Poetry Night Reading Series: Mary Mackey

The Poetry Night Reading Series is excited to feature Mary Mackey at 7 PM on Thursday, June 1st, 2023, on the roof of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis.

Mary Mackey became a writer by running high fevers, tramping through tropical jungles, being swarmed by army ants, and reading. She is the author of eight poetry collections, including Sugar Zone, winner of a PEN Award, and The Jaguars That Prowl Our Dreams, winner of the 2019 Eric Hoffer Award for Best Book Published by a Small Press. Her poetry has been praised by Wendell Berry, Jane Hirshfield, D. Nurkse, Al Young, Rafael Jesús González, and Maxine Hong Kingston for its beauty, precision, originality, and extraordinary range. She is also the author of 14 novels including The New York Times bestseller A Grand Passion. Her recently published non-fiction book Creativity: Where Poems Begin looks at the origins of inspiration.

Mackey’s novels have been translated into twelve languages, including Japanese, Russian, Hebrew, Greek, and Finnish. Garrison Keillor featured her poetry four times on The Writer’s Almanac. Also a screenwriter, Mackey has sold feature-length scripts to Warner Brothers as well as to independent film companies. Mackey is a retired professor at Sacramento State University where she cofounded the CSUS Women’s Studies Program and the CSUS English Department Graduate Creative Writing Program. In 1978 Mackey founded the Feminist Writers Guild with poets Adrienne Rich and Susan Griffin and novelist Valerie Miner.  

“Mary Mackey’s Creativity is a book for anyone who wants to understand how bursts of insight come not only to poets and writers, but to all of us.” Mary Lynn Keller, PhD, Professor Emerita CIIS

This event will take place on the roof of the John Natsoulas Gallery (521 1st Street) at 7 PM on Thursday, June 1st, 2023. There will be a conversation with the poet after the reading, followed by an open mic. Open mic performances will be limited to three minutes or two items, whichever is shorter. As Robert Southey says, “Be brief; for it is with words as with sunbeams – the more they are condensed, the deeper they burn.” The open mic list typically fills by 6:50 PM, so please arrive early if you would like to perform something during the 8 o’clock hour. Attendees who request to be added to the list after 7 PM will be invited to try again at a subsequent event.

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 supported by Katerina Hanks, producer of The Poetry Night Reading Series.

NATSOULAS GALLERY. Poetry night featuring Mary Mackey. Mackey became a writer by running high fevers, tramping through tropical jungles, being swarmed by army ants, and reading. She is the author of eight poetry collections, including Sugar Zone, winner of a PEN Award, and The Jaguars That Prowl Our Dreams, winner of the 2019 Eric Hoffer Award for Best Book Published by a Small Press. 7p—9p. Free