On the 10/29/25 edition of Dr. Andy’s Poetry and Technology Hour:

Gbenga Adesina joins the program to discuss his recent publication Death Does Not End at the Sea, which asks questions about grief, immigration, and the art of poetry. Adesina states that every immigrant story is a private epic, and details how his book emerged from his lived experience, moving to America after the passing of his father. He reads a poem, “I Carried my Father Across the Sea,” before the next guests, Jon Racini and Diego Mitotli Martínez-Campos appear on the show. Jon is the curator/mentor on Written and Directed By and Diego is one of the directors of an original play. They elucidate features of their short form and one act plays, including No Que No, directed by Martínez-Campos. These plays will be performed at the Wyatt Pavilion theater. The program concludes with a talk by composers James Larkins and Bryndyn Moondy, featured ensembles at the Tap Root New Music Festival.

Gbenga Adesina is a Nigerian poet and essayist. He is the author of the poetry collection Death Does Not End at the Sea (University of Nebraska Press, 2025), which was long-listed for the National Book Award.Adesina was the 2019–2020 Olive B. O’Connor Fellow at Colgate University. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Jon Racini is the author of two books: Contemporary Latina/o Theater: Wrighting Ethnicity (Southern Illinois University Press, 2008), and the Pragmatic Liberation and the Politics of Puerto Rican Diasporic Drama (University of Michigan Press, 2024, available open access thanks to UC Davis and the TOME initiative). His current scholarly work combines continued consideration of Latine theatre and performance with new thinking on writing and performance that explores expanded (experimental, creative, performative?) critical writing in relation to performance.

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes 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, Robby Nykodym, and by 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.

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, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

On the 10/24/25 edition of Dr. Andy’s Poetry and Technology Hour:

Arturo Mantećon is the first guest of the program. He discusses his move to Alabama to join his grandchildren, and his translations of Leopoldo María Panero. Mantećon highlights Panero’s logical approach to poetry and his psychiatry, while emphasizing that Panero’s institutionalized status does not reflect work that is chaotic. He reads a Panero poem, “Palabora de lectura,” before sharing two of his own poems that aimed to be in conversation with Panero's, titled “Parable of the Dictionary,” and “The four folds of nothingness.” Mantećon credits Bill Lavender for taking a chance to reissue his translations of Panero and his own original, experimental works. He concludes the episode by sharing another poem about Marinda Melendez.

Arturo Mantecón is a poet and literary translator whose poems have appeared in various reviews and anthologies. His books of translation include three volumes of the collected works of Leopoldo María Panero and selected works by Francisco Ferrer Lerín (for which he won the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles award in 2017) and Mario Santiago Papasquiaro.

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes 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, Robby Nykodym, and by 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.

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, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.

On the 10/16/25 edition of Dr. Andy’s Poetry and Technology Hour:

Chris Erikson is the first guest of the hour. He joins the program to discuss his recently released novella Henrytown, which operates not only as a piece of literature, but one of performance art. Erickson states the book's vernacular is drawn from Central Illinois, where he grew up. He talks about his book tour before reading a sample from Henrytown. Greg Miller is the second guest on the program. Miller joins in conversation with Erickson and Dr. Andy early in the episode, where he shares insights from his time as a book reviewer and an ice-cream scooper. Miller describes his mostly-short form fiction that he will read at the upcoming poetry in Davis series. He also reads a story, “Something Else.”

Chris Erickson is the author of Henrytown, a debut novella recently published by Dzanc Books. Joe Wenderoth has said, “Henrytown is the funniest serious prose (and the most serious funny prose) I have encountered in contemporary American literature.” Erickson’s writing has appeared or is forthcoming in The American Reader, Gigantic, Action Spectacle, The Capilano Review, Seneca Review, PANK, benmarcus.com, The Hobo-Tramp Voice, Byline, and The Glacier. A graduate of the Creative Writing Program at UC Davis, Erickson is also the former host of “Boxcar Whitey’s Old-Time Music & Lore Progr’m,” which aired on KRCL FM Salt Lake City from 2003-05 and then on KDRT FM in Davis from 2006-08. He works as an educator in the City of Davis.

Greg Miller has taught writing, journalism, and literature at UC Davis for more than 20 years. He previously worked as an ice cream scooper, a door-to-door salesman of fine knives, and an author of personalized detective novels. A former Fulbright Fellow and Editor in Chief of the journal Prized Writing, he has published more than 100 articles and reviews in places such as The Los Angeles Review of Books, The San Francisco Chronicle, Film News (Canada), Modern Drama, and The Michigan Quarterly Review. His degrees include an M.F.A. from Warren Wilson College and a Ph.D. from UC Davis.

The Poetry Night Reading Series takes 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, Robby Nykodym, and by 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.

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, subscribe to his weekly newsletter at https://andyjones.substack.com.