Poets Stella Beratlis and Dana Koster will read in Davis on April 19th!
The Poetry Night Reading Series is proud to feature two notable Modesto poets: Stella Beratlis and Dana Koster. They will perform on Thursday, April 19th at 8 P.M. at the John Natsoulas Gallery at 521 1stStreet in Davis.
Stella Beratlis is the Poet Laureate of Modesto. Beratlis grew up in a Greek-American family in Northern California. Her work has appeared in Quercus Review, Penumbra, Song of the San Joaquin,In Posse Review, California Quarterly, and other journals, as well as in the anthology The Place That Inhabits Us: Poems from the San Francisco Bay Watershed(Sixteen Rivers Press, 2010). She is coeditor of the collection More Than Soil, More Than Sky: The Modesto Poets (Quercus Review Press, 2011). Beratlis is a librarian in Modesto, where she lives with her daughter. Alkali Sinkis her first collection of poems.
Lee Herrick, author of Gardening Secrets of the Dead, writes of Beratlis, “Stella Beratlis writes unforgettable poems that stir inside you long after you’ve finished reading them. Alkali Sinkis simultaneously domestic and wild, urban and rural, full of surprises and wisdom. Your axis may shift after reading this remarkable book. Beratlis is a fierce talent whose beautiful mind encompasses the land, the open road, the kitchen window, and the heart’s inconstancies. Her first full-length collection is one of the best debuts I have read.”
Reading with Stella Beratlis will be Dana Koster. Dana Koster was born in St. Paul, Minnesota and grew up in Ventura, California. She earned her English degree from UC Berkeley and MFA in poetry from Cornell University. From 2011-2013, she was a Wallace Stegner Fellow. She lives in Modesto, CA with her husband and sons, where she works as a wedding photographer.
Koster’s poems have appeared or are forthcoming in EPOCH, Indiana Review, Southern Humanities Review, The Cincinnati Review, PN Review, Muzzle, Thrush Poetry Journaland many others. She has work in the anthologies Drawn to Marvel: Poems from the Comic Books, Haiku of the Living Dead and More Than Soil, More Than Sky: The Modesto Poets.In 2012, she was the recipient of a Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Prize and a Theodore Christian Hoepfner Award. Her first book, Binary Stars, was published by Carolina Wren Press in 2017.
Arrive early (by 7:45) to sign up for a spot on the open mic that will follow the readings by our featured poets. Please bring your poems, short stories, and songs. Performers with instruments are especially welcomed. Participants will be asked to limit their performances to five minutes or two items, whichever is shorter. The Poetry Night Reading Series is hosted by Davis poet laureate Dr. Andy Jones, and is supported by Musical Director Timothy Nutter, and Dr. Andy’sGreek and American interns.
“Writing is an act of reclamation and revolution. It is a dance with power.” Rae Gouirand
Future featured performers include former Sacramento poet laureate Jeff Knorr (next time!), renegade mother Janelle Hanchett, Margaret Ronda, Nick LeForce, William Daly, Valerie Wallace, and many others.
Media Contact: Andy Jones
aojones@gmail.com
The John Natsoulas Gallery –(530) 756-3938
Please visit the Facebook page for this event:
https://www.facebook.com/events/215449859209761/
You are also invited to join the Poetry in Davis Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2290130152/
You can also follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/poetryindavis.
