Poetry Night Reading Series: Pam Houston and Shayne Langford

Dear Friends of Poetry,

The Poetry Night Reading Series is excited to feature fiction writers Pam Houston and Shayne Langford at 7 PM on Thursday, May 4th, 2023, on the roof of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis.

Pam Houston is the author of the memoir, Deep Creek: Finding Hope In The High Country, as well as two novels, Contents May Have Shifted and Sight Hound, two collections of short stories, Cowboys Are My Weakness and Waltzing the Cat, and a collection of essays, A Little More About Me, all published by W.W. Norton. 

Her stories have been selected for volumes of The O. Henry Awards, The Pushcart Prize, Best American Travel Writing, and Best American Short Stories of the Century among other anthologies. She is the winner of the Western States Book Award, the WILLA Award for contemporary fiction, the Evil Companions Literary Award and several teaching awards. 

She teaches in the Low Rez MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts, is Professor of English at UC Davis, and co-founder and creative director of the literary nonprofit Writing By Writers. She lives at 9,000 feet above sea level near the headwaters of the Rio Grande. 

Shayne Langford is a writer from rural Northern California. He worked as a fly fishing guide in Southwestern Colorado while earning an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of California, Davis, where he now teaches in the English Department. Dr. Andy has performed the Shayne Langford story “Eggs” at Stories on Stage, Davis.

This event will take place on the roof of the John Natsoulas Gallery (521 1st Street) at 7 PM on Thursday, May 4th, 2023. An open mic will follow the featured performers. 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.

Because this event will take place on the gallery roof, please plan to dress in layers. It is likely to be warm at the start, followed by a rapid drop in temperature as the sun goes down. Please wear a mask when indoors at the John Natsoulas Gallery.

The Facebook event page for the May 4th, 2023 Poetry Night can be found here: 

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.

Find out more about the Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting http://www.poetryindavis.com.