Poetry on Sunday Series

Come join us at the Carnegie Arts Center in Turlock for the third installment of our quarterly reading series! Click the image at right to download the PDF flyer, and see below for bios of our featured readers.

Ash Young currently lives in Modesto with her husband, two sons, and two Pomeranians. She writes poetry about her life, and hopes to never be famous.

Born in Canada, and of Iraqi heritage, Zaid Shlah currently resides in Northern California with his family. His poetry has appeared in literary magazines, journals, and anthologies in both Canada and the U. S. In May of 2005, he was awarded the American Academy of Poets Award. His first book of poetry, Taqsim, was published in the US and in Canada (Frontenac House, 2006). His second book of poems and essays is entitled Clockwork (Frontenac House, 2015). He teaches composition and literature at Modesto Junior College.

Lee Herrick is the author of three books of poems: Scar and Flower, Gardening Secrets of the Dead, and This Many Miles from Desire. His poems appear widely in literary magazines, textbooks, and anthologies, including Columbia Poetry Review, The Poetry Foundation, Indivisible: Poems of Social Justice and Here: Poems for the Planet, with an introduction by the Dalai Lama. He is co-editor of The World I Leave You: Asian American Poets on Faith and Spirit (forthcoming in Spring 2020 by Orison Books). Born in Daejeon, Korea and adopted to the United States, he served as Fresno Poet Laureate (2015-2017) and teaches at Fresno City College and the MFA Program at Sierra Nevada College.

Nov 03

Annual Student Chapbook Contest Now Open!

MODESTO-STANISLAUS POETRY CENTER
THE FOURTH ANNUAL LEE NICHOLSON – GEORGE ROGERS POETRY CONTEST
CONTEST GUIDELINES
MONETARY PRIZES!!!

DEADLINE: MARCH 1, 2020

ABOUT LEE NICHOLSON AND GEORGE ROGERS

Beloved by generations of their students, Lee Nicholson and George Rogers dedicated much of their lives to teaching and inspiring the youth of our community. Lee Nicholson was an instructor at Modesto Junior College for thirty-two years, and had earlier taught at Turlock High School. A Modesto native, George Rogers taught for thirty years at Orville Wright Elementary School in Modesto. Both Lee and George were highly accomplished poets and lovers of the creative process, and both will long be remembered for their passionate devotion to the young people whose lives they touched.

This contest is open to all poets residing in Stanislaus County who are 16 to 25 years of age.

• Send up to three (3) poems, with subjects and themes of your own choosing
• Poems must be typed in 12 point, Times New Roman, with 1-inch margins
• 32 line limit; longer poems will not be considered
• Poems must be the poet’s original work and previously unpublished
• If sending through regular mail, please send two copies of each poem – one copy with the poet’s name, address, email, phone number in the upper right hand corner, as well as the title of the poem, and a second copy of the poem, with the title of the poem, but without the poet’s name, address, e-mail, and phone number.
• If sending through email, send poems as doc or docx attachments (one attachment with page divisions is fine; three attachments with one poem each is fine); include two copies of each poem – one copy with the poet’s name, address, email, phone number in the upper right hand corner, as well as the title of the poem and a second copy of the poem, with the title of the poem, but without the poet’s name, address, e-mail, and phone number; include CONTEST in the subject line of the email

2 ways to submit:

Through regular mail to
MoSt Poetry Center
PO Box 578940
Modesto, CA 95357

Or by email to info@mostpoetry.org
(Don’t forget to include the word CONTEST in the subject line of the email.

PRIZES:

First Place (awarded for best poem): $100.00
Second Place: $60.00
Third Place: $40.00

Submission dates: November 1, 2019 to March 1, 2020
Poets will be notified via email or phone following the judging process.

Selected poems will be published in a chapbook. All poets submitting poems will receive two (2) copies of the chapbook
For more information contact: info@mostpoetry.org

Click here for printable PDF of guidelines

Oct 06

Join us at the Great Valley Bookfest!

Great Valley Bookfest Flyer

Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center is once again pleased to announce that we will have a table at the Great Valley Bookfest, and our own Modesto Poet Laureate Stella Beratlis will be hosting the Poets’ Corner featuring an exciting list of poets from our region.

The Great Valley Bookfest takes place on October 12th from 10am to 4pm at The Promenade Shops at Orchard Valley, aka Bass Pro Center, Manteca. For more information, visit the Great Valley Bookfest website.

Second Tuesday @ Barkin’ Dog

Join us for the Second Tuesday Barkin’ Dog reading on December 10th at 6:00 at the Barkin’ Dog Grill in downtown Modesto. An open mic will follow the featured reading, so bring a poem or two to share.

MoSt Board Meeting

Our next MoSt Poetry Board meeting will be held on Thursday, December 5th, at 6:30 pm at the house of one of our members. If you are interested in attending, please email info@mostpoetry.org for more information.