Dear Friends of Poetry,
The Poetry Night Reading Series is excited to feature André Naffis-Sahely with Natachi Mez at 7 PM on Thursday, November 17th, 2022, on the fourth floor (indoors) of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis.
André Naffis-Sahely is the author of two collections of poetry, The Promised Land: Poems from Itinerant Life (Penguin UK, 2017) and High Desert (Bloodaxe Books, 2022), as well as the editor of The Heart of a Stranger: An Anthology of Exile Literature (Pushkin Press, 2020). He also co-edited Mick Imlah: Selected Prose (Peter Lang, 2015) and The Palm Beach Effect: Reflections on Michael Hofmann (CB Editions, 2013). He has translated over twenty titles of fiction, poetry and nonfiction, including works by Honoré de Balzac, Émile Zola, Abdellatif Laâbi, Ribka Sibhatu and Tahar Ben Jelloun. His writing appears regularly in the pages of the Times Literary Supplement and The Baffler and Poetry (Chicago), among others. A faculty member at the University of California, Davis, he is also the editor of Poetry London in the UK. Find out more from his extensive Wikipedia page.
Natachi Mez is a Nigerian-American writer, performer, teaching artist, and emcee from the Sacramento area. Through improvisation, call & response, and collective breathing, Natachi facilitates dynamic experiences that deepen audience engagement and celebrate community voice. Natachi is a two-time finalist at the College Union Poetry Slam Invitational (CUPSI) and has featured at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, Oberlin College, as well as venues in Accra, Copenhagen, and Istanbul. Natachi has worked with youth communities and the incarcerated to engage writing and rapping as tools of empowerment. She has facilitated writing and performance workshops at Tufts University, Rutgers University, Rikers Island, and more. Natachi works as a business program manager, focusing on community building, communications, intercultural awareness, and design.
This event will take place indoors on the temperature-controlled fourth floor of the John Natsoulas Gallery (521 1st Street) at 7 PM on Thursday, November 17th, 2022. As with a costume party, masks will be worn by many of the attendees. 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 the Bard says, “Brevity is the soul of wit.” The open mic list typically fills by 7 PM, so please arrive early if you would like to perform something during the 8 o’clock hour.
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, and by John Natsoulas and 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 supported by Katerina Hanks, producer, and Timothy Nutter, sound and lighting engineer.
Find the Facebook page for this event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/5466161620173508
Find out more about the Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting https://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. The latest newsletter includes wisdom from Elizabeth Bishop, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Paolo Coelho.
Upcoming Poetry Night Events:
December 1: Katie Peterson and Christian Gullette
December 15: Beth Suter (author of a new book, Snake and Eggs) with Bethanie Humphreys
January 5: Allegra Silberstein (author of a new book, Dancing with the Morning Breeze) with Jean Beguin
January 19: Brad Buchanan with Frank Dixon Graham
Upcoming readers (2023) at the Poetry Night Reading Series will include, among others, Pamela Houston, Lois Jones, Brad Henderson, Talia Lakshmi Kolluri, Julia Levine, and Rooja Mohassessy.
The Poetry Night Reading Series has been committed to serving the literary and arts community in the city of Davis since 2011. Happening every 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month at the Natsoulas Gallery, each reading contains 2 featured poets followed by an open mic. Poetry in Davis was voted “Best Open Mic” in The California Aggie’s “Best of Davis – 2009″ edition and has been featured in Davis Life Magazine. Readers have included UC Davis faculty Francisco X. Alarcón, John Boe, Joshua Clover, Jack Forbes, Clarence Major, Sandra McPherson, Katie Peterson, Margaret Ronda, Joe Wenderoth, and Alan Williamson, as well as many regional and traveling poets, including Molly Peacock, Dana Gioia, and James Ragan.
Follow us:
Twitter: @poetryindavis
Instagram: @davispoetrynight
Facebook: Poetry in Davis
