Dear Friends of Poetry,

The Poetry Night Reading Series is excited to feature Davis Poet Laureate Julia B. Levine and Rebecca Foust at 7 PM on Thursday, April 4th, 2024, on the first floor of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis.

Julia B. Levine’s poetry has won many awards, including a 2021 Nautilus Award for her fifth poetry collection, Ordinary Psalms, (LSU press, 2021), as well as the 2015 Northern California Book Award in Poetry for her fourth collection, Small Disasters Seen in Sunlight, (LSU, 2014). Recently she has won the 2023 Oran Perry Burke Award from The Southern Review, the 2022 Steve Kowit Poetry Prize, the 2020 Bellevue Literary Review Poetry Award, as well as a 2022 American Academy of Poetry Poet Laureate Fellowship for her work in building resilience in teenagers related to climate change through poetry, science and technology. She received a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from University of California, Berkeley and an MFA in poetry from Pacific University. Currently she serves as Poet Laureate of Davis.

Rebecca Foust's fourth book, ONLY (Four Way Books, 2022) earned a starred review in Publishers Weekly and was recently reviewed by Mark Jarmon in The Hudson Review. Her poems, in journals including Narrative, POETRY, Ploughshares, and Southern Review, won last year’s New Ohio Review prize and were runner-up for the Missouri Review Editors Prize. Recognitions include the James Hearst, Pablo Neruda and Poetry International prizes, fellowships at Hedgebrook, MacDowell, and Sewanee Writers Conference, and a Marin County Poet Laureateship where Rebecca’s program, “Poetry as Sanctuary,” featured readings by local immigrant poets.

This event will take place on the first floor of the John Natsoulas Gallery (521 1st Street in Davis) at 7 PM on Thursday, April 4th, 2024. An open mic will follow the featured performers. Open mic performances will be limited to four 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.

Find the Facebook event for this much anticipated evening of poetry and stories at https://www.facebook.com/events/264680879944586.

Hear an interview with both featured poets on the most recent edition of Dr. Andy’s podcast, Dr. Andy’s Poetry and Technology Hour: https://poetrytechnology.buzzsprout.com/1912726/14825489-julia-levine-and-rebecca-foust

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 made possible by Katerina Hanks, producer of The Poetry Night Reading Series, with support from Helaina Flores and Cami Rothmuller.

This week we are also remembering UC Davis undergraduate poet and Poetry Night open mic contributor Kiley Egan, who recently passed away at the age of 22. Because of her talents as a writer and her overall academic excellence, Kiley had been admitted to the MFA in Creative Writing program at New York University. Also a longtime employee at the John Natsoulas Gallery, Kiley will be deeply missed by those who knew and loved her.

Find out more about the Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://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/. 

Future readers will include Julia Connor, Katie Peterson, Clarence Major, Bob Stanley, Mario Hill, Kacper Bartczak, Murray Silverstein, Mercedes Ibanez, and other favorites.

The Poetry Night Reading Series has been committed to serving the literary and arts community in the city of Davis since 2006. 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. The more than 375 featured poets have included UC Davis faculty Francisco X. Alarcón, John Boe, Zinzi Clemmons, Joshua Clover, Jack Forbes, Sandra Gilbert, Laurie Glover, Brad Henderson, Pamela Houston, Andy Jones, Clarence Major, Sandra McPherson, Maceo Montoya, Katie Peterson, Kim Stanley Robinson, 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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