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Erin Rodoni and Paul Aponte read at 7 PM on Thursday, July 6th, 2023, on the roof of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis

Dear Friends of Poetry,

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

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 (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 and Ninth Letter, as well as 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 daughters.

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 the Tecolote Press anthology Poetry In Flight, Sacramento Poetry Center’s quarterly Poetry Now, Un Canto De Amor A Gabriel Garcia Márquez (a publication from the country of Chile containing poems from around the world with 31 countries represented), in the anthology Soñadores – We Came To Dream, in La Bloga – a Los Angeles online publication, and in the Los Angeles Review Volume 20 – Fall 2016. His poetry and photography were featured as the “editor’s choice” in the online journal Convergence, and now has a new book out in 2023 called DEL CACTUS available through Prickly Pear Press and Amazon.com.

This event will take place on the roof of the John Natsoulas Gallery (521 1st Street) at 7 PM on Thursday, July 6th, 2023. An open mic will follow the featured performers. 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 July 6th, 2023 Poetry Night can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1338365973760559/ 

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:

July 20th: Susan Flynn and Jemi McDonald
August 3: Dr. Andy on vacation – no Poetry Night
August 17: Iris Dunkle
September 7: Nancy Gonzalez St. Clair with Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas as the guest-host
September 21: Indigo Moor with virtuoso jazz musician Tony Passarell
October 5: William O’Daly with classical guitarist Louis Valentine Johnson

Future readers will include Lee Herrick, Joe Wenderoth, Indigo Moor, Kim Stanley Robinson, Alan Williamson, Jeanne Foster, Lisa Rosenberg, Julia Connor, Clarence Major, Nancy Gonzalez St. Clair, Bob Stanley, perhaps Elana K. Arnold, 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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