MoSt Annual Meeting
2018-07-12 16:00 - 18:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | CA
The annual meeting of the Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center will be held on July 12th at a member’s home in Modesto. All members and interested poetry friends are welcome to attend. The meeting starts at 4:00, with a potluck dinner at 5:00. Mark your calendars and join us! Email us at info@mostpoetry.org for more information.

Summer Poetry Workshops 2018: Teen Poetry Workshop
2018-07-14 13:00 - 15:00 | Stanislaus County Library, 1500 I Street, Modesto, CA, 95354, United States
Join us at the Downtown Modesto Library for our second Summer Poetry Workshop of 2018: a Teen Poetry Workshop with Gillian Wegener.
All workshops are FREE TO THE PUBLIC with materials and inspiration provided. Sponsored by Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center and the Stanislaus County Library.

Poetry Book Club
2018-07-18 18:30 - 19:30 | Stanislaus County Library, 1500 I Street, Modesto, CA, 95354, United States
MoSt is pleased to announce the third installment of our Poetry Book Club! The meeting will be held on Wednesday, July 18 from 6:30 to 7:30 at the downtown library and our featured book will be Barbie Chang by Victoria Chang. The library will have extra copies to check out, but the book is widely available if you’d like to get your own. Either way, you want to read it ahead of time and be prepared for some great conversation. More details to follow, but as usual, this event is free and open to the public.

MoSt Board Meeting
2018-08-02 18:30 - 19:30 | CA
Our next regular Board meeting will be held on August 2nd at a member’s home–Board members stay tuned for more information. If you are interested in attending, please contact info@mostpoetry.org

Summer Poetry Workshops 2018: Children's Poetry Workshop
2018-08-04 13:00 - 15:00 | Stanislaus County Library, 1500 I Street, Modesto, CA, 95354, United States
Join us at the Downtown Modesto Library for our third Summer Poetry Workshop of 2018: a poetry workshop just for kids, with Linda Scheller and friends.
All workshops are FREE TO THE PUBLIC with materials and inspiration provided. Sponsored by Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center and the Stanislaus County Library.

Second Tuesday @ Barkin' Dog
2018-08-14 18:00 - 20:00 | Barkin’ Dog Grill, 940 11th St, Modesto, CA, 95354, United States
The Second Tuesday Poetry Reading is as late in the month as it can get, so be sure to mark your calendar for August 14 at 6:00 at the Barkin’ Dog Grill.
This month’s featured readers are DW Schmidt and Kathleen Winter, and of course, our featured readers will be followed by an open mic, so bring a poem or two to share.
D.W. Schmidt has written much more prose than poetry. When he started writing poetry, he felt the poems happened accidentally, like they found him, which was probably the influence of the great imagist poets he has taught in his college classes for so long. Lately, he has allowed his poems to be more topical, personal, phrase-driven, and ultimately more intentional.
Kathleen Winter is the author of I will not kick my friends (2018), which won the Elixir Poetry Prize, and Nostalgia for the Criminal Past, winner of the Texas Institute of Letters Bob Bush Memorial Award. Her poems have appeared in Tin House, Agni, New Statesman, New Republic and Yale Review. She was granted fellowships by Sewanee Writers’ Conference, Dobie Paisano Ranch, Dora Maar House, James Merrill House and Cill Rialaig Retreat.

Poetry on Sunday Series
2018-08-26 14:00 - 17:00 | Carnegie Arts Center, Gemperle Gallery, 250 N. Broadway Ave., Turlock, CA, United States
Come join us at the Carnegie Arts Center in Turlock for our quarterly reading series! Download the PDF flyer at right, and read more about our featured poets below:
Linda Marie Prather has five published chapbooks, the latest being Painting Your Absence (Dry Creek Press.) Unforced Rhythms (Finishing Line Press) won 3rd Place award in the NLAPW 2014 Letters Competition. Her full-length book, Summer Song, was published in 2016. She edits for Song of The San Joaquin, is a member of National League of American Pen Women, in Arts and Letters. Her poetry appears in More Than Soil, More Than Sky/ The Modesto Poets. Linda is published widely and has received prizes from Penumbra, Poets’ Dinner Contest, Ina Coolbrith Circle, the Golden Pegasus Award, and has been nominated twice for a Pushcart Prize.

I was born into the name of Janette Jameson in Santa Cruz, California. At seven, my family moved to Torreon, Mexico, where my father became a principal of an American School. As a second grader, I was thrust into a new language and culture. I received a bilingual education, learning my times tables in Spanish and my addition in English. I experienced the constant back-and-forth between two worlds, and as a result was outsider to both.
I have always loved words—their use and their layered meanings. They feel almost tangible—to be worked with and at times played with. I have also always read, since picking up my first Nancy Drew mystery and spending most of the day on the couch until the end of the book. In being bilingual, I am very aware of the nuances in words and how much can be lost in translation. Bridges are important metaphors as well as a space where no language exists. The challenge in poetry is bringing words to places that already stand alone. I try to capture brief moments of observed life which become a springboard for a later poem.
I’m a retired social worker, married with two young adult daughters. I’ve lived in Modesto for the past twenty-six years, still looking for home perhaps by an oak tree.

Dana Koster is the author of Binary Stars (Carolina Wren Press 2017). She was a Wallace Stegner Fellow. Her poems have appeared in EPOCH, Indiana Review, Southern Humanities Review, The Cincinnati Review, MUZZLE, Thrush Poetry Journal, Radar Poetry, and many others. She lives in Modesto, California with her husband and two sons, where she works as a wedding photographer.

Ife-Chudeni A. Oputa is a writer, editor, and the author of Rummage, which won the 2015 Little A Poetry Contest and is a 2018 Lambda Literary Award finalist. She is a Cave Canem, Callaloo, and Lambda Literary fellow. Her poetry and prose have appeared in Crab Orchard Review, Some Call it Ballin, Gabby, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and elsewhere. She is a native of Fresno, CA.

Second Tuesday @ Barkin' Dog
2018-09-11 18:00 - 20:00 | Barkin’ Dog Grill, 940 11th St, Modesto, CA, 95354, United States
Join us for the Second Tuesday Barkin’ Dog reading on September 11 at 6:00 at the Barkin’ Dog Grill in downtown Modesto. We’ll have an evening of poetry by featured readers Connie Post and Kevin Gunn. An open mic will follow the featured reading, so bring a poem or two to share.

Summer Poetry Workshops 2018: Write a Poem; Read a Poem
2018-09-15 13:00 - 15:00 | Stanislaus County Library, 1500 I Street, Modesto, CA, 95354, United States
Join us at the Downtown Modesto Library for our fourth and final Summer Poetry Workshop of 2018: Write a Poem; Read a Poem with Gary Thomas and Gillian Wegener.
All workshops are FREE TO THE PUBLIC with materials and inspiration provided. Sponsored by Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center and the Stanislaus County Library.

Second Tuesday @ Barkin' Dog
2018-10-09 18:00 - 20:00 | Barkin’ Dog Grill, 940 11th St, Modesto, CA, 95354, United States
Join us for the Second Tuesday Barkin’ Dog reading on October 9 at 6:00 at the Barkin’ Dog Grill in downtown Modesto. We’ll have an evening of poetry by featured readers Sheila Landre and Barbara West. An open mic will follow the featured reading, so bring a poem or two to share.

Words Have No Borders: A Night of Poetry & Fire
2018-10-20 19:00 - 21:00 | College Avenue United Church of Christ, 1341 College Ave, Modesto, CA, 95350, United States
METAPHORICAL FIRE!
You’re invited to burn it all down to a pile of ashes (figuratively) so we can start all over again.
Please join us for a night of poetry & community & friendship with special guests Manny Moreno, Lillian Vallee, members of the Hmong American Writers’ Circle, Theresa Rojas, Evan Wright, Bernadet Mokhatas, and more.
From the HAWC: Yia Lee, Nou Her, Jer Xiong, Hauntie, Pos Moua, and Soul Vang.
This is an amazing lineup, poetry fans.
With local nonprofits sharing resource & voter registration opportunities. Refreshments available for purchase from Cafe Esperanza, the church’s newly opened coffeehouse.
For more info: writersresistmodesto@gmail.com

Second Tuesday @ Barkin' Dog
2018-11-13 18:00 - 20:00 | Barkin’ Dog Grill, 940 11th St, Modesto, CA, 95354, United States
Join us for the Second Tuesday Barkin’ Dog reading on November 13 at 6:00 at the Barkin’ Dog Grill in downtown Modesto. We’ll have an evening of poetry by featured readers Roy Mash and Rebecca Foust. An open mic will follow the featured reading, so bring a poem or two to share.

Poetry Book Club
2018-11-14 18:30 - 19:30 | Stanislaus County Library, 1500 I Street, Modesto, CA, 95354, United States
MoSt is pleased to announce the fourth installment of our Poetry Book Club! The meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 14 from 6:30 to 7:30 at the downtown library. Our featured book is to be announced–stay tuned. More details to follow, but as usual, this event is free and open to the public.

Poetry on Sunday Series
2018-12-02 14:00 - 17:00 | Carnegie Arts Center, Gemperle Gallery, 250 N. Broadway Ave., Turlock, CA, United States
Come join us at the Carnegie Arts Center in Turlock for our quarterly reading series! Download the PDF flyer at right, and read more about our featured poets below:
James Weaver has published his first book, Writing Therapy. Included in the collection are poems previously published in Penumbra, Susurrus, Collision IV, Suisun Valley Review, as well as other journals in California. On reputation alone, this poet has the crowd snapping at their seats and enjoys connecting with the audience. When he’s not doing poetry, he enjoys spending time with family and friends.
Joseph Nolan is a practicing attorney. Joseph self-published three books of poems in 2017: Human Grace, Cats Can’t Use Straws, and Sky Gardens. Joseph likes to work in rhyme and meter, writing mostly shorter poems. His writing has been published in the Sacramento Voices anthology (2017) and will be published in its upcoming 2018 Edition, in Poetry Now, an online quarterly journal of the Sacramento Poetry Center, and in Collision V, an anthology of poetry from local poets in combination with artistic photography from local professional photographers. He is an active member of the Sacramento Poetry Center and the Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center.
Camille Norton’s book, A Folio for the Dark, was chosen for publication by Sixteen Rivers Press during its 2017 open reading period. It will appear in the spring of 2019. Her first book of poems, Corruption, was a 2004 National Poetry Series winner, published by HarperPerennial in 2005. Her work has appeared in Field, The Colorado Review, The Georgia Review, and in American Poet: The Journal of the Academy of American Poets. One of her poems in A Folio for the Dark,“ The Prison Diary of Bartlett Yancey Malone,” was published in The Best American Poetry of 2010. Camille grew up outside of Philadelphia and studied English and American Literature at Harvard University. A Professor of English at University of the Pacific, in Stockton, CA since 1994, she teaches courses in poetry, gender studies, and critical theory. She has worked collaboratively with artists and composers since the early 1990’s, when she co-edited Resurgent: New Writing by Women, an anthology of experimental writing by women in literature, film, and the visual arts. She lives in Stockton, near the San Joaquin River, and is at home in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. Her poetry explores the interstices between artistic expression and the political systems that define who reads, who writes, and who is remembered.
Susan Kelly-DeWitt is a former Wallace Stegner Fellow and the author of Spider Season (Cold River Press, 2016), The Fortunate Islands (Marick Press, 2008) and nine previous small press collections and online chapbooks. Her work has appeared in many anthologies, and in print and online journals at home and abroad. She is also a member of the National Book Critics Circle and the Northern California Book Reviewers Association. For more information, please visit her website at www.susankelly-dewitt.com.

Second Tuesday @ Barkin' Dog
2018-12-11 18:00 - 20:00 | Barkin’ Dog Grill, 940 11th St, Modesto, CA, 95354, United States
Join us for the Second Tuesday Barkin’ Dog reading on December 11 at 6:00 at the Barkin’ Dog Grill in downtown Modesto. We’ll have an evening of poetry by featured readers the Licensed Fools. An open mic will follow the featured reading, so bring a poem or two to share.

Second Tuesday @ Barkin' Dog
2019-01-08 18:00 - 20:00 | Barkin’ Dog Grill, 940 11th St, Modesto, CA, 95354, United States
Join us for the Second Tuesday Barkin’ Dog reading on January 8th at 6:00 at the Barkin’ Dog Grill in downtown Modesto. We’ll have an evening of poetry with featured readers from America, We Call Your Name. An open mic will follow the featured reading, so bring a poem or two to share.

Poetry Festival Contest Deadline
2019-01-11 | CA
Today’s the postmark deadline for the poetry contest held at our annual Modesto Poetry Festival! For more information, take a look at the main event page.

Poetry Book Club
2019-01-23 18:30 - 19:30 | Stanislaus County Library, 1500 I Street, Modesto, CA, 95354, United States
MoSt is pleased to announce another installment of our Poetry Book Club! The meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 23rd from 6:30 to 7:30 at the downtown library. Our featured book is Adamantine by Shin Yu Pai–copies are available from the Modesto Library or on Amazon, and we will have a few copies on hand.
This event is free and open to the public.

7th Annual Modesto Poetry Festival
2019-02-02 09:30 - 16:00 | St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 1528 Oakdale Road, Modesto, CA, 95355, United States
We are thrilled to announce the details of our 7th Annual Modesto Poetry Festival, coming up on February 2nd, 2019!
Each year in February we organize and hold an all-day poetry festival featuring workshops, readings, and a featured poet. This year, we are proud to welcome back featured poet Indigo Moor, Sacramento’s Poet Laureate, as our guest poet and workshop leader. CLICK HERE to read more about the workshop theme.
Join us on Saturday, February 2nd, 2019 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Modesto for a day of poetry, learning, and inspiration! Click on the image at right to download the PDF flyer, and you can click here to download the registration form (which also has details about this year’s festival poetry contest).
Themes for this year’s contest are 1. Here in this House; 2. What Remains; 3. The Edge of the Sea; 4. In and Out of Fashion (Life a la Mode). Submissions to the poetry contest must be postmarked by the CONTEST DEADLINE: JANUARY 11, 2019. Please see the form for more information.

Poetry Out Loud County Competition
2019-02-06 19:00 - 21:00 | Little Theatre, MJC, 435 College Ave, Modesto, CA, 95350, United States
Poetry Out Loud is a national poetry recitation contest for students, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, and the Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center is proud to announce that we will be holding our county-level competition at the MJC Little Theatre on February 6th. Last year, our county winner took third place at the state level, so don’t miss the chance to witness this year’s contest!

MoSt Board Meeting
2019-02-07 18:30 - 19:30 | CA
Our next Board meeting will be held on February 7th at 6:30 pm. If you are interested in attending, please contact us at info@mostpoetry.org.

Second Tuesday @ Barkin' Dog
2019-02-12 18:00 - 20:00 | Barkin’ Dog Grill, 940 11th St, Modesto, CA, 95354, United States
Join us for the Second Tuesday Barkin’ Dog reading on February 12th at 6:00 at the Barkin’ Dog Grill in downtown Modesto. We’ll be featuring the poetry of beloved local poets Virginia Dall, George Rogers, and Lee Nicholson, read by members of the MoSt poetry community.
An open mic will follow the featured reading, so bring a poem or two to share.

Poetry on Sunday Series
2019-02-17 14:00 - 16:00 | Carnegie Arts Center, Gemperle Gallery, 250 N. Broadway Ave., Turlock, CA, United States
Come join us at the Carnegie Arts Center in Turlock for the first 2019 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.
Derek D. Brown is an author, poet, and venture expressionist based in Los Angeles. His premiere collection of poems entitled Articulate Scars: Comfortable Silences and Reluctant Tears, was met with wide acclaim from poetry virgins and seasoned wordsmiths alike. He’s a highly coveted featured attraction throughout Southern California, whose mix of humor and truth in punchy poems has deeply embedded him in the fabric of the poetry scene.
Brian Dunlap is a native Angeleño who still lives in Los Ángeles. He explores and captures the city’s stories that are hidden in plain sight. He is the author of the chapbook Concrete Paradise (2018) from Finishing Line Press. Dunlap is the winner of the 2018 Jeff Marks Memorial Poetry Prize from december magazine judged by former Los Ángeles Poet Laureate Luis J. Rodriguez. His poems and book reviews have been published in Angel City Review, CCM-Entropy, California Quarterly and Dryland, among others. He runs the blog site www.losangelesliterature.wordpress.com, a resource to explore L.A.’s vast literary culture.
Susan Kelly-DeWitt is a former Wallace Stegner Fellow and the author of Spider Season (Cold River Press, 2016), The Fortunate Islands (Marick Press, 2008) and nine previous small press collections and online chapbooks. Her work has appeared in many anthologies, and in print and online journals at home and abroad. She is also a member of the National Book Critics Circle and the Northern California Book Reviewers Association. For more information, please visit her website at www.susankelly-dewitt.com.

Student Chapbook Contest Deadline
2019-03-01 | CA
Today’s the deadline for our annual George Rogers-Lee Nicholson Student Chapbook Contest! Check out the main contest page for full details.

MoSt Board Meeting
2019-03-07 18:30 - 19:30 | CA
Our next MoSt Poetry Board meeting will be held on Thursday, March 7th, 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.

Poets' Corner Contest Deadline
2019-03-08 | CA
See Poets’ Corner contest page for details.

Second Tuesday @ Barkin' Dog
2019-03-12 18:00 - 20:00 | Barkin’ Dog Grill, 940 11th St, Modesto, CA, 95354, United States
Join us for the Second Tuesday Barkin’ Dog reading on March 12th at 6:00 at the Barkin’ Dog Grill in downtown Modesto. Our featured readers are Lee Herrick and Maw Shein Win.
An open mic will follow the featured reading, so bring a poem or two to share.

MoSt Board Meeting
2019-04-04 18:30 - 19:30 | CA
Our next MoSt Poetry Board meeting will be held on Thursday, April 4th, 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.

Poetry Reading at MJC
2019-04-05 18:00 - 20:00 | CA
The Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center is proud to announce that we will be co-sponsoring a poetry reading at Modesto Junior College with MJC’s Counseling department and the UnDocuAlly DREAM Network. Stay tuned for more information!

Ladies of the Knight Reading
2019-04-07 14:00 - 17:00 | Carnegie Arts Center, 250 N. Broadway, Turlock, CA, 95380, United States
MoSt is proud to co-sponsor the Ladies of the Knight poetry reading with Sacramento poets at the Carnegie Arts Center! Stay tuned for more information.
