On the 7/24/24 edition of Dr.Andy’s Poetry and Technology Hour:

Leanne Schwartz describes how she crafts her emotional, complex, and visceral young adult novels while still hitting her assigned deadlines. She shares a sample from her book A Darker Shore.. Stella Beratlis discusses how her career as a librarian informs her poetic verse, detailing how she often reads obscure reference books to inspire poetic ideas. She argues that poets can use their toolkits to write unique historical fictions, and shares a poem about a founding father of California’s central valley visiting current day Modesto, California. Dave Nachmanoff gives the scoop about his upcoming event at Watermelon Music where he will be playing his first album Candy Shower all the way though, and then reads a sequence of short James Joyce poems.

Leanne Schwartz is the author of the young adult fantasies A Prayer for Vengeance and To a Darker Shore and the adult contemporary romcom My Kind of Trouble, writing as L.A. Schwartz. When she’s not teaching English and poetry, she can be found baking pizzelle, directing scenes for the student Shakespeare festival, and singing along to showtunes. She lives in San Diego with her family.

Stella Beratlis is the author of Dust Bowl Venus (Sixteen Rivers Press, 2021). Her first collection, Alkali Sink, was shortlisted for the 2016 Northern California Book Awards. Beratlis served as Modesto’s poet laureate from 2016-2020, co-curates a long-running reading series for the Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center, and works as a community college librarian.

Dave Nachmanoff is a guitar virtuoso with a doctorate in philosophy, who performed with Libba Cotten as a child, and went on to tour for years with singer-songwriter Al Stewart. After playing thousands of shows from house concerts to the Royal Albert Hall, Nachmanoff has built a loyal fan base and a unique niche as a performing songwriter. SingOut! has praised his “heartfelt, inspired songwriting … with a delivery both biting and assured.” Just Plain Folks honored him with the 2001 Songwriter of the Year award, and his songs have been recognized by many regional and national songwriting competitions. In 2023, Dave began to work with a couple of wonderful musicians called The Usual Culprits from Davis, CA.

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 is 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.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's 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, visit his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com and follow him on X at https://twitter.com/andyojones.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's 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, visit his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com and follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/andyojones.

On the 7/17/24 edition of Dr.Andy’s Poetry and Technology Hour:

Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas discusses managing the overlapping releases of her two new books. She describes what inspired the titles of her new releases, and the reasoning behind splitting her new collection A Shared and Sacred Space half into formal verse and half into free verse. She then shares a poem from each collection, “The History of Soup” from A Shared and Sacred Space and “The Day I was a Visiting Second Grade Teacher” from A Handful of Stallions at Twilight. Rina Wakefield talks about her lifelong infatuation with poetry and literature, and the connection she feels with words themselves. She recounts balancing her love for libraries, archiving, writing, and platforming diverse voices. Rina then shares a poem titled “DNA.”

Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas lives in the Sierra Foothills, Ca. She recently received her MFA in poetry from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She’s a 13-time Pushcart Prize nominee and a seven-time Best of the Net nominee. In 2021 her book Alice in Ruby Slippers was shortlisted for the Eric Hoffer Grand Prize in Poetry. She has served as the Editor-in-Chief for both the Orchards Poetry and Tule Review.

Rina Wakefield is a Spoken Word Poet, Podcast Producer, Poetry/Storytelling event Producer/Host. She is a collaborating member of Myrtle Tree Arts from Northern California. Rina is a Master’s Degree candidate studying Library Science with a focus on Rare Book Curation and Cultural Archives from San Jose State University. She holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English Literature from Sacramento State University.

The Poetry Night Reading Series is excited to feature an evening with poets Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas and Rina Wakefield at 7 PM on Thursday, July 18th, 2024, on the first floor of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's 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, visit his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com and follow him on X at https://twitter.com/andyojones.

Find out more about Dr. Andy's 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, visit his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com and follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/andyojones.

On the 7/3/24 edition of Dr.Andy’s Poetry and Technology Hour:

Susan Kelly-DeWitt discusses her various inspirations for her new book Frangible Operas, citing loss and aging as two thematic pillars for the collection. Susan also gives an insight into her writing process, then reads a poem about her adolescence in Oahu, titled “Poem After The War.” She read two more pieces, “Teaching Poetry in Prison,” and “Confluence,” while also elaborating on the validity of answering questions with poems. Michelle Bitting cites California native Joan Didion and Polish scientist Marie Curie as muses for her new book Dummy Ventriloquist, and describes how she tries to embrace ventriloquizing speech in her poetics. Michelle talks about a multitude of topics ranging from Oingo Boingo to science experiments in her garage, and reads a poem called “For Phil.” She also describes watching LA change over the years, and the importance of discovery drafts.

Susan Kelly-DeWitt is a former Wallace Stegner Fellow and the author of Frangible Operas, which came out from Gunpowder Press this summer, 2024. She is also the author of Gravitational Tug, Gatherer’s Alphabet, Spider Season, The Fortunate Islands, and a number of other collections. Her past professional and writing life includes having been a reviewer for Library Journal, the editor-in-chief of the online journal Perihelion, the Program Director of the Sacramento Poetry Center and the Women’s Wisdom Arts Program, a Poet in the Schools and a Poet in the Prisons, a blogger for Coal Hill Review, and a longtime instructor for the UC Davis Division of Continuing Education. She is currently a member of the National Book Critics Circle, the Northern California Book Reviewers Association and a contributing editor for Poetry Flash. Please visit her website at www.susankelly-dewitt.com

Michelle Bitting was short-listed for the 2023 CRAFT Character Sketch Challenge, 2020 Montreal International Poetry Prize, and was a finalist for the 2021 Coniston Prize and 2020 Reed Magazine Edwin Markham Prize. She is the author of five poetry collections, including Nightmares & Miracles, winner of the Wilder Prize and recently named one of Kirkus Reviews 2022 Best of Indie. Her chapbook Dummy Ventriloquist is being published this July from C & R Press. Recent poetry appears on The Slowdown, Thrush, Cleaver, The Poetry Society of New York’s Milk Press, and is featured as Poem of the Week in The Missouri Review. Bitting holds an MFA in Creative Writing and a PhD in Mythological Studies, emphasis Poetry and Psychology. She is writing a novel that centers around Los Angeles and her great grandmother, stage and screen actor Beryl Mercer, and is a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing and Literature at Loyola Marymount University.

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. Our next Poetry is on July 18 featuring Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas and Rina Wakefield!

Find out more about Dr. Andy's 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, visit his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com and follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/andyojones.