POSTPONED TO OCTOBER 13. The Poetry Night Reading Series is thrilled to feature Bill Gainer and Laura Martin at 7 PM on Thursday, October 13, 2022, on the roof of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis. Please join us!
Bill Gainer is a storyteller, a humorist, an award-winning poet, and a maker of mysterious things. He earned his BA from St. Mary’s College and his MPA from the University of San Francisco. He is the publisher of the PEN Award winning R. L. Crow Publications and is the ongoing host of Red Alice’s Poetry Emporium (Grass Valley, CA). Bill Gainer is internationally published in such journals and magazines as: Poems for All, The Huffington Post, Canary, Sacramento News and Review, The Tule Review, Lummox Press, River Dog Zine #1, The Oregonian, Chiron Review, Sacramento Bee, Cultural Weekly, Rose of Sharon, and numerous others. His latest book is A True Story. Gainer is known across the country for giving what he calls “legendary fun-filled performances.” Visit him in his books, at his personal appearances, or at his website: www.billgainer.com.
Laura Martin is a Sacramento-based freelance writer whose first book Haiku for the Undead (from the “All High, No Ku—Poetry Under the Influence” collection) will be published by Gasconade Press later this year. Martin’s work has appeared in publications such as Tule Review, Late Peaches: Poems by Sacramento Poets, Medusa’s Kitchen, Convergence—An Online Journal of Poetry and Art, The Gasconade Review, River Dog Zine, Peregrine, Sacramento Voices, Poems-For-All, Sacramento News & Review, Verse on the Vine, Susurrus and Soul of the Narrator.
Laura Martin’s poetry has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, won the Grand Prize at the Annual Pat Schneider Poetry Contest, and 2nd place in the Annual Jack Kerouac Poetry Contest. Martin fronts The Soft Offs, a seven-piece spoken word jazz band that takes the written word from page to stage. Bill Gainer says, “Martin, solo or as part of a group, finds herself in front of an ever-growing audience. She is a talent in full bloom – a writer capable of stealing hearts and giving them back unblemished. She is marvelous.”
Note that Laura Martin, Bill Gainer, and the poet Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas all appear on this week’s podcast of Dr. Andy’s Poetry and Technology Hour, now available for listening at https://poetrytechnology.buzzsprout.com/.
This event will take place on the roof of the Natsoulas Gallery (521 1st Street) at 7 PM on Thursday, October 13, 2022 (new date). There will be an open mic after the featured performers. Open mic performances will be limited to four minutes or two items, whichever is shorter. As Tom Stoppard says, “Good things, when short, are twice as good.”
No matter the policies of the CDC or Yolo County, we ask that you wear your mask inside the Natsoulas Gallery. As this will be a rooftop reading, we encourage you to dress in layers to accommodate the drop in temperature between 7 and 9 PM. It should be quite pleasant as soon as the sun dips behind the buildings to the west around 7:00 PM.
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, and by John Natsoulas and the staff at the John Natsoulas Gallery. Your host will be Dr. Andy Jones, poet laureate emeritus of the City of Davis. Special thanks to local arts hero Timothy Nutter for his ongoing help with amplification equipment.
Find the Facebook page for this event here. Find out more about the Poetry Night Reading Series by visiting https://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To find out more about Dr. Andy’s latest thoughts, check out his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.
Dr. Andy
2022 Poetry Night Events:
October 13th: Bill Gainer with Laura Martin
October 20th: Margaret Ronda with Augusta Funk
November 3: Joshua McKinney with Matthew Chronister
November 17: Mary Mackey (author of a new book, Creativity: Where Poems Begin)
December 1: Katie Peterson and Christian Gullette
December 15: Beth Suter (author of a new book, Snake and Eggs) with Bethanie Humphreys
January 19: Brad Buchanan with Frank Dixon Graham
February 2: Rooja Mohassessy
Upcoming readers (2023) at the Poetry Night Reading Series will include, among others, Pamela Houston, Lois Jones, Brad Henderson, Talia Lakshmi Kolluri, and Rooja Mohassessy.
