Dear Friends of Poetry,
The Poetry Night Reading Series is excited to feature Iris Jamahl Dunkle and Allegra Silberstein at 7 PM on Thursday, August 17th, 2023, on the air-conditioned first floor of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis.
Iris Jamahl Dunkle is an award-winning literary biographer, essayist, and poet. Her poetry collections include Interrupted Geographies, Gold Passage, and There’s a Ghost in This Machine of Air. She obtained her MFA in poetry from New York University, and her PhD in American Literature from Case Western Reserve University.
Dunkle’s most recent book of poetry, West : Fire : Archive, challenges preconceived, androcentric ideas about biography, autobiography, and history fueled by the Western myth of progress presented in Frederick Jackson Turner’s “frontier thesis.”
In 2020, Dunkle’s biography on Charmian Kittredge London, Jack London’s wife, was published by the University of Oklahoma Press. The former Poet Laureate of Sonoma County, California, Iris Jamahl Dunkle lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is currently writing a biography about the author Sanora Babb which will be published by the University of California Press in 2024.
Allegra Silberstein was the first poet laureate of the City of Davis. Originally from Wisconsin, Silberstein has lived in California since 1963. In addition to three chapbooks of poetry, she has been widely published in print journals and online publications. Her first book of poems, West of Angels, was published by Cold River Press in March of 2015, and in 2022, Kelsay Books published her chapbook Dancing with the Morning Breeze. Admirably productive, Silberstein has recently (2023) published the book Lyra’s Song, courtesy of Cold River Press.
Silberstein dances and performs with Pamela Trokanski’s Third Stage Company, and sings with the Davis Threshold Choir. At age 92, Allegra has been a favorite audience member at regional poetry readings for decades. Allegra lives on an acre of land in South Davis where tending to the earth enriches her spirit. She is arguably the most beloved person in Davis.
This event will take place inside the air-conditioned John Natsoulas Gallery (521 1st Street) at 7 PM on Thursday, August 17th, 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.
August Covid test positivity is up in California. Attendees are encouraged to mask up for this indoor event.
The Facebook event page for the August 17th, 2023 Poetry Night can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/events/765579528699419/
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:
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, Kim Stanley Robinson, Alan Williamson, Jeanne Foster, Lisa Rosenberg, Julia Connor, Clarence Major, DR Wagner, Bob Stanley, The Rumi Caravan, 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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