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DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250517T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250517T150000
DTSTAMP:20260425T053839
CREATED:20250424T224708Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250510T035050Z
UID:3696-1747486800-1747494000@www.mostpoetry.org
SUMMARY:Youth Poet Laureate Send-Off Reading & Open Mic: Zoe Byron
DESCRIPTION:Please join us as we bid a fond farewell to 2024-2025 Youth Poet Laureate Zoe Byron\, whose tenure as youth laureate is complete at the end of May. She’s the second ever Stanislaus County Youth Poet Laureate and has done a beautiful job representing the voice of youth through her poems. \nThis final reading will take place at the Oakdale Public Library\, 151 S. First Avenue\, Oakdale CA 95361. Please bring a poem to share at open mic! Reading starts at 1:00 p.m. in the Community Room just inside the front entrance. \n 
URL:https://www.mostpoetry.org/event/2025may17/
LOCATION:Oakdale Library\, 151 South First Avenue\, Oakdale\, CA\, 95361\, United States
CATEGORIES:Open Mic,Readings,Youth Poet Laureate,Youth Poetry
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.mostpoetry.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/2025may17-ypl-e1745534524532.png
ORGANIZER;CN="Stella Beratlis":MAILTO:stellab@mostpoetry.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250531T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250531T140000
DTSTAMP:20260425T053839
CREATED:20250501T000924Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250503T184819Z
UID:3713-1748696400-1748700000@www.mostpoetry.org
SUMMARY:Welcome 2025-2026 Youth Poet Laureate: Reading & Reception
DESCRIPTION:We’ll be celebrating our incoming youth poet laureate\, Valentina Zeff\, at a reading/reception at Modesto Junior College’s Science Community Center.  Come listen to a few poems\, meet youth poets\, and learn about the youth poet laureate program. \nValentina Zeff is a sixteen-year-old poet from Modesto\, California who is currently enrolled in the International Baccalaureate program at Modesto High School. Zeff has been writing free verse and ballad poetry since her freshman year of high school. \nZeff is active within her community and school through social and environmental activism\, extracurricular projects\, and volunteering. She was selected to be a member of the Park’s Youth Committee (April 2024-current)\, Modesto Youth Commission (October 2024-current)\, and student representative for Modesto High School’s Student Senate for both ninth and tenth grade. During the 2023-2024 Speech and Debate season\, she was a top finalist for Original Spoken Word Poetry at State Qualifications. She is also the founder and Co-President of Modesto High School’s Book Club where she leads discussions on novels and poems of interest. Additionally\, she is the Secretary and head layout editor/designer of the Panther Press\, Modesto High School’s monthly newspaper. \nPlease welcome our incoming Stanislaus County Youth Poet Laureate\, Valentina Zeff! \nThe Stanislaus County Youth Poet Laureate program is administered by Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center (MoSt Poetry) with partners MJC Library & Learning Center & MJC School of Language Arts & Education\, Stanislaus County Office of Education\, Stanislaus County Library\, and Stanislaus Library Foundation. \n 
URL:https://www.mostpoetry.org/event/2025yplreception/
LOCATION:Modesto Junior College West Campus\, 2201 Blue Gum Avenue\, Modesto\, CA\, 95358\, United States
CATEGORIES:Readings,Youth Poet Laureate,Youth Poetry
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.mostpoetry.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/yplreading2025may_rev2-e1746297868725.png
ORGANIZER;CN="Stella Beratlis":MAILTO:stellab@mostpoetry.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250601T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250601T150000
DTSTAMP:20260425T053839
CREATED:20250425T000726Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250425T000733Z
UID:3705-1748782800-1748790000@www.mostpoetry.org
SUMMARY:City of Modesto Poets' Corner Reading & Reception
DESCRIPTION:The Parks\, Recreation and Neighborhoods Department and the City of Modesto’s Poets’ Corner Committee are pleased to offer an Annual Poets’ Corner Contest. \nContest Winners\nPoets will be invited to read their winning poems on Sunday\, June 1\, 2025 at 1:00 P.M. at the McHenry Museum\, followed by light refreshments. \nWinning poems will be printed in a booklet that will be placed in the Poets’ Bookshelf\, which contains published works by local writers and will be kept at the McHenry Museum. Each winner will receive a copy of the booklet. \nWinners will be notified by email (or mail\, when email is unavailable.) \nFor more info go to https://www.modestogov.com/558/Poets-Corner-Contest
URL:https://www.mostpoetry.org/event/city-of-modesto-poets-corner-reading-reception-2/
LOCATION:McHenry Museum\, 1402 14th St\, Modesto\, CA\, 95354\, United States
CATEGORIES:Contests,Readings
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.mostpoetry.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/city-of-modesto-poets-corner-2025-1-e1743369835929.png
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250610T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250610T203000
DTSTAMP:20260425T053839
CREATED:20250524T025432Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250524T025432Z
UID:3748-1749582000-1749587400@www.mostpoetry.org
SUMMARY:Second Tuesday Poetry with Aideed Medina and Russell Reza-Khaliq Gonzaga
DESCRIPTION:Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center is pleased to present Second Tuesday Poetry featuring Fresno’s newest Poet Laureate and spoken word artist Aideed Medina with Tracy poet\, teacher\, and spoken word artist Russell Reza-Khaliz Gonzaga\n\nDate: Tuesday\, June 10\, 2025Time: 7:00 pm PSTWhere: Bookish Modesto\, 811 W. Orangeburg Ave\, in the Roseburg Square shopping center\n\nOpen mic following featured poets (3 min per poet); sign up at the event. Hosted by Gillian Wegener\n\nRussell Reza-Khaliq Gonzaga\nRussell Reza-Khaliq Gonzaga has hosted and organized events and workshops including the Sierra Poetry Festival\, the Center Camp Spoken Word Stage at Burning Man\, and the weekly ELYSEUM Writers Workshops at Harbin Hot Springs. Russell is Poet Laureate Emeritus of Lake County (2012-2014) and has represented San Francisco for three years at the National Poetry Slam. As an Arts Educator\, he has worked with several organizations including YouthSpeaks and WritersCorps. He is also the recipient of the Certificate of Honor from the Board of Supervisors and a Mayor’s declaration of “Russell Gonzaga Day” in San Francisco. Currently\, Russell is Poetry Editor for The Fabulist\, hosts the monthly Word Bubbles Open Mic in Tracy CA\, and is caretaker for his beloved Auntie Rosie.\n\nAideed Medina\n\n\nAideed Medina is Pushcart Prize-nominated poet\, award-winning spoken word artist and playwright\, and is the author of 31 Hummingbird: A Suite of Poems (Editorial Xingao\, 2023) and Segmented Bodies (Prickly Pear Press\,  2024). Her poetry and prose have been featured in many publications\, including Fresno State’s Club Austral Literary Magazine\, Chicano Writers and Artists Association Journal\, La Bloga\, Poets Responding\, Split This Rock\, and Nueva York Poetry Review\, among many others\, as well as in compositions for the 559 Mural Project and Fresno Grand Opera’s Opera Remix. Aideed is also a California Naturalist\, and practices “flor y canto” as part of her poetic process and exploration of California’s natural history. This past April\, Aideed was appointed Fresno’s seventh poet laureate. She will serve through March 2027.
URL:https://www.mostpoetry.org/event/second-tuesday-poetry-with-aideed-medina-and-russell-reza-khaliq-gonzaga/
LOCATION:Bookish Modesto\, 811 W. Roseburg Ave\, Modesto\, CA\, 95350\, United States
CATEGORIES:Open Mic,Readings,Second Tuesday
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.mostpoetry.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Second-Tuesday-June-2025-e1748055176859.png
ORGANIZER;CN="Stella Beratlis":MAILTO:stellab@mostpoetry.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250708T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250708T190000
DTSTAMP:20260425T053840
CREATED:20250627T172145Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250627T175952Z
UID:3760-1752001200-1752001200@www.mostpoetry.org
SUMMARY:Second Tuesday Poetry featuring Sherre Vernon and Paula Sheil
DESCRIPTION:Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center is pleased to present Second Tuesday Poetry featuring Sherre Vernon (Merced) and Paula Sheil (Stockton) \nDate: Tuesday\, July 8\, 2025\nTime: 7:00 pm PST\nWhere: Bookish Modesto\, 811 W. Orangeburg Ave\, in the Roseburg Square shopping center \nOpen mic following featured poets (3 min per poet); sign up at the event. Hosted by Gillian Wegener \nPaula Sheil  \nPaula Sheil is a Professor of English at San Joaquin Delta College. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts from Raymond College and a Master of Arts in Writing from New College of California. She founded\, with friends\, Tuleburg Press in 2012 and The Write Place in 2017. \nShe taught elementary education\, moved on to arts administration\, and then journalism before joining the faculty at Delta. In the 1990s\, she ran an open mic that prompted her interest in publishing. She and the late Julia Holzer published ¡ZamBomba!\, a poetry quarterly that was read from Seattle to San Diego\, until 2000. At Delta\, Sheil started the Writer’s Guild and Artifact\, the college literary magazine.  \nHer work has been published in too many small journals\, magazines\, and newspapers to mention. She’s prouder yet of the poets and writers she has published and remains committed to empowering and amplifying the voices of Stockton and San Joaquin.  \nSherre Vernon \nSherre Vernon (she/her/hers) is the award-winning author of Green Ink Wings\, The Name is Perilous\, and Flame Nebula\, Bright Nova. Sherre has been published in journals such as Tahoma Literary Review and The Chestnut Review\, nominated for Best of the Net and Pushcart prizes\, and anthologized in several collections including Fat & Queer and Best Small Fictions. \nWe welcome these poets\, both new to the Second Tuesday series!
URL:https://www.mostpoetry.org/event/2025july/
LOCATION:Bookish Modesto\, 811 W. Roseburg Ave\, Modesto\, CA\, 95350\, United States
CATEGORIES:Open Mic,Readings,Second Tuesday
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.mostpoetry.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/July-2025-Second-Tues-Vernon-Sheil-1920-x-1080-px-e1751044850528.png
ORGANIZER;CN="Stella Beratlis":MAILTO:stellab@mostpoetry.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250812T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250812T203000
DTSTAMP:20260425T053840
CREATED:20250729T152238Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250729T152238Z
UID:3818-1755025200-1755030600@www.mostpoetry.org
SUMMARY:Second Tuesday Poetry: Modesto Poet Laureate Angela Drew + Stanislaus County Youth Poet Laureate Valentina Zeff
DESCRIPTION:Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center is pleased to present Second Tuesday Poetry featuring Modesto Poet Laureate Angela Drew with special guest Valentina Zeff\, Stanislaus County Youth Poet Laureate \nDate: Tuesday\, August 12\,  2025\nTime: 7:00 pm PST\nWhere: Bookish Modesto\, 811 W. Orangeburg Ave\, in the Roseburg Square shopping center \nOpen mic following featured poets (3 min per poet); sign up at the event. Hosted by Gillian Wegener \nANGELA DREW  \nAngela Drew is a mother\, dancer\, author\, poet\, and self-proclaimed linguistic artist who has loved the rhythm of words for as long as she can remember. Born in Berkeley\, California\, she began writing at age eight\, and has always understood that words have the power to soothe\, stir\, or solidify connection. She has played with the magic of storytelling ever since.  Angela is the winner and first-place slam champion of Modesto’s 2021 ILL List 16 Poetry Slam. She has performed her spoken word poetry at an array of venues\, just to name a few: Yoshi’s Jazz Club\, Oakland\, California; Gallo Center for the Arts and the State Theater\, Modesto\, California; Brickhouse Art Gallery\, Sacramento\, California\, and Apache Cafe\, Atlanta\, Georgia–a landmark poetry lounge that is home to some of Atlanta’s finest creatives.   \nShe is the author of ElderBerry Wine\, a children’s book written in poetic verse that celebrates the beauty and majesty of our elders\, and the richness they bring by  simply being a part of our lives. Join Angela on her poetic journey on all social media platforms. Her book is available on Amazon\, Barnes & Noble\, and other booksellers.   \n  \nVALENTINA ZEFF \nValentina Zeff is a sixteen-year-old poet from Modesto\, California who is currently enrolled in the International Baccalaureate program at Modesto High School. Zeff has been writing free verse and ballad poetry since her freshman year of high school. \nZeff is active within her community and school through social and environmental activism\, extracurricular projects\, and volunteering. She was selected to be a member of the Park’s Youth Committee (April 2024-current)\, Modesto Youth Commission (October 2024-current)\, and student representative for Modesto High School’s Student Senate for both ninth and tenth grade. During the 2023-2024 Speech and Debate season\, she was a top finalist for Original Spoken Word Poetry at State Qualifications. She is also the founder and Co-President of Modesto High School’s Book Club where she leads discussions on novels and poems of interest. Additionally\, she is the Secretary and head layout editor/designer of the Panther Press\, Modesto High School’s monthly newspaper. \n 
URL:https://www.mostpoetry.org/event/2025aug12/
LOCATION:Bookish Modesto\, 811 W. Roseburg Ave\, Modesto\, CA\, 95350\, United States
CATEGORIES:Open Mic,Readings,Second Tuesday
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.mostpoetry.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Aug2025-Second-Tues-1-e1753802491401.png
ORGANIZER;CN="Stella Beratlis":MAILTO:stellab@mostpoetry.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250830T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250830T150000
DTSTAMP:20260425T053840
CREATED:20250706T201323Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250706T201323Z
UID:3787-1756562400-1756566000@www.mostpoetry.org
SUMMARY:MoSt Poetry on Saturday featuring Joshua McKinney & Cecil Morris
DESCRIPTION:Please join host Gary Thomas at 2:00 p.m. Saturday\, August 30\, 2025 at Carnegie Arts Center in Turlock\, CA for a poetry reading featuring Joshua McKinney and Cecil Morris. There will be light refreshments and an open mic following the featured poets. This event is free and open to the public. \n \nJoshua McKinney’s fifth book of poetry\, Sad Animal (2024)\, was the recipient of the John Ridland Poetry Prize from Gunpowder Press. His work has appeared in such journals as Boulevard\, Denver Quarterly\, Kenyon Review\, New American Writing\, and many others. He is co-editor of the online ecopoetics journal\, Clade Song. \n \nCecil Morris taught high school English for 37 years in Roseville\, the small northern California city where he grew up. At Work in the Garden of Possibilities is his debut poetry collection. A Pushcart and Best of the Net nominee\, Morris has poems in The 2River Review\, Ekphrastic Review\, Hole in the Head Review\, Lascaux Review\, Rust + Moth\, Sugar House Review\, and elsewhere. He and his wife\, the mother of their children\, divide their year between their California hometown and the cool Oregon coast\, where they walk the beach and marvel at the sea and tide pools and joyful romping dogs. \n \n  \n \n 
URL:https://www.mostpoetry.org/event/most-poetry-on-saturday-featuring-joshua-mckinney-cecil-morris/
LOCATION:Carnegie Arts Center\, 250 N. Broadway\, Turlock\, CA\, 95380\, United States
CATEGORIES:Poetry on Saturday,Readings
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.mostpoetry.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/MoSt-Poetry-1-e1751830105571.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20251014T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20251014T203000
DTSTAMP:20260425T053840
CREATED:20250920T010612Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250920T010626Z
UID:3885-1760468400-1760473800@www.mostpoetry.org
SUMMARY:Second Tuesday Poetry presents FIVE FOR TEN: Five Central Valley Poets
DESCRIPTION:Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center is pleased to present Second Tuesday Poetry: Five for Ten\, featuring five Central Valley poets:  \n  \nCasey Giffen\nDaley Perry\nCynthia Barstad\nPaloma Contreras\nMelchor Sahagun III\n \nDate: Tuesday\, October 14\, 2025\nTime: 7:00 pm PST\nWhere: Bookish Modesto\, 811 W. Roseburg Ave\, in the Roseburg Square shopping center \nOpen mic following featured poets (3 min per poet); sign up at the event. Hosted by Gillian Wegener \nCASEY GIFFEN:  \nA retired teacher of 40 years\, Casey enjoys creating on-demand poems on his manual\, Smith-Corona typewriter. His poetry has been published in Modesto Poets’ Corner Contests\, Penumbra\, and the Hughson Chronicle. Acts of Becoming is his second poetry collection.  \nPALOMA CONTRERAS:  \nPaloma Contreras is a Mexican\, bilingual poet and educator. Most of her writing is autobiographical and deals with themes of loss. \nMELCHOR SAHAGUN III: \nMelchor Sahagun III is a poet and corny romantic who lives in Stockton. His collection\, Sorry I’m Late\, was published by Tuleberg Press.  \nDALEY PERRY:  \nDaley Perry is a Central Valley native who lived in Tennessee for 15 years before (very happily) returning home in 2019. She loves writing angsty poetry that explores themes of spirituality\, smashing the patriarchy\, pop culture\, and loving our bodies.  \nCYNTHIA BARSTAD: Cynthia Barstad\, an early childhood educator for 30 years before she retired\, has shared her words with her family\, friends\, and strangers for years. She has been published in Stanislaus Connections along with her granddaughter Jenissa\, who shares Cynthia’s passion for words.  \n 
URL:https://www.mostpoetry.org/event/2025oct/
LOCATION:Bookish Modesto\, 811 W. Roseburg Ave\, Modesto\, CA\, 95350\, United States
CATEGORIES:Open Mic,Readings,Second Tuesday
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.mostpoetry.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/October2025_FiveforFive-1-e1758330320233.png
ORGANIZER;CN="Stella Beratlis":MAILTO:stellab@mostpoetry.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20251122T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20251122T150000
DTSTAMP:20260425T053840
CREATED:20251030T201648Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251030T201648Z
UID:3924-1763820000-1763823600@www.mostpoetry.org
SUMMARY:MoSt Poetry on Saturday featuring Lucille Lang Day and Carl Landauer
DESCRIPTION:Please join host Gary Thomas at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday\, November 22\, 2025 at Carnegie Arts Center (250 North Broadway Ave.\, Turlock\, California) for a poetry reading featuring Lucille Lang Day and Carl Landauer. There will be light refreshments and an open mic time following the featured poets. This event is free and open to the public. \n \nLucille Lang Day is the author of four poetry chapbooks and seven full-length collections\, most recently Birds of San Pancho and Other Poems of Place. She has also edited three poetry anthologies and published two children’s books and a memoir. Her work appears in more than 200 magazines and anthologies\, such as The Cincinnati Review\, The Hudson Review\, River Styx\, The Threepenny Review\, Scientific American\, ZYZZYVA\, and Attached to the Living World: A New Ecopoetry Anthology. Her many honors include the Blue Light Poetry Prize\, two PEN Oakland – Josephine Miles Literary Awards\, the Joseph Henry Jackson Award\, and eleven Pushcart Prize nominations. She is founder and publisher of a small press\, Scarlet Tanager Books. https://lucillelangday.com \n  \n \nCarl Landauer taught history at Yale\, Stanford\, and McGill and is currently a contributing editor for Poetry Flash and a visiting scholar with UC Berkeley’s Institute for South Asia Studies. His poetry has appeared in Kenyon Review\, Exacting Clam\, and Poetry Flash. His writing on poetry and cultural history has appeared in Beat Scene\, The American Scholar\, Salmagundi\, Confrontation\, Renaissance Quarterly\, German Studies Review\, and Poetry Flash—as well as a critical analysis of Project 2025 published by Public Seminar. He is currently writing a long series of poems he calls “refracted ekphrases\,” each of which focuses on a movie that is adapted from literature. \n 
URL:https://www.mostpoetry.org/event/most-poetry-on-saturday-featuring-lucille-lang-day-and-carl-landauer/
LOCATION:Carnegie Arts Center\, 250 N. Broadway\, Turlock\, CA\, 95380\, United States
CATEGORIES:Poetry on Saturday,Readings
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.mostpoetry.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Thank-you-for-the-beauty-you-create-each-day-e1762905904292.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260113T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260113T203000
DTSTAMP:20260425T053840
CREATED:20251217T203706Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251217T203706Z
UID:3975-1768330800-1768336200@www.mostpoetry.org
SUMMARY:Second Tuesday Poetry featuring Tara Rico & Juan Luzuriaga
DESCRIPTION:Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center is pleased to present Second Tuesday Poetry featuring Inaugural Poet Laureate of Manteca Tara Rico and San Luis Obispo poet Juan Luzuriaga \nDate: Tuesday\, January 13\, 2026\nTime: 7:00 pm PST\nWhere: Bookish Modesto\, 811 W. Roseburg Ave\, in the Roseburg Square shopping center \nThe reading is free; drinks\, snacks\, and books are available for purchase at Bookish. Open mic following featured poets (3 min per poet); sign up at the event. Hosted by Gillian Wegener \nTara Rico \nTara Rico (she/her/ella) is a local writer\, advocate\, performer\, and educator. She is the City of Manteca’s first Poet Laureate; her work can be found in collections such as the Tuleberg Press anthology The Fire Within: Labor\, Art\, and the Human Spirit.  \nTara is also the founder of MAS Improv 209 and POETICAS Institute\, a new nonprofit committed to bringing written\, performing\, and other creative art to the Central Valley and under-resourced communities.  \nTara is an actor and comedian who has performed recently at the Pam Kitto Black Box Theater of Stockton\, Modesto’s Prospect Theater\, and at the Central Valley Gender Health and Wellness Center’s “Kings\, Queens\, and Comedians” drag show of 2024.  \n  \nJuan Luzuriaga \nJuan Luzuriaga was born in Guayaquil\, Ecuador\, and immigrated to the U.S. at 16 in 2000. He studied Neuroscience at Rutgers University and English at UC Merced. He teaches poetry in prisons\, at Cuesta College\, and California Poets in the Schools. He has been a featured panelist at UC Merced\, Cuesta College Central Coast Writers’ Conference\, Litfest and more\, and he is a featured panelist at the 2026 San Francisco Writers Conference Poetry Summit.   \nHe has been published in Acentos Review\, San Diego Poetry Annual\, Monterey Poetry Review\, Cholla Needles\, Poetry Breakfast\, Matchbox Magazine\, and in the anthologies Silence Is Consent\, To Be Completely Honest\, and Method Writers Speak. His collection\, Chimborazo Whispers\, is forthcoming from Blue Light Press.  \n 
URL:https://www.mostpoetry.org/event/2026jan/
LOCATION:Bookish Modesto\, 811 W. Roseburg Ave\, Modesto\, CA\, 95350\, United States
CATEGORIES:Open Mic,Readings,Second Tuesday
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.mostpoetry.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/SecondTues_Jan2026-960x540-1-e1766003818477.png
ORGANIZER;CN="Stella Beratlis":MAILTO:stellab@mostpoetry.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260221T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260221T150000
DTSTAMP:20260425T053840
CREATED:20260112T145239Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260220T193012Z
UID:3998-1771682400-1771686000@www.mostpoetry.org
SUMMARY:UPDATED: Poetry at the Carnegie featuring Jesse Wolfe and Stella Beratlis
DESCRIPTION:PLEASE NOTE: Due to a necessary scheduling change\, Jesse Wolfe will read with Stella Beratlis on 2/21/26. Cleo Griffith will be a featured reader at a future date to be determined. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. \nPlease join host Gary Thomas at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday\, February 21\, 2026 at Carnegie Arts Center (250 North Broadway Ave.\, Turlock\, California) for a poetry reading featuring Jesse Wolfe and Stella Beratlis. There will be light refreshments and an open mic time following the featured poets. This event is free and open to the public. \nJesse Wolfe is a poet\, scholar\, and English Professor at CSU Stanislaus\, where he has taught since 2006. His debut poetry chapbook\, En Route\, was published in 2020 by Cathexis Northwest Press\, who will also publish his new volume\, Breathe Again: A Polyphony\, in 2026. He is the author of two scholarly books about modernist literature and the history of intimacy. He is currently working on a third scholarly book about African American modernism and ideas of progress. \n \nStella Beratlis is the author of Dust Bowl Venus. Her first collection Alkali Sink was a nominee for the 2016 Northern California Book Award in Poetry. Her poems have appeared in Harbor Review\, California Quarterly\, and In Posse Review. among others\, and in the anthologies The Place That Inhabits Us: Poems from the San Francisco Bay Watershed and California Fire and Water: A Climate Crisis Anthology. She was Modesto’s poet laureate from 2016-2020 and works as a librarian at Modesto Junior College.
URL:https://www.mostpoetry.org/event/poetry-at-the-carnegie-featuring-cleo-griffith-and-jesse-wolfe/
LOCATION:Carnegie Arts Center\, 250 N. Broadway\, Turlock\, CA\, 95380\, United States
CATEGORIES:Open Mic,Poetry on Saturday,Readings
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.mostpoetry.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/MoSt-Poetry-Saturday-at-the-Carnegie-2-e1771615307968.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260321T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260321T120000
DTSTAMP:20260425T053840
CREATED:20260227T205637Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260227T205637Z
UID:4078-1774087200-1774094400@www.mostpoetry.org
SUMMARY:Nature Poetry Reading & Walk at Dos Rios State Park
DESCRIPTION:Nature lovers and fans of poetry are welcome to celebrate Spring at the 4th Nature Poetry Reading and Walk at Dos Rios State Park on Saturday\, March 21 at 10:00 a.m..  Participants can bring a few of their own nature poems to read\, or read poems from their favorite nature poets.  After the one-hour reading at the ramadas\, an optional hike will be offered by park staff along the 1.8-mile trail around the oxbow pond.  Loaner binoculars are available.
URL:https://www.mostpoetry.org/event/nature-poetry-reading-walk-at-dos-rios-state-park/
LOCATION:Dos Rios State Park\, 3559 Shiloh Rd\, Modesto\, CA\, 95358\, United States
CATEGORIES:Other Events,Readings
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.mostpoetry.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Spring-Nature-Poetry-Reading-2026-e1772225596305.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260414T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260414T203000
DTSTAMP:20260425T053840
CREATED:20260316T005822Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260328T205312Z
UID:4082-1776193200-1776198600@www.mostpoetry.org
SUMMARY:Second Tuesday Poetry featuring Escritores del Nuevo Sol/Writers of the New Sun
DESCRIPTION:THE ANTIDOTE IS POETRY. COME TO POETRY. \nModesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center is pleased to present Second Tuesday Poetry featuring members of Sacramento-based writing group Escritores del Nuevo Sol/Writers of the New Sun:  Zheyla Henriksen\, Paul Aponte\, Janet Rodriguez\, JoAnn Anglin\, Marco Contreras\, and Lorena Rodriguez. \nDate: Tuesday\, April 14\, 2026\nTime: 7:00 pm PST\nWhere: Bookish Modesto\, 811 W. Roseburg Ave\, in the Roseburg Square shopping center \nOpen mic following featured poets (3 min per poet); sign up at the event. Hosted by Gillian Wegener.  \nZheyla Henriksen is an Ecuadorian poet\, researcher\, artist\, and retired college & university teacher including at UC Davis where she received her PHD in Latin American and Spanish Literature.  She has been awarded several times including in 2004 when she received La Medalla de Oro al Merito Cultural in Cuenca Ecuador.  Zheyla was included in the Who’s Who of Distinguished Professionals\, and in History & Anthology of Ecuadorian Literature (2023). \nPaul Aponte is a Chicano Poet\,co-coordinator of Escritores Del Nuevo Sol / Writers of the New Sun\, and member of Círculo De Poetas & Writers. He has been published in the Tecolote Press anthology Poetry In Flight\, Tule Review 2024\, in the anthology Soñadores – We Came To Dream\, in the Los Angeles Review Volume 20 – Fall 2016\, and in Cold River Press Voices 2022-2025.  His colorful book of poetry DEL CACTUS is available through Prickly Pear Press and other sources. \nJanet Rodriguez is an author\, teacher\, editor\, and the author of Making an American Family: A Recipe in Five Generations (Prickly Pear Publishing\, 2022)\, a family memoir. Her short story\, “The Key in the Tignanello Bag” was recently published in the regional anthology\, Sacramento Noir\, edited by John Freeman. Her work has also been featured in Hobart\, Pangyrus\, Eclectica\, The Rumpus\, Cloud Women’s Quarterly\, American River Review\, and Calaveras Station. Her short stories\, essays\, and poetry usually deal with themes involving morality in faith communities and the mixed-race experience in a culturally binary world.  \nJoAnn Anglin is a leading member of Escritores Del Nuevo Sol and has been a teaching poet in the schools\, including at Shriners Children’s Hospital\, and at New Folsom Prison. Her chapbooks include Words Like Knives\, Like Feathers and Heat\, and her poems have been published in Tule Review\, Sable & Quill\, Sacramento Voices\, Rattlesnake Review\, The Pagan Muse\, 100 Poems about Sacramento\, Acorn\, and Cosumnes River Journal. In 2012\, JoAnn received an Arts Program Award from the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors and the Sacramento City Council and in 2024 she was honored by the California Senate for her contributions as a poet and leader to the community. \nMarco Contreras is from Stockton and currently resides in Sacramento. He has been published in UCLA’s Daily Bruin and La Gente De Aztlan magazine. He also has contributions in several anthologies\, including his latest about his trip to the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas. \nLorena Rodriguez has roots in the Andes\, born and raised in a land where the cultivation of potatoes and corn is a way of life. A multidisciplinary artist\, Lorena uses performance and theater as a tool for activism\, community building\, and healing. She is a writer\, performer\, fermenter\, dancer\, and textile artist\, and through her work\, she shares practical actions for health and well-being while inspiring the reimagining of systems that address collective needs and foster healing.  \n  \nHISTORY OF LOS ESCRITORES DEL NUEVO SOL  \n \nLos Escritores del Nuevo Sol emerged from a literary program of La Raza Galería Posada (LRGP)\, the Sacramento Chicano/Native American arts center founded in 1972. Our roots can be followed to an initial poetry event organized by the Royal Chicano Air Force and other groups. That event in 1978 was called “One More Canto”. It was held at the Reno Club\, a downtown neighborhood bar and dance club. This idea of poetry for the community grew and future poetry\, song and performance art events continued. LRGP took sponsorship of the Canto Series well into the 1980’s and 1990’s with those events occurring at La Raza Galería Posada\, Luna’s Café\, the Benny Barrios Studio and the Odd Fellows Hall. \nIn the 1990’s LRGP board members Arturo Mantecón and Francisco X. Alarcón organized a Floricanto series featuring Latino poets. Seeing favorable community interest\, they started a writers’ workshop\, Taller Literario. The Taller philosophy was to foster\, preserve\, and present the best of Chicano/Latino and native American writing. The first meetings attracted about a dozen local writers. Alarcón and Mantecón drew on their experience in publishing and working with writing groups to guide this group to be given recognition and to be established in October of 1993. \nThe Taller became an essential part of La Raza Galería Posada readings and became connected with other significant cultural events – Day of the Dead\, Cinco de Mayo\, exhibition openings\, etc.In time\, events were added such as the Valentine’s Day and the all-Spanish readings. \nEventually the group adopted a new name suggested by Graciela Brauer Ramírez: Escritores del Nuevo Sol / Writers of the New Sun. This recognized the 2012 coming of El Sexto Sol\, the dawning of a new world consciousness based on the Mesoamerican worldview. \nAs the years passed\, Los Escritores became a known part of the Sacramento literary community. In 2002\, José Montoya\, a member of Los Escritores\, was appointed Sacramento’s Poet Laureate. Los Escritores participated in his activities resulting in more visibility. In 2020’s\, two additional members were named Poet Laureate – Lara Gularte (El Dorado County) and Nancy González St. Clair (Lodi\, CA) also contributing to more recognition and visibility for Escritores del Nuevo Sol. \nWith the publication of our 2004 anthology\, Voices of the new Sun\, Poems and Stories / Voces del Nuevo Sol\, Cantos y Cuentos\, the group’s written work took tangible form. The 25th Anniversary anthology was published in 2017\, and in 2025 the anthology Then and Now came to cheer the past and present.  \nWhile the circle has grown\, it also acknowledges the loss of loved ones who were a part of its start: Phil Goldvarg\, José Montoya\, Helen and Esteban Villa\, Luz María Gama\, Max Schwartz\, Sam Ríos\, Jean y Winn Starr\, and Escritores co-founder Francisco X. Alarcón. We remember them well.
URL:https://www.mostpoetry.org/event/2026aprilescritores/
LOCATION:Bookish Modesto\, 811 W. Roseburg Ave\, Modesto\, CA\, 95350\, United States
CATEGORIES:Open Mic,Readings,Second Tuesday
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.mostpoetry.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/2026_April_Escritores-1-e1774731178112.png
ORGANIZER;CN="Stella Beratlis":MAILTO:stellab@mostpoetry.org
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260512T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260512T190000
DTSTAMP:20260425T053840
CREATED:20260329T032026Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260329T032109Z
UID:4108-1778612400-1778612400@www.mostpoetry.org
SUMMARY:Second Tuesday Poetry with featured poets Kathy Pon and Chris Olander
DESCRIPTION:Join us on Tuesday\, May 12\, as we present Gustine-based poet Kathy Pon and Nevada City poet  Chris Olander\, poet laureate emeritus of Nevada County. \nAt Bookish Modesto\, 7 pm. Doors at 6:30 pm. \n  \n 
URL:https://www.mostpoetry.org/event/2026may_st/
LOCATION:Bookish Modesto\, 811 W. Roseburg Ave\, Modesto\, CA\, 95350\, United States
CATEGORIES:Open Mic,Readings,Second Tuesday
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.mostpoetry.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/MoSt-Gala-2017-0001.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="Stella Beratlis":MAILTO:stellab@mostpoetry.org
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END:VCALENDAR