Dear Friends of Poetry,
The Poetry Night Reading Series is excited to feature Mary Mackey at 7 PM on Thursday, June 1st, 2023, on the roof of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis.
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 eight poetry collections, including Sugar Zone, winner of a PEN Award, and The Jaguars That Prowl Our Dreams, winner of the 2019 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, 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. Her recently published non-fiction book Creativity: Where Poems Begin looks at the origins of inspiration.
Mackey’s novels have been translated into twelve languages, including Japanese, Russian, Hebrew, Greek, and Finnish. Garrison Keillor featured her poetry four times on The Writer’s Almanac. Also a screenwriter, Mackey has sold feature-length scripts to Warner Brothers as well as to independent film companies. Mackey is a retired professor at Sacramento State University where she cofounded the CSUS Women’s Studies Program and the CSUS English Department Graduate Creative Writing Program. In 1978 Mackey founded the Feminist Writers Guild with poets Adrienne Rich and Susan Griffin and novelist Valerie Miner.
“Mary Mackey’s Creativity is a book for anyone who wants to understand how bursts of insight come not only to poets and writers, but to all of us.” Mary Lynn Keller, PhD, Professor Emerita CIIS
This event will take place on the roof of the John Natsoulas Gallery (521 1st Street) at 7 PM on Thursday, June 1st, 2023. There will be a conversation with the poet after the reading, followed by an open mic. Open mic performances will be limited to three minutes or two items, whichever is shorter. As Robert Southey says, “Be brief; for it is with words as with sunbeams – the more they are condensed, the deeper they burn.” The open mic list typically fills by 6:50 PM, so please arrive early if you would like to perform something during the 8 o’clock hour. Attendees who request to be added to the list after 7 PM will be invited to try again at a subsequent event.
The Facebook event page for the June 1st, 2023 Poetry Night can be found here: TBA
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 supported by Katerina Hanks, producer of The Poetry Night Reading Series.
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/.
Upcoming Poetry Night Events:
June 8th: Pam Houston, Shayne Langford, and Ibe Liebenberg
June 15th: Richard Robbins and Thomas Mitchell
July 6th: Erin Rodoni and Paul Aponte
July 20th: Susan Flynn and Jemi McDonald
Future readers will include Lee Herrick, Joe Wenderoth, Indigo Moor, Kim Stanley Robinson, Alan Williamson, Jeanne Foster, Lisa Rosenberg, Iris Dunkle, Julia Connor, Clarence Major, and other favorites.
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 two featured poets followed by an open mic. Poetry in Davis was voted “Best Open Mic” in The California Aggie’s “Best of Davis″ edition and has been featured in Davis Life Magazine. Readers have included UC Davis faculty Francisco X. Alarcón, John Boe, Zinzi Clemmons, Joshua Clover, Jack Forbes, Sandra Gilbert, Brad Henderson, Pamela Houston, Clarence Major, Sandra McPherson, Katie Peterson, Margaret Ronda, Joe Wenderoth, and Alan Williamson, as well as many regional and traveling poets, including Molly Peacock, Jane Hirshfield, Dana Gioia, and James Ragan.
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Instagram- @davispoetrynight
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