment. She reads a poem called “Old Growth Redwood Groves.” She closes out the podcast by discussing her runs with students during PE and the inspiration she draws from Louise Glück and Ada Limón.

Bob Stanley studied poetry at Caltech and UCLA, and taught English and Creative Writing at Solano College, Sac City College, and Sacramento State University before retiring in 2021. President of Sacramento Poetry Center for a record 12 years, Bob has organized hundreds of poetry events, and he served as Sacramento Poet Laureate from 2009 to 2012. He has edited two anthologies: Late Peaches (2013), and Sometimes in the Open (2009). Bob’s poetry collections include Walt Whitman Orders a Cheeseburger (Rattlesnake Press, 2009), Eleven Blue Strings (little m press, 2012), Miracle Shine (CW Books, 2013) and the e-chapbook November Sun (Random Lane Press, 2022). Bob lives in Sacramento with his wife, Joyce Hsiao, and they run online poetry seminars that help support small nonprofits. Bob’s newest collection of poems, Language Barrier, has just been published by CW Books in June 2024.

Autumn Newman writes poetry and book reviews. Her work has appeared, or is forthcoming, in Colorado Review, CALYX Press, Pleiades and River Heron Review, among others. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her chapbook, A Flower Burst Open, is forthcoming from Finishing Line Press. 

Maria Steinhauser is a middle school English and History teacher and has an MFA in poetry. She spends her free time running on trails and in wilderness backcountry, which she uses as inspiration for her poetry. She has also recently been enjoying reading her poetry and listening to other poets read at open mics such as Poetry in Davis and the Silver Lining in Sacramento.

The Poetry Night Reading Series is excited to feature an evening with Sacramento poet laureate Bob Stanley at 7 PM on Thursday, June 20th, 2024, on the first floor of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis. On the release of his new book, Language Barrier, Bob Stanley will be reading with Sacramento poets Autumn Newman and, a fan favorite, Lawrence Dinkins.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

William Hartwick describes his latest publication, The Invisible Backpack: A Life of Courage, as a product of healing. It is a combination of three journals that showcase his signature rhythmic writing. He then reads two poems from his book. Tim Kahl explains the role of music in his poetic background, including using sound design to support his poems. He then reads a poem titled, “The Map of Prediction.” Kahl concludes the episode by sharing more information about the Sacramento Poetry Alliance Reading Series.

William L. Hartwick was born and raised in Crescent City, California, the northern tip of the great state, the last incorporated city in California before Oregon. It’s the home of the Smith River and the giant redwoods, a beautiful place for a little boy to grow up and become the man he is today. He’s retired from a 30-year career as an educator, teaching first grade and serving as an elementary school principal. He now lives in Phoenix, Arizona pursuing his dreams as a motivational speaker and author. 

Tim Kahl is the author of Possessing Yourself (CW Books, 2009), The Century of Travel (CW Books, 2012), The String of Islands (Dink, 2015), Omnishambles (Bald Trickster, 2019) and Drips, Spills, Bursts, Tangles, and Washes (Cold River Press, 2024). His work has been published in many journals in the U.S. and abroad. He is also editor of Clade Song. He is the vice president and events coordinator of The Sacramento Poetry Alliance. He plays flutes, guitars, ukuleles, charangos and cavaquinhos. He currently teaches at California State University, Sacramento, where he sings lieder while walking on campus between classes.

The Poetry Night Reading Series, taking place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, and by Thea and the other members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. This event is made possible by Katerina Hanks, producer of The Poetry Night Reading Series, with support from Helaina Flores and Cami Rothmuller.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Joe Mills states his perspective on generative AI in poetry and his upcoming summer class called “Living Poetry.” Mills explains his writing methods, the importance of giving yourself time as a writer, and the relative effectiveness of morning pages. He then reads a poem about democracy. Connie Post reads a poem from her chapbook Broken Metronome. Post discusses the influence of poetry on younger generations and expresses her feelings about climate change. She then reads a poem about wildfires. Dr. Andy concludes the episode with a touching poem in honor of Davis Breaux.

A faculty member at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Joseph Mills holds the Susan Burress Wall Distinguished Professorship in the Humanities and was honored with a 2017 UNC Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching.  His work includes poetry, fiction, drama, and criticism. He has published seven volumes of poetry with Press 53: Bodies in Motion; Exit, pursued by a bear; This Miraculous Turning, Sending Christmas Cards to Huck and Hamlet; Love and Other Collisions;  Angels, Thieves, and Winemakers, and Somewhere During the Spin Cycle. His current project is titled The Holiday Cycle.

Connie Post’s work has appeared in Calyx, Slipstream, Comstock Review, 2 River, American Journal of Poetry, River Styx, Spoon River Poetry Review, Slippery Elm, and Verse Daily. Her poetry awards include the Liakoura Award and Crab Creek Poetry Award. Her full-length collections include Floodwater, Prime Meridian and Between Twilight. Between Twilight was a finalist in the 2023 Best Book Awards. Her 2023 chapbook, Broken Metronome has been nominated for 5 book awards and won the American Fiction award for a chapbook. 

The Poetry Night Reading Series, taking place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, and by Thea and the other members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. This event is made possible by Katerina Hanks, producer of The Poetry Night Reading Series, with support from Helaina Flores and Cami Rothmuller.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Maria Breaux discusses her recent grant to write a book in honor of her brother, Davis Breaux. She intends to write about his time as a student and dancer, his spiritual awakening, and his time in Davis. She will be holding an event at Davis community church in the fellowship hall at 5:30 pm on June 3rd to remember David. Katy Brown explains the importance of finding community and listening to other voices. Dr. Andy and Brown discuss their favorite places to write, and Brown reads a poem titled “By the Stone Steps.” Sandré Henriquez Nelson shares the many exciting community events organized for Davis Pride and Pride Month.

Maria Breaux is a San Francisco-based filmmaker and writer. Recently grappling with an unimaginable loss—the tragic murder of her brother, known locally in Davis, California, as "the Compassion Guy"—Maria wants to continue candidly sharing her journey in cultivating compassion amid grief, drawing from her brother's profound legacy of collecting definitions of compassion to navigate through the most challenging phase of her life.

Katy Brown, a resident of Davis, California, was a Supervisor of Social Workers at Adult Protective Services in Sacramento. She has won awards in The Ina Coolbrith Circle, The Berkeley Poets Dinner, and California Federation of Chaparral Poets, Inc. competitions. She has had poems in Glass Art Magazine, Wee Wisdom, Daily Word, Harpstrings, Song of the San Joaquin, and Rattlesnake Review. Her workbook, Poetry Potions, was used in schools for nearly twenty years and has been released digitally. Her other writing credits include automobile humor, greeting cards, a multiple-ending book, and short mysteries for young readers. She wrote a regular “Snake Eyes” column for Rattlesnake Review.

Sandré Henriquez Nelson is a native Californian born and raised in Oakland. Sandre has served as the Davis Pride Director since it was rebranded in 2015. He has worked alongside a great team to build the event from about 500 attendees to an estimated 6500 attendees at the 2023 festival. Along with his pride work, he is excited to volunteer with various community groups both here in Davis and his former home town of Fairfield. Sandré and his husband of three years are proud Davis residents.

The Poetry Night Reading Series, taking place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, and by Thea and the other members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. This event is made possible by Katerina Hanks, producer of The Poetry Night Reading Series, with support from Helaina Flores and Cami Rothmuller.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Jared Stanley explains his decision to use a common phrase with many meanings to title his most recent book of poetry, So Tough. Stanley mentions the theme of air in his poems, which were written in 2021 during the pandemic, rampant wildfires, and the aftermath of the death of George Floyd. He then reads a few poems from his book and shares the importance of ongoing writing and notebooks that he implements as an educator. Cami Rothmuller discusses her interest in geology and her upcoming poetry reading at the Self Design Art gallery in Sacramento, before reading a beautiful geological sonnet. After being offered an academic and athletic scholarship, Silas Wanje made the move from Kenya to California. During his time in academia, he met a professor that encouraged his writing, and his love of freeform poetry grew from there. Wanje closes out the podcast by reading a poem about loss and anticoagulants.

Jared Stanley is a poet and writer who often collaborates with artists. He is the author of four collections of poetry, So Tough, EARS, The Weeds, and Book Made of Forest. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Bennington Review, Harvard Review, VOLT, Folder Magazine, and many others. Originally from Northern California, he teaches in the MFA Program in creative writing at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Cami Rothmuller is finishing up her bachelor's in English at UC Davis, and will be beginning her creative writing MFA studies this fall at the Michener Center for Writers at University of Texas, Austin. She writes often about nature, madness, intimacy, and secular worship.

Silas Wanje was born and raised under the unforgiving Kenyan skies. He fell in love with words as a teen, and has not stopped writing since. He moved from Africa to California about ten years ago and now, he calls Sacramento home. Wanje is a transplant nurse by day, but you can find him wandering around midtown with a pen in hand or playing soccer at a nearby field.

The Poetry Night Reading Series, taking place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM, is generously supported by the people and poets of the Sacramento Valley, by John Natsoulas, and by Thea and the other members of the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, the poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. This event is made possible by Katerina Hanks, producer of The Poetry Night Reading Series, with support from Helaina Flores and Cami Rothmuller.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Local columnist Bob Dunning discusses starting a Substack, where he has found overwhelming support from the loyal readership he garnered during his many years writing for the Davis Enterprise. Anthony Robles explains his mission to share publication opportunities with others and develop a supportive community through GTFO poetry and as an open mic host at Silver Lining Piano Bar. He then reads a haiku. Al Cortez explains how responsibilities are delegated amongst the GTFO poetry group, his style rooted in rap and observation, and an upcoming BBQ potluck in Sacramento’s McKinley Park on May 25th. He shares a poem titled “April 21st.” Anthony Xavier Jackson mentions his engagement with the arts and then reads a poem titled “Liquid Diamonds” inspired by Tori Amos. Dr. Andymentions his upcoming hosting position at the Summer Institute on Teaching and Technology to be held in September. Keith Miller, the final member of GTFO poetry, discusses his formative poetry experiences in academia; their perspective really flourished after finding community in Sacramento. Miller reads a poem called “Yellow House on 14th.” The episode concludes with a snippet of CBC news in memory of Alice Munro.

Bob Dunning has written a daily column for the Davis Enterprise for the last 54 years. Starting his time with the Enterprise in 1970 as a sports editor, he has now written about a myriad of topics, producing an estimated 28,000 pieces. At his Substack, titled The Wary One, you can read the articles and columns by the opinionated columnist, as he addresses topics with insight, humor, and irony. 

Anthony Robles is a minimalist poet who specializes in the haiku and cinquain forms. He is a contributor to the Sacramento Poetry Day Curriculum and the host of the Silver Lining Open Mic.

Alexander Antonio Cortez is a Chicano spoken word poet and mosh pit enthusiast from Sacramento, California. His work has appeared in Fleas On The Dog Magazine, and Tule Review. 

Anthony Xavier Jackson is a poet, performer and musician who has been writing for years about life as a queer Black man in America, recovery from substance use, and family and romantic relationships. Most recently published in the 2023 Tule Review of the Sacramento Poetry Center, Anthony is collecting works for his first full-length book of poetry. 

Keith Miller, a narrative poet from Sacramento, has been captivating audiences with their poetry for decades. Keith navigates the urban landscape, shedding light on both its struggles and moments of beauty. Keith's art serves as a powerful reminder of the resilience of the human spirit and the importance of  LGBTQA+ perspectives in poetry.

The Poetry Night Reading Series is excited to feature poets from the GTFO Collective at 7 PM on Thursday, May 16th, 2024, on the first floor of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Sharani Ramesh, Lee Brunkhardt, and Yuetong Lin join the podcast to discuss their upcoming Bike Scavenger Hunt.​​ This is a project for their design class that incorporates the field of paleobotany, community involvement, and creativity through the thematic storyline and hint booklets. Sinéad Rushe explains her unique reimagining of Hamlet that is being shown at the Wyatt Pavilion Theater. Rushde portrays her rendition of the classic play with a six-person cast, three of which play Hamlet and his split consciousness. Jake Johnson shares how their connections in undergrad encouraged them to continue their graduate studies at UC Davis, as well as their style that departs from traditional worldbuilding and adopts satirical and speculative fiction characteristics. Johnson then reads an essay titled, “My Friend, Me, and Dragon Ball Z.” Alex Ikuma closes out the episode by sharing information about the Whole Earth Festival and its new location at Russell Field.

Sharani Ramesh, Lee Brunkhardt, and Yuetong Lin are a part of Professor Tim McNeil's Narrative Environments Course here at UC Davis. They are all Design majors, each with a different emphasis. Sharani is interested in Exhibition Design, and Lee and Yuetong are interested in UI/UX design. This Spring they are putting on the fifth annual Bike Scavenger Hunt, The Great Botanic Panic, in collaboration with the City of Davis.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-great-botanic-panic-bike-scavenger-hunt-2024-tickets-891878902807

Sinéad Rushe returns to UC Davis to collaborate with Professor Margaret Laurena Kemp, chair of theater and dance. Rushe and Kemp’s previous project AntigoneNOW, produced online at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, was screened worldwide including an invited presentation at the Egypt International Experimental Theatre Festival. Rushe is the author of Michael Chekhov’s Acting Technique: A Practitioner’s Guide, co-translator into French of four plays by Howard Barker and was senior lecturer in acting and movement at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. In fall 2023 she became lead acting tutor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). 

https://arts.ucdavis.edu/seasonal-event/whos-there-0

Jake Johnson is a graduate student in the creative writing MFA program at UC Davis. They are working on a novel, and they have an adorable dog named Bandit. 

Alex is a third year physics major and Chaos Control Coordinator for the Whole Earth Festival. She has been involved with the festival through her entire time at UC Davis and is very excited for the weekend.

https://wef.ucdavis.edu/

The Poetry Night Reading Series occurs on the first and third Thursdays of the month at the John Natsoulas Gallery (521 First Street), beginning at 8pm. An open mic follows the featured performer. Come early to find a seat or a spot on the open mic signup sheet. The Poetry Night Reading Series is hosted by Dr. Andy Jones, the former Poet Laureate of Davis.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Mario Ellis Hill shares his love of advocacy work and how this guides his writing as a poet. Dr. Andy and Hill share their love of jazz and how the protean and improvisational music genre can inspire, inform, and shape poetry. Hill reads a poem about becoming a poet and comments upon the balance between memorization and improvisation that he utilizes in live performances. Michael French joins the episode and shares his preference for the cinema industry over interactive gaming. French then informs listeners about the many upcoming events coordinated by the Arts Department, like an art talk with Maria Maea, exhibits, noon concerts, and a cultural exhibit about contemporary design in China. Dr. Andy then reads a poem to commemorate Karim Abou Najm's life.

Mario Ellis Hill began writing & performing poetry in the early 1990’s, and has since made an impact as a featured poet/spoken word artist throughout the Sacramento region, California & beyond. He is the founder & leader of the Poetry Machine - a performance group of rotating artists that fuses spoken word, live music, movement & song. Mario served as a co-host of Joe Montoya’s Poetry Unplugged! Open Mic Series in Sacramento, CA, and host of Open Stage Open Mic Series in Davis, CA. Besides featuring at poetry venues & open mics, Mario also delved into the world of slam poetry. He was crowned the 1994 San Francisco ‘Aloud’ Anthology Poetry Slam Champion, and 1998 KALX FM Poetry Slam Champion. He also served as a slam team member representing San Francisco (1995) & Chico/North Valley (1997) in the National Poetry Slam. Events & venues that Mario has performed at include the Nuyorican Poets Cafe (NYC), The Knitting Factory (NYC), University of the Philippines - Diliman, California State Fair, Yoshi’s (Oakland), San Francisco Jazz Festival, Sacramento Music Festival, Floricanto Poetry Festival, UC Davis Whole Earth Festival, Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival, and California State Summer School for the Arts. Published works can be found in Sacramento Anthology: One Hundred Poems, Jive’s In The Jug, Poetry Now, Paleoanthology, Sex In Public, The Flatlander, New Poets Revolution, and Nevada County Poetry Series: Year 2001 Anthology.

Michael G. French is an arts and theatre events marketing specialist for the UC Davis College of Letters and Science. He promotes performances and events for the departments of Art and Art History, Cinema and Digital Media, Design, Music, and Theatre and Dance. French previously held similar positions at Southern Utah University’s College of Performing and Visual Arts, American Musical Theatre of San Jose, Pacific Conservatory Theatre and the Walnut Street Theatre. He earned his bachelor’s degree at New Jersey City University.

The Poetry Night Reading Series is excited to feature Sacramento poets Mario Ellis Hill and Bill Carr at 7 PM on Thursday, May 2nd, 2024, on the first floor of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Jeri Howitt begins the podcast episode by sharing her love of reading, which inspired her to found the reading series Stories on Stage Davis. This recurring event showcases the stories of emerging and established authors to make the art of storytelling more accessible through visual means. The storytelling frequently intersects with the art in the Pence Gallery, where this event takes place. Nooneh Gyurjyan is the next guest and she discusses her role as Editor in Chief for the creative writing and art journal Open Ceilings. She explains their strategy of compiling two publications a year, each given a thoughtful theme selected by members of the team to aid in the curation process. Robi Castaneda, a second-year music and political science major, closes out the podcast by sharing information about his upcoming piano recital at the Ann E. Pitzer Center on May 3rd at 5 pm.

Many Davis, California parents and their children will fondly remember the author, Jeri Howitt, as the Founder/Director of Partners in Learning for over twenty years. Others know her for her work as the founding director of Stories on Stage Davis, the successful event that presents established and emerging authors, with selections of their work performed by professional actors at the Pence Gallery.

Nooneh Gyurjyan is a third-year student studying English and Professional Writing at UC Davis. She is an editor by trade, a writer by passion, and a baker by necessity. She is currently working as the Editor in Chief of Content for Open Ceilings, a local literary magazine run by UC Davis undergraduates. Nooneh also works on campus at the ASUCD Coffee House bakery.

The Poetry Night Reading Series occurs on the first and third Thursdays of the month at the John Natsoulas Gallery (521 First Street), beginning at 8pm. An open mic follows the featured performer. Come early to find a seat or a spot on the open mic signup sheet. The Poetry Night Reading Series is hosted by Dr. Andy Jones, The Poet Laureate Emeritus of Davis.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Dr. Andy is joined by the Poet Laureate of Davis, Julia B. Levine, and shares the intersectionality between the natural environment and the difficulties of her grandson’s experience with leukemia that she has recently been exploring through her writing. She then reads a poem that captured her time at a lavender farm, and another poem, inspired by her husband, about the relationships between wasps and figs. Rebecca Foust is the next guest, and she shares her deep love for reading to live audiences. She shares a poem about marriage and slow erosion. She raises points about awareness and intuition, and their incredible value in the world of writing. Foust refers to this collection of details as fodder for future poems as “gestation.”

Julia B. Levine’s poetry has won many awards, including a 2021 Nautilus Award for her fifth poetry collection, Ordinary Psalms, (LSU press, 2021), as well as the 2015 Northern California Book Award in Poetry for her fourth collection, Small Disasters Seen in Sunlight, (LSU, 2014). Recently she has won the 2024 Hippocrates International Prize for Poetry and Medicine, the 2023 Oran Perry Burke Award from The Southern Review, the 2022 Steve Kowit Poetry Prize, the 2020 Bellevue Literary Review Poetry Award, as well as a 2022 American Academy of Poetry Poet Laureate Fellowship for her work in building resilience in teenagers related to climate change through poetry, science and technology. She received a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MFA in poetry from Pacific University. Currently, she serves as Poet Laureate of Davis.

Rebecca Foust's fourth book, Only (Four Way Books 2022), earned a starred review from Publishers Weekly and was recently reviewed by Mark Jarmon in The Hudson Review. Her poems appear in journals including Narrative, POETRY, Ploughshares, and Southern Review, and in 2023 won the New Ohio Review prize and were runner-up for the Missouri Review Editors’ Prize. Past recognitions include the James Hearst, Pablo Neruda, and Poetry International prizes, fellowships at Hedgebrook, MacDowell, and Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and a Marin County Poet Laureateship where Rebecca’s program, “Poetry as Sanctuary,” featured readings by local immigrant poets.

The Poetry Night Reading Series is excited to feature Davis Poet Laureate Julia B. Levine and Rebecca Foust at 7 PM on Thursday, April 4th, 2024, on the first floor of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Anthony Xavier Jackson discusses his time in the Baptist church and his love of music, which inspired his poetic journey. Jackson began writing without knowing academia was there, mostly taught by culture and upbringing instead. He found that poetry served as a medicine that assuaged the challenges he faced in life, such as homelessness and addiction. Jackson also shared his dedication to writing poetry as a Black man in a culture and community that fosters writing. He then reads a poem about time spent with his dying father.

Anthony Xavier Jackson is a self-taught poet and musician who has been creating songs, poems, and albums of spoken word for several years. Relatively new to the Sacramento poetry scene, Anthony has been featured multiple times at Luna’s Cafe, as well as Sacramento Poetry Center. Anthony has been recently published in Tule Review 2023 and has plans to begin self-publishing his poetry via Amazon self-publishing. Anthony’s influences include Nikki Giovanni, Octavia Butler, William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Edward Ka-Spel, and a variety of writers from all genres and eras, including Sappho. Anthony reads his work Thursdays at The Silver Lining piano bar in Sacrameto, and will be joining in Dr Andy’s Poetry Night on future Thursdays. Having written about addiction, trauma, and homelessness, Anthony is actively involved in recovery and works as a certified substance abuse counselor. Anthony also dabbles on speculative sci-fi themes, as well as about spirituality, race, culture, LGBTQ themes and history.  As he says, “To me the most revolutionary act is self love.”

The Poetry Night Reading Series is excited to feature Davis Poet Laureate Julia B. Levine and Rebecca Foust at 7 PM on Thursday, April 4th, 2024, on the roof of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis. Please dress warmly.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Laurie Glover begins the episode by sharing details about her semester at sea, and the inspiration provided by the nautical environment. While sailing in the Atlantic, Glover finished revising her book, studied translations, and explored her fascination with things left behind. She then reads a poem. Kim Stanley Robinson is the next guest, and he imparts the usefulness of the ecological and philosophical perspective in writing and connecting with the community. Dr. Andy and Robinson discuss Muir, Emerson, and Thoreau. Robinson shares his observations about how these writers return poetry to the people. Susan Wolbarst is the final guest, and she reveals her submission process and the importance of poetry communities and accessibility before reading a poem about mountain lions.

Laurie Glover’s poems have appeared in journals such as Terrain, Woman's Studies, and California Quarterly, and her essays have appeared in journals such as Zyzzyva and Boom. In fall 2022, Laurie was one of 28 artists on a tall ship art and science residency in the Norwegian Arctic and in Fall 2023 she spent the fall of 2023 teaching writing and literature courses for Semester at Sea.

Kim Stanley Robinson is an American science fiction writer. He's the author of about twenty books, including the internationally bestselling Mars trilogy, and more recently Red Moon, New York 2140, and The Ministry for the Future. He was part of the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Antarctic Artists and Writers’ Program in 1995 and 2016, and a featured speaker at COP-26 in Glasgow, as a guest of the UK government and the UN. His work has been translated into 28 languages, and won awards including the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy awards. In 2016 asteroid 72432 was named “Kimrobinson.” 

Susan Wolbarst has been on a roll with publishing for the last couple of years. She won second place in the California State Poetry Society's annual contest in 2022 and tied for second place in 2023. She has been published in many print and digital literary magazines and anthologies you have ever heard of, in the U.S., Canada, and Germany. One of her most exciting achievements was to be short-listed for the Fish Poetry Prize, judged by former US Poet Laureate Billy Collins. The winner gets to read at a literary festival in County Cork, Ireland.

The Poetry Night Reading Series is excited to feature the multi-genre author Kim Stanley Robinson at 7 PM on Thursday, March 21st, 2024, on the first floor of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Michael Gallowglas kicks off the episode by discussing his favorite aspects of teaching and his methodology when it comes to showing writers how to reach their full potential. Gallowglas features 10 books that have revolutionized the way he writes, the last being his recently published The 4 Principles of Engaging Writing. Before signing off, Gallowglass shares his love for slow writing, details about his Twitch-based writing circle, and the tricks of the trade that can be unlocked on his Patreon. Chio Saetern, the spearhead of a budding Sacramento-based poetry group called “Sac Poetry Society,” is the next guest of the hour. Saetern shares that she now channels her journaling proclivities into poetry. Her experiences at Sacramento Open Mics and poetry classes held at the Verge Center for the Arts have cemented her love for poetics, and that love has pushed her to continue creating poetry opportunities for herself and others in her community. She then reads a closing poem titled “Cosmos.”

Michael Todd Gallowglas is a hybrid author (with mainstream and alternative publications), storyteller, and educator from Northern California. He has written over 20 books including novels, short story collections, poetry collections, and non-fiction books. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University, a Master of Fine Arts in Fiction from Sierra Nevada College, and a Master in Fine Arts in Poetry from the University of Nevada Reno, Tahoe. His traditional storytelling show at Renaissance Faires, Celtic Festivals, and geeky conventions has mesmerized audiences for over thirty years.  

Chio Saetern is a poet making her debut in the Sacramento area. She can be seen performing her poetry at local open mics. She is also the co-founder of Sac Poets Society, a new organization that welcomes poets of all levels to join in the community and share their love of poetry.

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes place at 7 PM on the first and third Thursday of every month, on the first floor of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis. Kim Stanley Robinson will feature on March 21st with Laurie Glover.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Dr. Andy begins the episode by reading a recently published essay, “The Many Friends of Tito,” a piece written in memory of both Dr. Andy’s late father and late childhood friend. The first guest of the hour is Emilie Lygren, a panelist from the 2024 San Francisco Writers Conference Poetry Summit. In her poetry writing process, she utilizes scientific observation on both her words and herself in order to bring her poems to the edges of understanding. She also shares the joy she finds in working with children, ways poetry can flourish amidst community, and her upcoming workshop on April 17th. She then reads a poem that explores place, nature, and gender nonconformity. Finally, Anara Guard introduces her newest novel set in 1969 and 1970 about a teenage girl who runs away from her parents. It is titled Like a Complete Unknown. On Saturday, March 9th, Stories on Stage, Davis will be featuring excerpts from this novel at 7:30pm at the Pence Gallery.

Emilie Lygren is a poet and educator whose work emerges from the intersections between scientific observation and poetic wonder. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Geology-Biology from Brown University, and has published poems in several literary journals and anthologies. Emilie's first collection of poems, What We Were Born For, was selected by Young People’s Poet Laureate Naomi Shihab Nye as the Poetry Foundation’s monthly book pick in February 2022. Emilie has also developed dozens of publications focused on nature journaling, outdoor science education, and social-emotional learning through her work at the award-winning BEETLES Project at the Lawrence Hall of Science. In her writing and teaching, Emilie calls on awareness and curiosity as tools to bring people into relationship with place, self, and community. She lives in San Rafael, California, where she wonders about oaks and teaches poetry in local classrooms.

Anara Guard is author of the prize-winning novel, Like a Complete Unknown, a collection of short stories, and two poetry collections. Her poems have received the John Crowe Ransom Poetry Prize from Kenyon College, a Jack Kerouac prize, and first place from the California State Poetry Society. Her work has been published in “Persimmon Tree,” “The Ear,” “Gold Man Review,” “Under the Gum Tree,” and elsewhere. She lives in Sacramento.

The Poetry Night Reading Series is excited to feature poets Maceo Montoya and León Salvatierra at 7 PM on Thursday, March 7th, 2024, on the first floor of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Karin Uphoff is the first guest of the hour. She reflects on prompt collecting and the robust open mic line-up at the 2024 San Francisco Writers Conference. Uphoff  reads a poem about living on the North Coast. 

Lalit Kumar is the next quest, and he explains the chronicling of his travels and adventures in California that constitute his book, Yosemite of My Heart, Poems of Adventure in California. Kumar shares that his dual-concentration in both creative writing and the tech world have provided balance in his life, as well as a greater dedication to carving out time to explore the outdoors. In conjunction with his beliefs surrounding the natural world, he shares a poem about nature, and mentions the inspiration he gathers from poets such as Walt Whitman, Robert Frost, and Dana Gioia . 

Teresa Pham-Carsillo closes out the episode by unfolding her selection process when it comes to pairing poems with scenes from the Muppets. She then reads a recently published poem, and reflects on her submission process when it comes to publishing poetry.

Karin Uphoff is author of Botanical Body Care; Herbs and Natural Healing for your Whole Body (2007). She has published poems in Noyo River Review, Writers of the Mendocino Coast anthologies Hooked and Erosion, California Writers Club Literary Review and Lake County Bloom. Connect with Karin via www.karinuphoff.com

Lalit Kumar writes a regular column in 'India Currents magazine' sharing his passion for adventure and travel. His latest book, ‘Yosemite of My Heart, Poems of Adventure in California’ was recently released at San Francisco Writers Conference mid-Feb 2024. The book is available in most online platforms and local Bay area bookstores. His first book 'Years Spent: Exploring Poetry in Adventure, Life and Love' was among top three Selects in the Poetry genre featured in ‘Indie Spotlight’ by Publishers Weekly, July 2022. His poems have also been published in various anthologies including Everything Intensely, San Francisco Writers Conference 2022 and Poetry of Diaspora in Silicon Valley. He lives in San Francisco Bay Area, California working in the Technology sector. 

Teresa Pham-Carsillo is a Vietnamese American writer based in Napa, California. Her poetry, short fiction, and essays have been featured in numerous publications, including The New York Times, Poetry Magazine, The Southern Review, and Black Warrior Review. 

The Poetry Night Reading Series is excited to feature poets Maceo Montoya and León Salvatierra at 7 PM on Thursday, March 7th, 2024, on the first floor of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Maria Breaux shares information about an event to be held on Monday, February 26th at the Compassion Corner in Downtown Davis in honor of her late brother’s birthday. In accordance with David Breaux's own radical kindness and generosity, she will be handing out free slices of Boston Cream Pie from 10:30am-11am to celebrate joy, compassion and positivity. She plans to encourage us to love one another and to publish a book that David had in the works. The next two guests are writers Dr. Andy knows from the 2024 San Francisco Writers Conference, Omar Shaker and Karma Bennett. Shaker discusses how he is fueled by ambition, which led to the development of his own health program centered around gumption. Shaker then reads a poem about his daily work. Bennett discusses story circle writing and scene and sequel techniques in order to maintain structure while writing her memoir. Backed by her experience as a marketing strategist, she shares the importance of blogging and social media use in the ever changing world of authorship. She closes the episode by reading her poem, “Attempting to Fathom the Freeway.”

Maria Breaux has been a presence in San Francisco's indie filmmaking sphere for over 20 years with films like "Vulveeta" and "Lucha," recognized respectively with Frameline Audience Awards. Maria is also a seasoned marketing writer for notable organizations like the Greater Good Science Center, Common Sense Media, and Pinterest, leveraging her expertise cultivated through a Master of Fine Arts in playwriting from San Francisco State University and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Stanford University. Recently grappling with an unimaginable loss—the tragic passing of her brother, known locally in Davis, California, as "the Compassion Guy"—Maria wants to continue candidly sharing her journey in cultivating compassion amid grief, drawing from her brother's profound legacy of collecting definitions of compassion to navigate through the most challenging phase of her life.

Omar Shaker is a doctor who left medicine to explore what health really means. He explores "Nourishing the Spirit of Ambitious People" daily through his Gumption Health program, his Sunday substack at findgumption.com, and his monthly in person podcast The Gumpcast.

Karma Bennett has been published in the literary magazine Soren Lit and in the anthology Colossus: Home, a collection to benefit Moms 4 Housing. After two decades living in the South she’s escaped to Oakland, CA where she serves on the board of the Berkeley California Writers Club.  By day she runs Future Is Fiction Communications, building websites and marketing plans for authors and nonprofits. By night she is writing a memoir about growing up in a home with Dissociative identity disorder (DID).

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Michael French returns to the show with Scott Ebersold to discuss The Laramie Project, which is the current riveting contemporary drama organized by the Department of Theater and Dance. Ebersold describes his casting process, and how he utilizes both acting and directing techniques to explore the depths of the characters. Michael French  shares information about upcoming music and exhibit events which can be found using this link: arts.ucdavis.edu/theatre-and-dance. 

Cami Rothmuller introduces her upcoming larger works: a manuscript about a woman going crazy in the desert titled Crucible of the Sun, and her chapbook. She then reads a poem about a drive with her fiancé, followed by another poem titled, “Great White.” Rothmuller reflects on the networking aspect of the writing world, which she recently experienced at the Kansas City meeting of AWP. Iris Jamahl-Dunkle pinpoints her goal of talking back to history through her writing, specifically the erasure of Dust Bowl literature. She then reads a poem about the romantic relationship between Harry Houdini and Charmian London. Jamahl-Dunkle expresses her deep connection to Charmian London and the similarities in their lives, despite having lived a century apart.

Michael G. French is an arts and theatre events marketing specialist for the UC Davis College of Letters and Science. He promotes performances and events for the departments of Art and Art History, Cinema and Digital Media, Design, Music, and Theatre and Dance. 

Scott Ebersold is a theatre director and recent Artistic Associate of Off-Broadway's Classic Stage Company.  He enjoys directing classics, contemporary works, musicals, devised pieces and world premieres with a broad palette of theatrical styles from intimate multidisciplinary video performances to large-scale commercial productions. Scott recently directed the Off-Broadway Premiere of Max Vernon’s new Musical The View UpStairs that was nominated for 2 Lortel Awards, 3 Drama Desk Awards, an Off-Broadway Alliance Award for Best Musical and for which Audelco/The Viv nominated him for a Best Director.

Cami Rothmuller is an undergraduate at UC Davis, pursuing a degree in English with an emphasis in creative writing, and a favorite contributor to Poetry Night. She recently received the Pamela Maus Award for Poetry and the Lois Ann Lattin Rosenberg English Department Essay Prize. Her newest manuscript is titled A Crucible of Sunlight.

Iris Jamahl Dunkle is an award-winning poet and biographer whose work challenges the American West’s male-oriented recorded history by researching the lives of women. Her fourth collection of poems, West : Fire : Archive, was published by The Center for Literary Publishing in 2021. Dunkle wrote the first full-length biography on Charmian London, Jack London’s wife, Charmian Kittredge London: Trailblazer, Author, Adventurer published by the University of Oklahoma Press in 2020 (now available in audiobook). Her next biography, Riding Like the Wind: The Life of Sanora Babb, is forthcoming from University of California Press in Fall 2024. Dunkle teaches at Napa Valley College, UC Davis, and Dominican University, and is the Poetry and Translation Director of the Napa Valley Writers’ Conference. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Dr. Andy begins this jam-packed episode by speaking with Barbara Brandon-Croft, Tara Nakashima and Micahel French about an exhibit they coordinated called, “STILL: Racism in America, a Retrospective in Cartoons.” Brandon-Croft shares the serendipity of her occupation as a cartoonist, and how the exhibit, and talks of a book centered on it, came to be due to Nakashima’s coaxing and guidance. French provides further details about how to view the exhibit. Next Will Alpers introduces his new poetry book that encapsulates his travels, retreats, and experiences as a substitute teacher. He is the featured poet at Sacramento’s SIlver Linings Piano Bar  on Thursday, February 8th. Alpers reads a poem of his about backpacking in Big Sur. Richard Loranger joins the episode and discusses his return to teaching and the fluidity of poetry before reading a poem from his most recent book “Mammal” that explores gender identity. Finally, Toni Rizzo shares information about an upcoming art competition with a pro wrestling twist called “Art Mania.” The event will take place at Sudwerk starting at 6pm on Saturday, February 10th.

Barbara Brandon-Croft was the nation’s first Black woman cartoonist to cross the color line into the mainstream press in 1989 with her cartoon feature “Where I’m Coming From,” which appeared in The Detroit Free Press. In 1991 Universal Press Syndicate began distributing her comic strip in more than sixty mainstream newspapers internationally until 2005. Barbara continues to post new comics online today.

Tara Nakashima Donahue curated “STILL: Racism in America, a Retrospective in Cartoons.” She also curated the “From Panel to Panel” cartoon/comic art series for Medialia Gallery in NYC from 2008 to 2020. She has curated and consulted for the Brumsic Brandon Jr. Art Trust since 2015, and is also Director of Blueprint, a Supported Education program in New York City.

Michael G. French is an arts and theatre events marketing specialist for the UC Davis College of Letters and Science. 

Will Alpers recently self-published his book of poems and drawings, “The Demon is Curious About My $45 Lunch.” He was raised in Davis, California, and attended UC Davis and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. 

Richard Loranger is a multi-genre writer, educator, performer, musician, visual artist, and all-around squeaky wheel currently residing in Oakland, CA. Their recent book of poetry and flash prose, Mammal, was released by Roof Books in October 2023. They’ve penned five other books and ten chapbooks, and have writing in over 100 magazines and journals. They are soon to start teaching workshops for the San Francisco Creative Writing Institute. 

Toni Rizzo is a painter and co-founder of Secret Spot, a local art and music lounge coming to Davis soon. Her signature style combines serene and psychedelic backgrounds with high realism portraiture. 

The Poetry Night Reading Series is excited to feature poets Cami Rothmuller and Iris Jamahl Dunkle at 7 PM on Thursday, February 15th, 2024, on the first floor of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Dr. Andy is joined by the two featured readers of this week’s Poetry Night, Alan Williamson and Jeanne Foster. Williamson first discusses how lockdown impacted his creative perspective and his life in Italy. He shares his writing process and the restless endeavor of writing literary criticism. He then reads a poem before providing a vignette of life in his 150-year-old Italian home and the musicality of life and community in Italy. Jeanne Foster joins the episode and begins with a preface of her newest book, Your Form Became My Own, which is centered around her own relationship and the “ubiquitous you.” Foster explains her hesitations when writing the book due to its vulnerability, as well as that the writing process lasted many years. She then reads a poem from her book, and her self-perception as a personal poet rather than confessional poet. Foster imparts some final though about poetry as passivity and activity, writing as an equestrial relationship,  and that real emotion in writing must exist between relaxation and intensity.

Alan Williamson is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Davis, who teaches in the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers. He is the author of six books of poetry, most recently The Pattern More Complicated: New and Selected Poems (University of Chicago Press, 2004) and Franciscan Notes (Tupelo, 2019). He has also published a number of books of criticism, most recently Dante and the Night Journey (Anthem First Hill Books, 2023). He is the co-translator, with Jeanne Foster, of The Living Theatre: Selected Poems of Bianca Tarozzi (BOA, 2017).

A student of Robert Lowell’s and a favorite interpreter of 20th century American poetry, Professor Williamson was the director of Dr. Andy’s doctoral dissertation.

Jeanne Foster grew up in New Orleans. She is Professor Emerita at Saint Mary’s College of California and former minister of the Modesto Unitarian Universalist church. Her poems have appeared in numerous journals: the most recent, Literary Matters 16.1. Others include Hudson Review, The Southern Review, APR, Narrative Magazine, Paris Review. Her first poetry book, A Blessing of Safe Travel, won the Quarterly Review of Literature Poetry Award. Among her other books are Goodbye, Silver Sister, poetry, Northwestern University Press: Appetite: Food as Metaphor (BOA), an anthology of poems by women; and a critical work, A Music of Grace: the Sacred in Contemporary American Poetry (Lang). She is co-translator of The Living Theatre: Selected Poems of Bianca Tarozzi (BOA), which won the Northern California Book Award for Poetry in Translation. Her latest book of poetry is Your Form Became My Own (Kelsay Books, 2023). A selection of her poems translated into Italian are scheduled to be published in 2024. Her passion is ballroom dancing and, in particular, ballroom dancing in Tuscany.

Dear Friends of Poetry,

The Poetry Night Reading Series is excited to feature poets Alan Williamson and Jeanne Foster at 7 PM on Thursday, February 1st, 2024, on the first floor of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Dr. Andy is joined by Josh Fernandez, who kicks off the episode by mentioning the countless duties in the ongoing project of anti-fascism and his encounters with American neo-nazis amidst the punk rock scene. The two also discuss their proximity to the straight edge movement. Fernandez discusses teaching in the prison system and community college, and the far more authentic cravings for creative writing and literature he observes in the former. After sharing his affinity for writing satirically, developing a tension and combat in his writing, and honoring his wackiness, the self-proclaimed troublemaker himself shares a passage of his book “The Hands That Crafted the Bomb.” 

Dr. Andy then reads a recent poem called “Water Crossing.” 

Dave Self is the next guest, who mentions his inspirations and then reads a new poem titled, “Relieving.” This poem, as well of many of Self’s writings and photography, is about interconnectedness of nature and culture. Self shares the enjoyment he finds in events like Poetry Night and the surprise and spontaneity of poetry. 

Josh Fernandez is an antiracist organizer, a father, a runner, a fighter, an English professor, and a writer whose stories have appeared in Spin, the Sacramento Bee, the Hard Times, and several alternative news weeklies. His book The Hands That Crafted the Bomb: The Making of a Lifelong Antifascist comes out on PM Press on February 13th, 2024. He lives in Sacramento, CA.

Dave Self is an Ecologist with 50 years of experience studying, protecting and restoring habitats. Recently retired, he now focuses on ways to renature culture and habitats on daily walks in north Davis. Finding surprising beauty, wonder and hope on these walks, he especially enjoys testing and sharing tasty recipes that start with habitat care and repair. You can enjoy his photography and occasional bits of poetry on Facebook and Instagram.

Dear Friends of Poetry,

The Poetry Night Reading Series is excited to feature poets Alan Williamson and Jeanne Foster at 7 PM on Thursday, February 1st, 2024, on the first floor of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Dr. Andy begins the episode with the poem “Elegy” by Aracelis Girmay in remembrance of Natalie Corona, the late Davis police officer who died five years ago in the line of duty. Leonard Cohen’s song “Democracy,” which doubles as spoken word, follows Corona’s memorial, as well as a recorded reading by Robert Creeley of his poem, “The Long Road.” A reading of “Tours” by C.D Wright and “Gift” by Czesław Miłosz is also shared. “Romeo had Juliette” by Lou Reed plays prior to Joe Wenderoth’s appearance on the podcast. Wenderoth divulges his potential relocation to Texas after retirement and his affinity for waterfront properties. Alongside the relocation, he plans to complete his book in the works titled Agony and to use Andy Griffith show episodes to craft generative poetry. He then reads a poem called “Light the Arrows.” Karen Holmberg is the next guest, and she discusses the origins of her poem “At the Preserve.” She then reads the poem, which is about a moment shared with her mother and the elusiveness of perfection. Holmberg closes out the episode by reading a poem about her daughter Lilly.

Joe Wenderoth is a writer, performer, musician, professor, and film-maker. He has published six books: four books of poetry, an epistolary novel, and a book of essays.. Joe Wenderoth has been teaching for the Department of English at UC Davis since 2003. This will be his last reading in Davis.

Wenderoth’s work is widely anthologized, and has been published in collections and periodicals such as Best American Poetry 2007, Best American Essays 2008, Poetry 180, The Next American Essay, The Best American Prose Poems: From Poe To Present, The Body Electric, The New American Poets: A Bread Loaf Anthology, Harper’s, The Nation, The Anchor Book of New American Short Stories, and American Poetry: Next Generation.

Joe Wenderoth has mentored a generation of UC Davis poets. He will be missed.

Karen Holmberg has published two poetry collections, The Perseids and Axis Mundi. In addition to poetry, she publishes lyric essays and art criticism, and her first young adult novel, The Collagist, won the 2021 Acheven Prize and will be published by Regal Press/Fitzroy Editions in the spring of 2024. She teaches British Literature, poetry writing, and letterpress printing at Oregon State University, where she is a faculty member in the MFA Program in Creative Writing.

The Poetry Night Reading Series is excited to present Joe Wenderoth and Spencer Rico at 7 PM on Thursday, January 18th, 2024, in the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Dr. Andy was joined by three guests, the first being Brad Buchanan. He discusses his multi-genre literary catalogue, poetry readings, chess and his most recent poetry collection, Chimera. He then reads a Shakespeare related prose poem. Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas joins the podcast next to share her writing and style development process and her 2024 projects. She reads a nostalgia poem and teases her upcoming collection, A Shared and Sacred Space. The final guest is Tzynya Pinchback, who gives insight into being a literary citizen, workshopping, and her manuscript reading process in her cohort. She then reads a pastoral poem. 

Brad Buchanan’s  poetry, short fiction, and scholarly articles have appeared in more than 200 literary journals, and has published four book-length collections of poetry, most recently Chimera (Finishing Line Press, 2022). He has also published three academic books, most recently “’Indict the Author of Affection’: Affectation and Catachresis in Hamlet'' (McGill-Queens University Press, 2023). His medical memoir, Living with Graft-Versus-Host-Disease, was published by Armin Lear Press in 2021. As some of these titles indicate, his medical challenges and disability have fueled his creativity. He was diagnosed with T-cell lymphoma in February 2015, and underwent a stem cell transplant in 2016, which involved physical disability, a lengthy recovery and temporary vision loss. These health problems led to his early retirement from the California State University, Sacramento, where he taught British and Postcolonial Literature, as well as Creative Writing. 

Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas lives in the Sierra Foothills and recently graduated from Vermont College of Fine Arts, MFA in Writing program. She is a twelve-time Pushcart Prize nominee and a seven-time Best of the Net nominee. In 2012, she won the Red Ochre Chapbook Contest with her manuscript, Before I Go to Sleep. In 2018, her book In the Making of Goodbyes was nominated for The CLMP Firecracker Award in Poetry. In 2019, her chapbook An Ode to Hope in the Midst of Pandemonium was a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Book Awards and her latest collection Alice in Ruby Slippers, was short-listed for the 2021 Eric Hoffer Grand Prize,  Her work can be found online and in print and has recently appeared in Mezzo Cammin and Verse Daily. She has served as the Editor-in-Chief for both the Orchards Poetry Journal and  the Tule Review.  According to family lore, she is a direct descendant of Robert Louis Stevenson.

Tzynya Pinchback is a disabled mermaid, writing about the Black woman body in nature, in illness, and in joy as a deliberate act. Her poetry appears in various print and online publications and her chapbook, “How to make pink confetti” was selected for the Dancing Girl Press reading series for women poets in 2021. She is currently working on a hybrid cancer memoir and lives in an impossibly small apartment on a herring pond on the south shore of Massachusetts.

The Poetry Night Reading Series is excited to present Open Mic Night at 7 PM on Thursday, January 4th, 2024, on the first floor of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Dr. Andy is joined by one of the most featured guests of the podcast, his brother Oliver Jones. The two talk movies, the best theaters for cinematic experiences, and underappreciated films. Oliver Jones mentions some of his top films of 2023 before they segue into the topics of teaching, academics, and basketball. This episode also features the late D.R. Wagner from a previous episode of the podcast. Wagner shared his affinity for late night writing and interacting with the realm of fantasy. He loved to abandon logic and the expected, as well as to explore the many different voices used when writing poetry. He then shared a love poem from his new book Vigils. Dr. Andy reads a poem of his titled, “The Entangled Angel.”

Oliver Jones has spent the past 20 plus years writing about culture, social justice and breaking news for top magazines and websites. As a staff writer for People magazine for a decade, he wrote about some of the defining social issues of our time, including gays and lesbians in the highest ranks of the military, LGBTQ life in the American heartland, and the crisis of African-American violence in L.A. Originally trained as a culture journalist (he’s covered over a dozen Oscar shows), he is equally adept in the world of social justice, covering topics like the failed drug war, the fight for fifteen, and America's education crisis for the Daily Beast, Yahoo!, and others. He is also a film and music critic and writes extensively about art institutions, including the Getty and The Museum of Jurassic Technology. In addition to his work as a writer, he is a journalism professor at Emerson College, where he teaches social justice and entertainment journalism.

Known for his impactful contributions to literature and art, D.R. Wagner’s passing marks the end of a prolific journey. His life’s story unfolded through his work, touching countless hearts and inspiring many emerging writers and artists. Despite a long illness, Wagner’s influence remained undiminished, as did his passion for his craft. Wagner’s passing is a profound loss for Sacramento and the broader literary community. His unique voice and compelling narratives will be greatly missed, but his legacy will continue to live on through his remarkable body of work.

The Poetry Night Reading Series will return in the new year, beginning on January 4th at 7pm.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

The producer of Dr. Andy's Poetry and Technology Hour, Helaina Flores, hosts the podcast with KDVS Sports Director and poetry enthusiast, Dyson Smith. The two take a deep dive into the creative process of Larry Greer, his inspirations, his career journey, and the publication of his novel Our Friend Charley. Greer then reads an excerpt from his novel. John Yarbrough is the next guest, enlightening listeners about the behind-the-scenes work of producing the literary magazine Open Ceilings and creative writing as an undergraduate. He closes out the episode by reading a poem of his own.

 Larry Greer is a former writing specialist at UC Davis who recently published his first book, Our Friend Charley.

John Yarbrough is a third-year English major at UC Davis, an amateur poet, and the current Editor-in-Chief of Production of Open Ceilings, a literary magazine based in Davis.

Poetry Nights in Davis will return in January, 2024.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Dr. Andy is joined by Father Andrew Lazo, where the two discuss ministry and poetry, specifically in the works of C.S. Lewis. Lazo shares the presence of humor in his journey as a high school teacher-turned-priest, as well as in his studies of Lewis. He then shares the Lewis poem, “The Nativity” and discusses the premise of his own podcast. Jane Beal joins the episode and imparts the discipline that is necessary to write, and the practices of reflective writing and thought mapping. Beal also discusses how her role as a midwife shapes her perspectives and emotional responses. She reads a series of haikus about the Descanso Gardens and a poem titled “Epiphany.” Dr. Andy and Alexandria Rockey explore the usefulness of technology, as well as the usefulness of striving towards accessibility within academic courses. As a professor at Bakersfield college, she follows principles in her teaching and in school policy that foster an open line of communication between students and educators. 

The Rev. Andrew Lazo is an internationally-known speaker and writer specializing in C.S. Lewis and the Inklings. Andrew earned his BA (with Honors) from UC Davis Masters in Modern British Literature from Rice University where he was a Jacob K. Javits fellow in the Humanities. He is a frequent speaker around the U.S. and U.K. and has written several articles on C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien and co-host of Pints with Jack, a weekly podcast on the works of C. S. Lewis. 

Dr. Jane Beal is Professor of English Literature and recent past Chair of the English Department at the University of La Verne in southern California. She is also a Lecturer in the University Writing Program at UC Davis. She received her BA, MA, and PhD in English with specializations in medieval and early modern literature. She also received a Certificate in Midwifery from Mercy in Action College of Midwifery. She has taught at Wheaton College, Colorado Christian University, and the University of La Verne, as well as UC Davis, and served as a midwife in the U.S., Uganda, and the Philippines. During the worldwide coronavirus pandemic, she completed a graduate Certificate in Narrative Medicine and an MFA in Creative Writing at Bay Path University. Her poetry collections include Sanctuary (2008), Rising (2015), and Song of the Selkie (2020) as well as seven haiku micro-chaps, Journey, Garden, Bliss, Wide Awake and Dreaming, In the Santa Cruz Mountains, Songs of Water, and Wilderness. She has created three audio recording projects combining poetry and music, “Songs from the Secret Life,” “Love-Song,” and “The Jazz Bird.” Her publications focus on medieval history of the world, the Polychronicon; a medieval dream vision poem called Pearl; and the mythology of J.R.R. Tolkien

Alexandria Rockey is a professor in Academic Technology at Bakersfield College. She has a PhD in Education from UC Davis. With more than 10 years of experience as an educator in K-16 contexts, she has expertise in teaching and researching mobile design, online education, and emerging technologies. Alex is passionate about the potential of online education and mobile-friendly course design to transform access to higher education.

The Poetry Night Reading Series, taking place on first and third Thursdays of the month at 7 PM. Our January 4th event will be an entirely open mic. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Dr. Andy is visited by this week’s featured readers for the Poetry Night Reading Series, Elana K. Arnold and Mischa Kuczynski, and an additional guest, Eli Payne Mandel. 

Elana joins the podcast first, discussing her gratitude for the success of her most recent novel, The Blood Years. She shares her perspective on achieving readership and her philosophy as a translator of teen experiences into words. She then reads a few pages from her book. 

Next, Mischa Kuczynski speaks on style changes as a writer, her own ritual of writing to either complete silence or minimalist, repetitive classical, and the theme of family in her works. She praises the accessibility of writing as a worthwhile and satisfying endeavor before reading her poems, “Milk” and “Lawn.” 

Eli Payne Mandel closes out the episode by discussing his new book The Grid, translations, archives, compiling works in the manuscript process, and the inspiration provided by the study of a “human computer.”

Elana K. Arnold is the author of critically acclaimed and award-winning young adult novels and children’s books, including the Printz Honor winner Damsel, the National Book Award finalist What Girls Are Made Of, and Global Read Aloud selection A Boy Called Bat and its sequels. Several of her books are Junior Library Guild selections and have appeared on many best book lists, including the Amelia Bloomer Project, a catalog of feminist titles for young readers. Her books stir up significant attention and praise, and sometimes controversy. Elana K. Arnold teaches in Hamline University’s MFA Writing for Children and Young Adults program and lives in Southern California with her family and menagerie of pets. She is an alumna of the graduate creative writing program at UC Davis. Her newest book, The Blood Years, is based on the true experiences of her grandmother's childhood in Holocaust-era Romania.

Mischa Kuczynski holds an MA in Creative Writing from UC Davis and a BFA in Photography from the University of Utah. A finalist for the 2009 Ruth Lily Poetry Fellowship, Kuczynski has published work in the American Poetry Review, Gigantic, Fence, Sinister Wisdom, and elsewhere. According to Dr. Andy Jones, “Mischa Kuczynski writes poignant, important, and unforgettable poems that stir the heart.” She lives in Davis.

Eli Payne Mandel is the author of THE GRID (Carcanet / Changes, 2023), which was named a "poetry book of the month" by The Telegraph. He holds a Ph.D. in English and interdisciplinary humanities from Princeton and teaches as a lecturer at Columbia. 

The Poetry Night Reading Series is excited to feature the authors Elana K. Arnold and Mischa Kuczynski at 7 PM on Thursday, December 7th, 2023, on the first floor of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

To kick off this spectacular Thanksgiving Eve episode, Joseph Mills discusses his co-authored wine book and the interesting backstories of the many winery owners he has chronicled. Dr. Andy and Mills discuss cancellable poetry, writing outside of one’s literary persona, and the triumphs and failures of ChatGBT poetry. Mills then shares a poem about standing before the shelves of cookbooks, trying to make dinner. Emily Wallis Hughes is the next guest, sharing the mission of her journal Fence, through which she publishes books, posts digital publications, and makes space for exploration in writing and the upcoming avant-garde. She reads her poem “Late Winter After the Fires.” Catriona McPherson joins the podcast to promote the publication of her most recent novel, Hop Scot. She will hold a reading event on Tuesday, December 5th at 6pm at the Avid Reader in downtown Davis.

Joseph Mills is a Professor of Humanities and Writing in the UNCSA Division of Liberal Arts. He has hundreds of criticism, poetry, fiction and non-fiction published in a variety of forums. He is the author of "Bleachers: 54 Linked Fictions", seven books of poetry: "Bodies in Motion," "Exit, Pursued By a Bear," "Angels, Thieves, and Winemakers," "This Miraculous Turning," "Sending Christmas Cards to Huck and Hamlet," "Love and Other Collisions" and "Somewhere During the Spin Cycle. Mills is an editor for , "A Century of the Marx Brothers," which is a book of film criticism, and a co-author, of two editions of "A Guide to North Carolina’s Wineries."

Emily Wallis Hughes is the author of Sugar Factory, published by Spuyten Duyvil in 2019. Spanish translations of her poems are forthcoming in Buenos Aires Poetry. Poems from her second book of poems, Fragrance Alkali and Bloodred, are forthcoming in The American Poetry Review. She is a lecturer in the Creative Writing Program in the English Department at Rutgers--New Brunswick. Emily lives in Astoria in Queens, New York, just a twenty-minute walk from where her mother lived as a child in Jackson Heights.

Catriona McPherson (she/her) was born in Scotland and immigrated to the US in 2010. She writes preposterous 1930s private detective stories, realistic 1940s amateur sleuth stories, and contemporary psychological standalones. These are all set in Scotland with a lot of Scottish weather. She also writes  modern comedies about the Last Ditch Motel in a “fictional” college town in Northern California. HOP SCOT is number six in the series. Catriona’s books have won or been shortlisted for the Edgar, the Anthony, the Agatha, the Lefty, the Macavity, the Mary Higgins Clark award and the UK Ellery Queen Dagger. She is a proud lifetime member and former national president of Sisters in Crime.  

The Poetry Night Reading Series is excited to feature the authors Elana K. Arnold and Mischa Kuczynski at 7 PM on Thursday, December 7th, 2023, on the first floor of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Dr. Andy is visited by this week’s featured readers, Bill Mohr and Rhony Bhopla, and an additional guest, Faustin Rusanganwa. Mohr kicks off the episode by expressing his nostalgia and fondness for the earlier periods of publishing. He mentions how his creative journey and academic journey complement each other greatly, then shares a poem about a beautiful garden. Rhony Bhopla is the next guest. She delves into the necessity of recognizing that one is an artistic artifact when given the task of creative writing and giving oneself permission to be creative. Bhopla then reflects on her time studying Comparative Literature as an undergraduate at UC Davis, crediting the skills she learned that allowed her to branch into book critiquing. Faustin Rusanganwa closes out the podcast by imparting what compelled him to write and publish his memoir My Exile to the World: A Citizen of the World, which captures his travels as a young man after leaving his home of Rwanda in order to escape tribal conflicts.

Poet, editor, publisher, scholar, and critic, Bill Mohr is widely recognized as one of the leading literary activists in Southern California in the past 40 years. His writing has been featured in over a dozen anthologies, and translated into Spanish, Japanese, Italian, and Croatian. His work as editor/publisher of Momentum Press received four awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, and his honors include being a visiting scholar at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles and fellowships at the Huntington Library. His highly praised account of West Coast poetry, Holdouts: The Los Angeles Poetry Renaissance 1948-1992, was published by the University of Iowa Press in 2011. He is a professor in the Department of English at California State University, Long Beach. The poems, prose poems and creative prose of Bill Mohr have appeared in dozens of magazines in the past 40 years. Bill Mohr has a Ph.D. in Literature from the University of California, San Diego and is currently a professor in the Department of English at California State University, Long Beach, where he has taught since 2006. 

Rhony Bhopla is a poet, emerging book critic, and visual artist. Her poems have appeared in PRISM International, The Hopper, Notre Dame Review, Cherry Moon: Emerging Voices from the Asian Diaspora, and The Good Life Review. Her book reviews can be read in Northwest Review and Harvard Review. Rhapsody, a series of acrylic and collage artworks, was on show in the Promise Me a Rose Garden exhibit at the Kennedy Gallery in Sacramento in 2023. Her artworks are a regular feature of the Big Names Small Art (BNSA) art auction for the Crocker Art Museum.

Faustin Rusanganwa is the author of the book “My Exile to the World.” The book is about his escape from his native Rwanda as a teenager. Incredibly, Faustin traveled by bike across Burundi, Tanzania, Congo, Morocco, and Algeria. His travels then took him across Europe, and the United States. He now lives in Davis where he keeps in his garage the original bike he rode across Africa.

The Poetry Night Reading Series is excited to feature poets Bill Mohr and Rhony Bhopla at 7 PM on Thursday, November 16th, 2023, on the first floor of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Dr. Andy is joined by Terran Fielder, Colin Minigan, and Michael French to discuss their upcoming production of William Shakespeare’s comedy “As You Like It” beginning on November 16th in the Main Theatre of Wright Hall. Terran Ryan is the first guest, who speaks about finding the intersection between accessibility and Shakespare through their performance as Rosalind, a character that rejects the binary and comes into their own as a man. We then hear a demo of a melancholy song, composed by Colin Mingan, that will be used in the play. Mingan shares his goal of composing music that expands across a wide range of emotion. Micahel French closes out the segment by sharing that the play is a highly visual production with contemporary costumes and incredible lighting. The next quest is Claire Jones, celebrating the recent release of the second book in her octology, which releases annually on Halloween. Advice about worldbuilding is shared by Jones, and her mission to create a world where marginalized identities don’t define her characters through her fiction. Her experience as a publisher aids her in the writing process, as she knows that her creative project also needs to be a creative product. She then reads the beginning of her new book. The episode ends with a recording from the Poetry Summit of the 2023 San Francisco Writers Conference.

Terran Ryan Fielder (they/she) is a bicoastal actor who began their training at Manhattan Film Institute (MFI) and UCLA. Recent film credits include: MFI’s "Sorry to Bother and Skater Boy," Emmy Escalante's SAG production "Ellis," and Reel Freedom Films’ "Roots in My Garden." She is a fourth-year theatre and dance and political science - public service double major who appeared in last year's "REFUGE."  

Colin Minigan has a B.A. Music: Skidmore College and a M.M. Music Composition: Boston Conservatory at Berklee. He is a Massachusetts-born composer whose recent music is concerned with natural phenomena, and the relationship between static and fluid elements of musical composition and performance. In addition to composition Colin spent time studying ethnomusicology and uses this perspective to inform his compositions. Colin has frequently collaborated on dance projects with performances throughout the United States and is an administrator and curator of the Xsection Film Festival, a festival aimed at promoting interdisciplinary collaboration between dance, science, and film. 

Michael G. French is an arts and theatre events marketing specialist for the UC Davis College of Letters and Science. He promotes performances and events for the departments of Art and Art History, Cinema and Digital Media, Design, Music, and Theatre and Dance. French previously held similar positions at Southern Utah University’s College of Performing and Visual Arts, American Musical Theatre of San Jose, Pacific Conservatory Theatre and the Walnut Street Theatre. He earned his bachelor’s degree at New Jersey City University.

Claire E. Jones is a small publisher who is committed to changing the world for the better through inclusive stories and practices. She shares a range of diverse novels, planners, and journals with the world from Seattle WA, where she lives with her precious pup, Karma.

Dear Friends of Poetry,

The public is invited to a special edition of the Poetry Night Reading Series celebrating young teens from DaVinci Middle School on Thursday, November

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

This jam-packed episode begins with Dyson Smith, who reflects on his upbringing in Chicago, the writing process, and his creative writing journey at UC Davis. He then reads a poem titled “Sociology Poem” before Kim Orendor joins the podcast. Orendor’s desire to produce resonant work inspired the plot of her most recent book To Whom It May Concern, which she shares an excerpt from. Michael French shares several upcoming art events involving a baroque concert at the Anne E. Pitzer Center, a visit from Native American artist and filmmaker Sky Hopinka at the Manetti Shrem Museum, and a Dia de Los Muertos-inspired musical event in the Mondavi Center. Closing out the hour, Michael Gallowglas promotes his interactive storytelling show and costume competition on Saturday, October 28th before reading some of his writing.

Dyson Smith is a Chicago-born poet and creative who recently made the move to California in pursuit of obtaining a degree in statistics and a minor in English and Sociology at the University of California, Davis. As as second-year undergraduate, Dyson serves as the Sports Director and DJ at KDVS, a submissions reader for the literary magazine Open Ceilings, an Officer for the UC Davis Boxing team, and works as a bike mechanic and salesperson at Freewheeler during his freetime. 

Michael G. French is an arts and theatre events marketing specialist for the UC Davis College of Letters and Science. He promotes performances and events for the departments of Art and Art History, Cinema and Digital Media, Design, Music, and Theatre and Dance. 

Kim Orendor began as a Sports writer with the Sacramento Bee while attending Sacramento State, and then transitioned to writing for The Davis Enterprise, where she stayed for 10 years. From 2006 to 2011, Orender taught Journalism, Reading, and American Culture Through Film at Sias (SEE-ahz) International University in Central China for 5 years, before returning to The Enterprise. She then moved to LA and worked as the Visitor's Experience Associate at The Broad from 2015 to 2018. In 2018, she moved back to Sacramento to be caretaker for her father. Her memoir about living in China, Unbound Feet: Finding Freedom in Communist China, was published with W. Brand Publishing in 2021. The following year, her second book To Whom It May Concern, was published in Augus,t 2023. She is currently living in Gold River, between Rancho Cordova and Folsom and works as a docent at The Crocker Art Museum and an Author Liaison for W. Brand Publishing.

Michael Todd Gallowglas is a hybrid-author (with mainstream and alternative publications), storyteller, and educator from Northern California. He has written over 20 books including novels, short story collections, poetry collections, and non-fiction books. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University, a Master of Fine Arts in Fiction from Sierra Nevada College, and a Master in Fine Arts in Poetry from the University of Nevada Reno, Tahoe. His traditional storytelling show at Renaissance Faires, Celtic Festivals, and geeky conventions has mesmerized audiences for over thirty years.  

The Poetry Night Reading Series is excited to feature California Poet Laureate Lee Herrick at 7 PM on Thursday, November 2nd, 2023, on the first floor of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis.

The Poetry Night Reading Series, taking

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Dr. Andy welcomes the two featured poets of the week: D.R. Wagner and Dave Boles. Wagner kicks off the hour by sharing his affinity for late night writing and interacting with the realm of fantasy. He loves to abandon logic and the expected, as well as to explore the many different voices he uses when writing poetry. He then shares a love poem from his new book Vigils. Dave Boles explains his process of working visually first before finding the words. He especially practices methods through his work with Cold River Press. UC Davis Undergraduate Sean Vanderaa closes out the hour by discussing the launch of the AI Student Collective, a UC Davis campus organization focused on AI literacy and inclusion. Through his role as the Vice President of Member Development, Vanderaa hopes to expand others’ knowledge of AI and ethics. Dr. Andy and Vanderaa discuss the pitfalls of AI and the new software updates within generative AI applications that bring users closer to the prospect of generating satisfactory poetry.

D.R. Wagner is the author of over thirty books and chapbooks of poetry and letters. He founded press : today : niagara in Niagara Falls, NY in 1965 and later Runcible Spoon (press) in the mid 1960’s and produced over fifty magazines and chapbooks. He co-wrote The Egyptian Stroboscope with d.a. levy in the late 1960’s. He read with Jim Morrison of the Doors in a legendary reading with Morrison and Michael McClure and has read with Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Al Winans, d.a. levy, Ann Waldman and many, many other poets over the past 40 years. His work is much published and has appeared in numerous translations. He has exhibited visual poetry with the likes of William Burroughs, Byron Gysin, Ian Hamilton Finlay, bill bissett, and international language/concrete poets in venues ranging from The Musee de Arts Decoratifs, at the Louvre, to the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. He is also a visual artist, producing miniature needle-made tapestries that have been exhibited internationally and are included in numerous publications and museum collections. He is, further, a professional musician, working as a singer-songwriter and playing guitar and keyboards. Teaching Design at the University of California at Davis since 1988, he also teaches in the Honors program at the University conducting classes in Poetry by Design. His most recent books include VIGILS and his four volume Quartet, DISTANT LIGHTS. He continues to perform and publish poetry regularly. He currently lives in Locke, Ca.

Dave Boles, is a Publisher, Writer and Designer. Founder of the magazine Primal Urge, he also created the anthology Voices, which he publishes through his press, Cold River Press. He has published, designed, edited and written numerous books, articles, and periodicals, both nationally and internationally.  Through his church, The Church Of The Illuminated Monkey, he works to dispel the myth that faith needs religion in order to flourish. He lives at his retreat, Lake House, with his wife, Mrs. America, and a variety of spirits and animals.

The Poetry Night Reading Series is excited to feature D.R. Wagner and Dave Boles at 7 PM on Thursday, October 19th, 2023, on the first floor of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis. Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Barbara Ruth Saunders begins the episode by describing herself as an “accidental poet and reluctant memoirist.” She then shares the details of her life that pulled her towards poetry, from a former romantic partner to her admiration for rhythm as a singer. She then reads a selection from her memoir in progress about her first full-time job. Saunders imparts the fulfillment of serving as a writing coach and working with writing coaches to find the ideal organization and presentation of language. Joshua Hori rounds out the hour by describing his role bringing accessibility and accommodations to UC Davis students and helping faculty and staff provide solutions for students with disabilities. His mission is to bring awareness to the necessity of accessibility and how awareness can improve interactions between everyone. He then expresses his views on virtual reality and AI, highlighting his concerns about these technologies while also recognizing their usefulness.This episode ends with a pre-recorded interview with Gwendolyn Brooks and her experience learning that she was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in Poetry.

Barbara Ruth Saunders writes about the intersections between (auto)biography, history, and myth. 

Joshua Hori is the Accessibility Coordinator for IET’s Academic Technology Services at the University of California, Davis campus. The past 10+ years he has been involved at the Student Disability Center with alternate media, web accessibility, and accessible technology implementations across the campus for students with disabilities. He has served as tech consultant for the UC Davis MIND institute in research on mobile apps and organization for students with learning disabilities and students on the spectrum. Joshua is now leading efforts to change the culture of accessibility with training and awareness; forming a more inclusive experience for the diverse populations attending the UC Davis campus. 

Poetry Night Press Release

Dear Friends of Poetry,

The Poetry Night Reading Series is excited to feature DR Wagner and Dave Boles at 7 PM on Thursday, October 29th, 2023, on the roof of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis.

Find out more about the Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, check out his weekly podcast at https://poetrytechnology.buzzsprout.com/ and his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

UC Davis alumna Lisa Rosenberg begins the episode by exploring her joint interest in Physics and Creative Writing, both of which she pursued during her time as an undergraduate. She sees a connection between Physics and Poetry as they both involve work with symbolic language, levels of meaning, and means to express the wonder of the universe. Rosenberg discusses the rewards of her position as Poet Laureate and the opportunities granted to her to connect with her community. She then reads a poem titled after Physics courses she was enrolled in at UC Davis during her Junior year and expresses her gratitude to the graduate school staff and UC Davis English professors. After reading a poem about space, she then reads a poem selected from Amy Glynn’s forthcoming poetry book that emphasizes the utility of memory. Andy then reads a short story of his titled, “Rumi Verses in the Hot Yoga Studio.” Concluding the episode, Dr. Andy’s podcast producer and UC Davis student  Helaina Flores reads an original  poem titled, “Louisiana Heaven.”

Lisa Rosenberg is the author of the poetry collection A Different Physics (Red Mountain Press), as well as essays, satire, and memoir. A former space program engineer trained as a physicist, she served as the second Poet Laureate of San Mateo County, and is a frequent speaker on the confluence of arts and sciences. She has received a Leonardo@Djerassi Residency, Wallace Stegner Fellowship, and MOSAIC America Fellowship. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in venues such as The Common, Leonardo, POETRY, The Threepenny Review, Amsterdam Quarterly, and California Fire & Water: A Climate Crisis Anthology.

Helaina Flores is  a third-year English major, Communications and Professional Writing Minor at UC Davis and recipient of the University Honors Program Leta and James Fulmor Scholarship. She is a second-year editor for HerCampus (a female-run online magazine on campus) and a fifth quarter DJ at KDVS. She is involved with Poetry Nights in Davis and is currently the producer of Dr. Andy’s podcast. 

The Poetry Night Reading Series is excited to feature poets Lisa Rosenberg and Amy Glynn at 7 PM on Thursday, October 5th, 2023, on the first floor of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis. Expect an exquisite pairing of talented poets!

Find out more about Poetry Night at http://www.poetryindavis.com. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Lenore Myers kicks off the episode by discussing the inspiration she found in the works of contemporary artist Balthus while creating her recently published chapbook. Myer also explores the value of conflict in the arts and creativity by connecting the art she examines to social movements and her present environment; she finds content in all of her interactions, no matter how beautiful or unsavory. She then reads an ekphrastic poem on the Balthus painting The Blanchard Children. Dave Tallitsch joins the podcast and shares the cyclical nature of his interest in writing, art, and music throughout the different seasons of his life. While having a designated space to practice each of these art forms would be ideal, Tallitsch’s process focuses on accessibility;  he can create using any of his desired methods using only the tools in his backpack, ready anytime inspiration strikes. He then shares a poem that he believes seesaws the line between “Poetryland” and reality, and Dr. Andy reads a Wordsworth poem that he feels accomplishes the same. Closing out the episode, Tallitsch briefly discusses the founding of Poetry Club, a spin off of Poetry Night that explores the process of performance through sharing.

Lenore Myers teaches ESL at Napa Valley College and Napa Adult School. She has an MFA in Poetry from The Warren Wilson Program for Writers and an MA in TESOL from University of San Francisco. She also studied philosophy for a few years. Her chapbook of poems, Regards to Balthus, was published this summer by Seven Kitchens Press. When not reading, writing, or teaching ESL, she loves hiking, growing tomatoes, and throwing frisbees and footballs with her partner in life and their young son in Napa, California. 

Dave Tallitsch received a B.F.A. from the San Francisco Art Institute, and an M.F.A. from the University of Iowa. He has taught at the University of Iowa; Grinnell College in Iowa; Dominican University in San Rafael, California; and Brevard College in North Carolina. His work has been published in the Adobe Anthology. Currently he lives in Davis, California.

Find out more about Poetry Night at http://www.poetryindavis.com. 

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Dr. Andy’s first guest is writer and performer Richard Loranger, who discusses being a provocateur, not experiencing a static self, and paying attention to the spoken part of poetry. He reads a poem from his new chapbook Mammal. Poet Greg Carter talks to Dr. Andy about the San Francisco scene, giving a voice to jazz, and losing all of his poems. He shares a Beat-style poem. Dr. Andy tells us about the 6th Davis Storytelling Extravaganza, which will take place on Sunday, September 24th from 2:15 to 5:30 at the Odd Fellows Hall.

Richard Loranger is a multi-genre writer, performer, musician, and visual artist who has been working around the United States for over forty years. They have lived in many parts of the country, including New York, Austin, Boulder, Ann Arbor, Chicago, and San Francisco, and currently live and work in Oakland, CA. They are the author of Unit of Agency, Be A Bough Tit, Sudden Windows, Poems for Teeth, The Orange Book, and ten chapbooks, and have writing in over 100 magazines and journals. Their new collection of poetry and flash prose is Mammal from Roof Books (Sept 2023). You can find more about their work and scandals at www.richardloranger.com.

Greg Carter is a poet based in San Francisco and active in the San Francisco poetry and open mic scene. Starting writing poetry (after much observation and reflection) in 1994, Carter was published in Keely Duran's Sex in Public, and in Margo Perin's The Dead Can Kill. His work has also been published by Criminal Class press, headed up by Keith & Kent Zimmerman. Experienced at reading with the music of Tony Passarell, Greg is a past performer at the Jazz and Beat Conference at the John Natsoulas Gallery in Davis.

Richard Loranger and Greg Carter will read with jazz musician Tony Passarell at the Poetry Night Reading Series on September 21st, 2023.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Poet and actress Linda Scheller phones in to talk about adopting a different voice through acting, specifically for her role in the upcoming play Taco Jesus at Prospect Theater Project in Modesto. Dr. Andy is joined by two in-studio guests, entrepreneur Adi Latif and Blind Woman of Action Gena Harper, both of whom discuss interacting as blind people, technologies they use to access the world, and recent developments in accessibility. Adi also talks about his work uncovering perceptual differences with and without sight, and differently-abled navigation in the United States compared to London. Gena shares more about her impressive accomplishments and her unconventional path through school and life.

Gena Harper was born with congenital Glaucoma, but she has never let that stop her from accomplishing her goals or motivating others to reach for their dreams.

Gena has been a financial advisor since 1985, and rose to become a Senior Vice President with Morgan Stanley as well as an Investing with Impact Director. She left the industry in 2022, but still holds the financial designation of Certified Investment Management Analyst ® (CIMA) and provide ad hoc counsel to various organizations.

In 1995 Gena became the first recipient of The Glaucoma Foundation Award of Merit, and in 2015 Morgan Stanley Wealth Management recognized Gena as one of 15 outstanding women professionals. She has received the Women of Vision Award, the American Foundation for the Blind Kay Gallagher Award, and The Glaucoma Foundation Award.

Gena sits on the board and development committee of the Blind and Rehabilitation Services of Pittsburgh and is Vice President of Foundation of the Davis-Reno chapter of the Delta Gamma organization.

She made the US National Para cycling Team in 2012 and won a bronze medal in the National Disabled Ski Championships. She cycles, bikes, whitewater rafts, rock climbs, skateboards, practices yoga and has even tried cliff diving. She believes everyone should have a vision, whether they can see or not.

Adi Latif is a public speaker, an award-winning entrepreneur, and an evangelist for good accessible design. Adi was named in the 2020’s prestigious Shaw Trust Disability Power 100, a list of the UK’s 100 most influential disabled people. Adi empowers large and small organisations to improve the usability and accessibility of their digital products and services to ensure equal access to people who are disabled. When he is not working, he loves hurtling himself down mountains on his snowboard and playing his guitar (but thankfully not both at the same time).

Linda Scheller is a California Central Valley poet, playwright, book reviewer, and writing teacher whose work has appeared in numerous publications. She has authored two books of poetry, Fierce Light (FutureCycle Press, 2017) and Wind and Children (Main Street Rag, 2022). A founding board member of Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center, she facilitates writing workshops, book discussions, literary events, and community projects. As a programmer for KCBP radio, she co-hosts and produces "Arts of the San Joaquin Valley" and "Women of the Valley."

Linda will appear as a chorus member in Taco Jesus from September 22nd to October 1st at Prospect Theater Project, 1214 K St in Modesto. Find out more and get tickets at prospecttheaterproject.org.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Lodi Poet Laureate Nancy Gonzalez St. Clair talks to Dr. Andy about her monthly poetry series Mosaic of Voices and balancing community involvement with poetry. She shares two beautiful poems. Author Alexandra Chang joins us to discuss her upcoming reading at the Mary L. Stephens Davis Branch Library and honing her writing skills as a young Davisite, then shares two poems. Nebraska State Poet Matt Mason shares about his new book Rock Stars, including his pension for allusions, then teases its contents with two poems.

Nancy Gonzalez St. Clair is the inaugural poet laureate of Lodi (2023). Her poetry has appeared in Huizache: The Magazine of Latino Literature, La Tolteca, Mujeres De Maiz Zine, Hinchas de Poesía,  Fifth Wednesday Journal, and several other literary journals. Her work is featured in the Poetry of Resistance: Voices for Social Justice, Sacramento Voices: Foam at the Mouth Anthology, Lowriting: Shots, Rides, and Stories from the Chicano Soul, and Puro Chicanx Writers of the 21st Century. Nancy served on the Sacramento Poetry Center Board for several years. She has been a part of the writing group “Los Escritores del Nuevo Sol” since 2011. She hosts a monthly poetry series called “Mosaic of Voices” at the Lodi Library. Nancy has been a public educator for 22 years. She works as a teacher at an elementary school in the Lodi Unified School District.

Alexandra Chang is the author of the novel Days of Distraction and the short story collection Tomb Sweeping. Her writing has appeared in Zoetrope: All-Story, The New York Times, Harper’s Bazaar, Guernica, and elsewhere. She is a National book foundation 5 under 35 honoree who grew up in Davis and currently lives in Ventura County, California. Alexandra will be in conversation with Jamil Jan Kochai at the Mary L. Stephens Davis Branch Library on Thursday, September 7th at 6:30 P.M.

The Nebraska State Poet Matt Mason was Executive Director of the Nebraska Writers Collective from 2009-2022. Through the US State Department, he has run workshops in Botswana, Romania, Nepal, and Belarus. Mason is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize and fellowships from the Academy of American Poets and the Nebraska Arts Council. His work can be found in The New York Times, on NPR’s Morning Edition, in American Life in Poetry, and more. Mason’s 4th book, At the Corner of Fantasy and Main: Disneyland, Midlife and Churros, was released by The Old Mill Press in 2022. His 5th book of poetry, Rock Stars, is fresh out from Button Poetry. Matt is based out of Omaha with his wife, the poet Sarah McKinstry-Brown, and daughters Sophia and Lucia. 

Nancy Gonzalez St. Clair and Linda Collins will read at the Poetry Night Reading Series on September 7th, 2023.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Poet Oswaldo Vargas talks to Dr. Andy about the Sacramento poetry scene, looming climate anxiety, and his evolving relationship with nature. He reads two poems dealing with the latter subjects. Poet and academic coach Mariam Ahmed tells us about the poetry-provoking beaches of San Diego, the process of getting her MFA, and what’s next in her academic and creative trajectory. She reads a moving poem about a lost loved one. Local musician and artist Joseph Milro joins last to discuss arts opportunities in the city of Davis and his upcoming projects, including the Third Space Art Pantry and this Sunday’s open mic at Delta of Venus.

Oswaldo Vargas is a former farmworker, a 2021 recipient of the Undocupoets Fellowship, a Pushcart Prize nominee, and a prior feature in the Poem-A-Day series by the Academy of American Poets. He has been anthologized in Nepantla: An Anthology Dedicated to Queer Poets of Color and Puro Chicanx Writers of the 21st Century, among others. His work can also be seen in places like Narrative Magazine and The West Trade Review. He lives and dreams in Sacramento, CA. Oswaldo will read at John C. Fremont Park in Midtown on Friday, September 8th.

Mariam Ahmed is a Californian poet. Her work has appeared in Flint Hills Review, Folly Journal, Maintenant: A Journal of Contemporary Dada Art & Poetry, The Offending Adam, Wingless Dreamer, and other journals and magazines. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature with a minor in Sociology from U.C. Davis and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, Poetry, from San Diego State University. Mariam lives in San Diego, CA, where she visits the ocean often to write poems in the sand.

Joseph Milro is a local musician, artist, and Yolo County SPCA Thrift Store enthusiast. He’ll be hosting an open mic this Sunday, September 3rd, from 6-9 P.M., at Delta of Venus, 122 B Street, Davis. All are welcome and all forms of creativity are encouraged!

Nancy Gonzalez St. Clair and Linda Jackson Collins will read at the Poetry Night Reading Series on Thursday, September 7th, 2023.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Iris Jamahl Dunkle explores her developed interest in Dust Bowl literature as a result of her grandmother's experiences with the disaster, as well  through her own study of Sanora Babb as a biographer. Dr. Andy and Dunkle discuss the importance of rediscovering talented female writers of the past. Dunkle shares the connections she makes through her work as a biographer and poet, using poetry as a response to documents and artifacts as means of processing the story. She then shares her poem “Artifact” about Charmaine London (wife of Jack London) and the loss of her own mother through imagery associated with the Vasa ship located in Stockholm. Her second poem is about the fires in Sonoma county and “ground truthing.” Dunkle defines herself as a “poet of place,” using her careful attention to natural history and human history to examine the subsurface and make sense of the present. Next, Allegra Silberstein shares a Valentine poem she received from Ted Kooser. She goes on to discuss her involvement with a Sacramento poetry group and the workshop community they have cultivated. She then shares a poem from her new book which incorporates images and tropes from a mythic story. Allegra tries to write at least once a week amidst her busy schedule as a dancer, performer, and avid presence at Dr. Andy’s Poetry Nights.

Iris Jamahl Dunkle is an award-winning literary biographer, essayist, and poet. Her poetry collections include Interrupted Geographies, Gold Passage, and There’s a Ghost in This Machine of Air. She obtained her MFA in poetry from New York University, and her PhD in American Literature from Case Western Reserve University.

Allegra Silberstein was the first poet laureate of the City of Davis. Originally from Wisconsin, Silberstein has lived in California since 1963. In addition to three chapbooks of poetry, she has been widely published in print journals and online publications. Her first book of poems, West of Angels, was published by Cold River Press in March of 2015, and in 2022, Kelsay Books published her chapbook Dancing with the Morning Breeze. Admirably productive, Silberstein has recently (2023) published the book Lyra’s Song, courtesy of Cold River Press.

The Poetry Night Reading Series is excited to feature Iris Jamahl Dunkle and Allegra Silberstein at 7 PM on Thursday, August 17th, 2023, on the air-conditioned first floor of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Modesto poet laureate emerita Gillian Wegener joins Dr. Andy to talk about the power of a poet laureate, the balance between familiarity and exploration when writing, and her work as founding president of the Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center. She reads two poems, putting the poetry in Poetry and Technology Hour. Putting the technology in Poetry and Technology Hour is Dr. Andy’s next guest Steve McKay, who discusses growing up listening to KDVS, the evolution of information sharing and education, and the important work he’s taking on as Instructional Media and Creative Services Manager at UC Davis.

Gillian Wegener is the author of The Opposite of Clairvoyance (2008) and This Sweet Haphazard (2017), both from Sixteen Rivers Press. She is the founding president of Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center, a regional nonprofit promoting poetry in Stanislaus County, and a former poet laureate of Modesto, CA. 

Steve McKay is a native Sacramentan, growing up listening to KDVS as an ‘80s teen before leaving to serve in the Army during the Cold War fresh out of high school. He studied journalism at Sacramento State, embarked on his early career as a photojournalist for regional newspapers, then returned to Sac State to join the university’s public affairs team, where he led a multimedia production group. His proudest accomplishment was leading a statewide campaign focused on opioid abuse prevention for the California Department of Public Health. Along the way he taught photojournalism and media courses in the Los Rios Community College District. Just prior to joining UC Davis, Steve headed a team at the California Public Employees Retirement System responsible for video and event production.

The Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center will hold its 10th Anniversary Gala, featuring readings by California Poet Laureate Lee Herrick and Stan City Youth Poet Laureate Faith Delgado, on Saturday, September 23, 2023. Tickets can be purchased at https://poetrygala2023.brownpapertickets.com/.

Iris Dunkle will read with Allegra Silberstein at the Poetry Night Reading Series on August 17th.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Podcaster and writer Kevin Tumlinson delves into his dedication to the production and publishing of his 70 books, under both his name and his pen name. His writing expands across many genres, from sci-fi to fantasy to philosophy. Tumlinson also writes advice books to guide the writers of the world, as this is a community he seeks to nurture and serve. He recounts his methods of gaining wisdom through interviewing and seeking to understand people, and offers advice about advertising, publishing, and publicity as Director of Marketing & PR for Draft2Digital. He then shares an excerpt from his recent book, A Note From the Author, which he began the morning of his 50th birthday. Poet Simeon Berry expresses his love for poetry podcasts and the constant companionship and inspiration that he finds in a spoken voice. He finds inspiration by capturing his thoughts on Google docs in order to preserve lines and notes about other writers and pop culture, as a sort of intellectual digi-diary. This method fueled his most recent poetry book. Berry points out the importance of learning your weaknesses, and his experience of smoothing weaknesses out through prose and revision. He then shares two poems: the first about a man inexplicably exhibiting concern during college, and the second about a recollection of moving to a city, familial dynamics, and the vast emotions that accompany these abstractions. 

Kevin Tumlinson is a prolific writer and podcast host, with books available worldwide in multiple languages. He is the Director of Marketing & PR for Draft2Digital, the leading distributor of independently published books online. He prefers to be known as a writer of good books and good stories.

Simeon Berry won the National Poetry Series for his first collection of poetry, Ampersand Revisited (Fence Books), and his second book of poetry, Monograph (University of Georgia Press). He has been an Associate Editor for Ploughshares and won a Massachusetts Cultural Council Individual Artist Grant, and his work has appeared in AGNI, Colorado Review, Blackbird, DIAGRAM, The Iowa Review, and many other journals. He lives in Massachusetts and is the Prose Poetry Editor for Pithead Chapel.

The poetry series that Dr. Andy runs will take a break on August 3, but will return on August 17 with Iris Dunkle. For details, visit http://www.poetryindavis.com.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

We are joined by three interdisciplinary poets, Susan Flynn, Jemi Reis McDonald, and Jane Beal. 

Susan Flynn works as psychoanalyst, poet, and photographer and teaches at UC Davis. She shares how she writes with a photographer's eye in her works, allowing the image to use  languages and stretch for what we don't directly know. Flynn shares a poem about what happens when one leaves the body, a reflection on her own experiences with loss and her desire to make the mundane and tragic beautiful through her work. 

Jemi Reis McDonald explains how her role as a Buddhist practitioner grounds her in the present, ultimately enunciating reality to be unmistakable and oftentimes spiritual. Her love for connection, walking and people-watching is revealed as the inspiration for her latest book, Evening Light. McDonald’s process involves viewing images and realization that come to her as conspiracies she is being invited into, allowing her to feel deeply connected to her writing.  

Jane Beal, who has appeared on DAPATH in three different decades, shares her unique educational journey and teaching process as a student and educator during the pandemic. She then reads a poem from a series inspired by her travels to the United Kingdom, which is a rhythmical, image-based poem that navigates the reader through terrains experienced by the speaker.  

Susan Flynn is a poet, photographer, and psychoanalyst living in Sacramento and Georgetown, California. She has a private clinical practice in Sacramento, and is assistant clinical professor at UC Davis, where she teaches and supervises psychiatry residents. Her poetry has been widely published in journals and anthologies. Susan is trained as an Amherst Writers and Artists group facilitator, and she has facilitated a series of writing groups for trauma survivors called “The Body Keeps the Score, The Spirit Tells the Story." Seeing Begins in the Dark (2022) from River Rock Books is her first poetry collection.

Jemi Reis McDonald is the author of the 2022 collection Evening Light: A Retrospect in Stories and Poems, published by Mandorla Books. Jemi is a California native, life-long writer, twenty-two-year Soto Zen Buddhist practitioner, decades-long wife, mother, new grandmother, and enduring friend. 

Jane Beal, PhD is a poet and a writer, educator,  and midwife. She was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she received her BA (Sonoma State University), MA (Sonoma State University), and PhD (UC Davis) in English, with concentrations in biblical, classical, medieval, and early modern literature, and an MFA in Creative Writing (Bay Path University). She also holds a Certificate in Midwifery from Mercy in Action College of Midwifery and a graduate Certificate in Narrative Medicine from Bay Path University. She has taught at Wheaton College, Colorado Christian University, and the University of La Verne as well as UC Davis and the UC Washington Center (in Washington, D.C.). 

The Poetry Night Reading Series features Susan Flynn and Jemi McDonald at 7 PM on Thursday, July 20th, 2023, at the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

We are joined by poets Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas and Emma Sheinbaum. Carol Lynn kicks off the hour by sharing her enjoyment of listening to audiobooks during her summer of recovery and reflection, mainly using this practice as means to fuel composition. She finds that she has sweet moments of inspiration after reading something powerful, often drawn towards works filled with the tension of beauty and heartbreaking news. Carol Lynn informs listeners how she creates poems by mixing fantasy and memory and by working on poems for an hour or more every day. She then shares a poem about the love she experienced from her ex-mother-in-law. She reflects on her time and influences at Vermont College of Fine Arts and her upcoming book of poetry. She concludes her interview by sharing a feminist poem that captures the female experience. 

Emma Sheinbaum explores how community influences her position as a writer. She is moved most by essays that reist genre, and by the line between prose and treatise. She then shares a piece that began as separate lines in her notes app that she then arranged into a poem. Her method involves following a tension or attempting to find an answer for the question she feels internally through her poetry and her essays. Emma also resists parameters through her role at the literary journal A Velvet Giant and her shared work on her website www.emmasheinbaum.com.

Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas lives in the Sierra Foothills of California and is a recent graduate of Vermont College of Fine Arts with an MFA in Writing, where she earned a merit scholarship. She is a twelve-time Pushcart Prize nominee and an eight-time Best of the Net nominee. In 2012 she won the Red Ochre Chapbook Contest with her manuscript Before I Go to Sleep. In 2018, her book In the Making of Goodbyes was nominated for the CLMP Firecracker Award in Poetry, and her poem A Mall in California took 2nd place for the Jack Kerouac Poetry Prize. She has served as the Editor-in-Chief for the Orchards Poetry Journal and Co-Editor-in-Chief for the Tule Review and is a former member of the Board of Directors for the Sacramento Poetry Center. Her work can be found in the Saratoga Authors Hall of Fame. Her latest collection of poems Alice in Ruby Slippers, was short-listed for the 2021 Eric Hoffer Grand Prize and awarded honorable mention in the Poetry category and has been featured in Sundress Publications, The Wardrobes Best Dressed. 

Emma Sheinbaum is Co-Founding Editor of the genreless literary journal A Velvet Giant. Her essays and poems are published in Cosmonauts Avenue, Juked, a video essay in TriQuarterly, Cherub Magazine, The InQueery, Glass Mountain, and Metatron Press #MicroMeta Series, among others.

The Poetry Night Reading Series features Susan Flynn and Jemi McDonald at 7 PM on Thursday, July 20th, 2023, at the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

We’re joined by the two poets being featured at this upcoming Poetry Night! Paul Aponte discusses his process in deciding to publish his first book of poetry, the themes of appreciation, passion, and love that are present in his poetry, and his influences. He then shares a few of his wonderful poems in English and Spanish and the unfolding of his unique writing process that honors the spontaneity of a poetic moment. Erin Rodoni shares her initial reaction to receiving the Southern Indiana Review Michael Waters Poetry Prize and the impact of the lockdown on her poetic processes. She then shares a poem that emphasizes her careful attention to climate change, the intertwining nature of her poetry and personal life, and her selection process when writing a thematic series. This episode concludes with a poetry reading by Julia Levine, the current Poet Laureate of Davis and poet Traci Gourdine in commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr.

Paul Aponte is a Chicano Poet from Sacramento. He is a member of the writers group Escritores Del Nuevo Sol, and also a board member of Círculo De Poetas & Writers.  He has been published in several anthologies, in Sacramento Poetry Center's "Poetry Now", and has a new book out called DEL CACTUS available through Prickly Pear Press and Amazon.com.

Erin Rodoni is the author of Body, in Good Light (Sixteen Rivers Press, 2017) and A Landscape for Loss (NFSPS Press, 2017), which was selected by Tony Barnstone as the winner of the 2016 Stevens Award sponsored by the National Federation of State Poetry Societies. Her third collection, And if the Woods Carry You (Southern Indiana Review Press, 2021), won the 2020 Southern Indiana Review Michael Waters Poetry Prize. Her poems have been published in Best New Poets 2014, Blackbird, Colorado Review, Poetry Northwest, The Adroit Journal, and Verse Daily, among others. She has also been honored with awards from AWP, Ninth Letter, and The Montreal International Poetry Prize. Erin was born and raised in Point Reyes, CA, and holds a BA from UC Berkeley and an MFA from San Diego State. She teaches at the Writing Salon in San Francisco and serves on the board of the Marin Poetry Center. She lives in San Rafael, CA, with her husband and two young daughters.

The Poetry Night Reading Series is excited to feature Paul Aponte Rodoni and Erin Rodini at 7 PM on Thursday, July 6th, 2023, on the roof of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Poet Holly Mitchell discusses their new book Mare’s Nest, its central ideas, places, and themes, and their process of distilling them cohesively. She shares two poems from the book, explorations of the lives of Kentucky horses. Dr. Andy shares an abecedarian poem inspired by Mitchell’s, and a second impromptu poem is soon brought on by a PSA about forests. Poet and flavor researcher Kyle Hamilton joins Dr. Andy in the studio to talk about their work with flavor and senses, their new book To All My Friends Who Were Out in Highschool, and the themes it explores. They share the poem that spawned the rest of the book. Also live in the studio, UC Davis senior Cami Rothmuller discusses finding the balance between disciplined student and crazy poet, pivoting from entomology to creative writing, and finding inspiration in the sublime. She shares two poems about nature and mysticism.

Holly Mitchell is a poet from Kentucky, now based in New York. Sarabande Books published Holly’s debut collection, Mare’s Nest, in Spring 2023. Holly received an MFA in Creative Writing from New York University and has poems in several literary journals, recently Bellevue Literary Review, Steaming, and Afternoon Visitor.

Dr. Kyle Patrick Hamilton is a queer poet writing about food, machines, and the strangeness of having a body. They recently released their debut chapbook, To All My Friends Who Were Out in Highschool, published by Bottlecap Press. They have also published poems in Powders Press and The World Beyond Our Station, and work as a flavor researcher by day.

Cami Rothmuller is an undergraduate at UC Davis pursuing a degree in English with a concentration in creative writing. She most often finds herself writing about nature, madness, and secular worship. She recently received the Pamela Maus Award for Poetry and the Lois Ann Lattin Rosenberg English Department Essay Prize.

Erin Rodoni and Paul Aponte will read at the Poetry Night Reading Series on July 6th, 2023.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Richard Robbins and Thomas Mitchell, upcoming featured poets at the Poetry Night Reading Series, join us in the studio to talk about the survival of live storytelling, location in poetry, the confluence of athletic and poetic goals, sustaining productivity, and more. Robbins shares a poem which inspires discussion of the poet’s role in posing questions. Mitchell shares a seaside poem with a wishful and evolving narrator. Rounding out the hour is poet and storyteller Michael Gallowglas, who gets us excited for his upcoming reading at the Sacramento Poetry Center.

Richard Robbins was raised in California and Montana, taught in Minnesota for many years, and recently returned west to Oregon. In 2017, Lynx House Press published his sixth book of poems, Body Turn to Rain: New & Selected Poems, and in February 2023 it published his seventh, The Oratory of All Souls. Over the years, he has earned awards or residencies from The Loft Literary Center, the Minnesota State Arts Board, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Poetry Society of America, the Hawthornden Castle International Retreat for Writers, and Willapa Bay AiR. From 1986-2014, he directed the Good Thunder Reading Series at Minnesota State Mankato, where he continued to teach in the creative writing program until retiring in May 2021. 

Thomas Mitchell is the author of a new book, Where We Arrive from Lost Horse Press, as well as two previous books of poetry, The Way Summer Ends and Caribou. He studied at CSU Sacramento with Dennis Schmitz, where he received his Masters. He earned an MFA from the University of Montana, where he worked with Richard Hugo and Madeline De Frees. His poems have appeared in many journals, including The New England Review, New Letters, Miramar, and Valparaiso Poetry Review. Most recently he has been selected as the Featured American Poet in The High Window (United Kingdom).

M Todd Gallowglas is a hybrid-author (traditional and self-published), storyteller, and educator from Northern California. He has written over 20 books including novels, short story collections, poetry collections, and two non-fiction books. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University and a Master of Fine Arts in Fiction from Sierra Nevada College. His traditional storytelling show at Renaissance Faires, Celtic Festivals, and geeky conventions has mesmerized audiences for thirty years. When not writing, Gallowglas is an avid gamer, enjoys ballroom dancing (swing, blues, and tango are his favorites), and adores coffee.

Richard Robbins and Thomas Mitchell will read at the Poetry Night Reading Series on Thursday, June 15th, 2023.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

We’re joined by the three poets being featured at this upcoming Poetry Night! Writer and teacher Shayne Langford shares thoughts about academia, including the difference between writing in academic and independent settings, as well as the authors he returns to for inspiration. Next is poet Ibe Liebenberg, who discusses the poetic influence of his job as a firefighter, his academic journey pursuing two MFAs, and his process reading and writing fiction and poetry. Rounding out the hour, writer and professor Pam Houston tells us about working at the Institute of American Indian Arts, writing her memoir Deep Creek: Finding Hope in the High Country, and mobilizing people to shift the political landscape.

Shayne Langford is a writer from rural Northern California. He worked as a fly fishing guide in Southwestern Colorado while earning an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of California, Davis, where he now teaches in the English Department.

Ibe Liebenberg is a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation. He lives in Chico, California, and works as a firefighter, and a lecturer at Chico State University. He is currently enrolled in the MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts. He has been published in POETRY Magazine, The ThreePenny Review, Ecotone, North American Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, Sugar House Review, American Journal of Poetry, Salamander Magazine, and Verse Daily.

Pam Houston is the author of the memoir, Deep Creek: Finding Hope In The High Country, which won the 2019 Colorado Book Award, the High Plains Book Award and the Reading The West Advocacy Award, and more recently, Air Mail: Letters of Politics Pandemics and Place coauthored with Amy Irvine.  She is also the author of Cowboys Are My Weakness, Contents May Have Shifted, and four other books of fiction and nonfiction, all published by W.W. Norton. She lives at 9,000 feet above sea level on a 120-acre homestead near the headwaters of the Rio Grande and teaches creative writing at UC Davis and at the Institute of American Indian Arts. She is cofounder and creative director of the literary nonprofit Writing by Writers and fiction editor at the Environmental Arts Journal Terrain.org. She raises Icelandic sheep and Irish wolfhounds and is a fierce advocate for the Earth. 

Pam Houston, Shayne Langford, and Ibe Liebenberg will read at the Poetry Night Reading Series on June 8th, 2023.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Award-winning poet and New York Times best-selling novelist Mary Mackey shares about her creative processes for writing in different genres, her founding role in the Sacramento State women’s studies and creative writing programs, and Yee possibilities of discovery in ambiguity. She reads from her book Creativity: Where Poems Begin, an excerpt exploring the pursuit of a unified message when writing. We’re joined in the second half by neuroscientist, children's book author, and UC Davis assistant professor Theanne Griffith, who discusses writing science for 2nd to 4th graders, creating the diverse media she wanted as a kid, and her lab work studying neuron communication.

Mary Mackey has published eight volumes of poetry (including Sugar Zone, winner of the 2012 PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award for Literary Excellence; and The Jaguars That Prowl Our Dreams, winner of the Erich Hoffer Award for the Best Book Published by a Small Press), a short novel (Immersion—the first novel published by a Second Wave feminist press), and thirteen other novels. Her recently published (2022) non-fiction book Creativity: Where Poems Begin looks at the origins of inspiration.

Mackey’s works have appeared on The New York Times and San Francisco Chronicle Bestseller Lists, sold over a million and a half copies, and been translated into twelve foreign languages including Japanese, Russian, Hebrew, Greek, and Finnish. A screenwriter as well as a novelist and poet, she has sold feature-length screenplays to Warner Brothers as well as to independent film companies. 

Theanne Griffith is a neuroscientist and the award-winning author of the STEM-themed chapter book series, The Magnificent Makers, and co-writes the non-fiction series, Ada Twist, Scientist: The Why Files. Dr. Griffith received her undergraduate degree in neuroscience and Spanish from Smith College and earned her doctorate in neuroscience from Northwestern University. She is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of California Davis, where her lab investigates how our nervous system encodes bodily sensations such as proprioception and pain. Since she was a little girl, Dr. Griffith has loved both storytelling and science. As a children's book author, she blends these two passions, while also working to promote diversity in STEM and inclusive representation in children's media. 

Mary Mackey will read at the Poetry Night Reading Series on June 1st.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Dr. Andy’s first guest is author Brooke Blanchard, who shares a bit about her new alternative history book The Mother, the relationship between speculative fiction and real politics, and her academic journey having studied abroad. We’re treated to a live reading of an excerpt from The Mother. Co-producers of The Friday Collapse E. Lynn Alexander and Paul Corman Roberts join in the second half to discuss taking poetry communities virtual and sharing emotional truths.

Brooke Blanchard, who writes under the name B. L. Blanchard, is a graduate of the UC Davis creative writing honors program and was a writing fellow at Boston University School of Law. She is a lawyer and enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. She is originally from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan but has lived in California for so long that she can no longer handle cold weather.

Paul Corman-Roberts is the author of Bone Moon Palace from Nomadic Press, co-founder of Collapse Press and co-founder of the Beast Crawl Literary Festival.

E. Lynn Alexander is the author of the chapbooks Find Me In The Iris, The Shouldspeak Disease and Prologue to Mariamne. Co-founder of Collapse Press Books, she is also a core organizer of the Easton Book Festival and founder of Lehigh Valley Poetry.

Mary Mackey will read at the Poetry Night Reading Series on June 1st.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Writer Randall Mann joins the show first to discuss his brand new book Deal, his poetic relationship with San Francisco, finding possibilities for poetry through formalism, and sourcing inspiration from a balanced life. He reads the title poem from Deal. We then hear a recording of W. H. Auden reciting his poem Journey to Iceland. Comics author Adam Bessie and illustrator Peter Glanting talk about their new book Going Remote, including their collaborative process and the performance of a live comic reading. Poet, trends analyst and prognosticator Lucy Murrey joins to speak on her forthcoming chapbook Yolk and share a poem packed with Southern culture.

Randall Mann is the author of six poetry collections, most recently DEAL: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS, which was just published by Copper Canyon Press. He lives in San Francisco.

Peter Glanting is a product designer and cartoonist. He is fascinated by engravings, wood block prints, and works that emphasize hatching and linear halftone. Pete holds a B.A. in English from the University of California at Davis, and an M.F.A. in Comics from the California College of the Arts. He lives and works in Portland, Oregon.

Adam Bessie is the author of the graphic memoir Going Remote: A Teacher's Journey, illustrated by Peter Glanting (The Censored Press/Seven Stories Press). Adam writes comics in collaboration with artists which have appeared in many outlets including The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, and more. By day, Adam is a community college English professor in Northern California and a graduate of UC Davis.

Lucy Murrey is a wonderer, wanderer, and proud master of none. Raised in North Carolina, educated in Massachusetts, and currently growing in California, Lucy works as a consumer research analyst and plays as a multimedia artist and writer. Lucy’s poetry punctuates her lifelong discovery and rediscovery of self and place. She is excited to make her editorial debut with her forthcoming chapbook Yolk. 

Lois P. Jones and William O’Daly will read at the Poetry Night Reading Series on May 18th, 2023.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.