Poetry Night Reading Series: Richard Robbins and Thomas Mitchell

The Poetry Night Reading Series is excited to feature Richard Robbins and Thomas Mitchell at 7 PM on Thursday, June 15th, 2023, on the roof of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis.

Richard Robbins was raised in California and Montana, taught in Minnesota for many years, and recently returned west to Oregon. In 2017, Lynx House Press published his sixth book of poems, Body Turn to Rain: New & Selected Poems, and in February 2023 it published his seventh, The Oratory of All Souls. Over the years, he has earned awards or residencies from The Loft Literary Center, the Minnesota State Arts Board, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Poetry Society of America, the Hawthornden Castle International Retreat for Writers, and Willapa Bay AiR. From 1986-2014, he directed the Good Thunder Reading Series at Minnesota State Mankato, where he continued to teach in the creative writing program until retiring in May 2021. 

Thomas Mitchell is the author of a new book, Where We Arrive from Lost Horse Press, as well as two previous books of poetry, The Way Summer Ends and Caribou. He studied at CSU Sacramento with Dennis Schmitz, where he received his Masters. He earned an MFA from the University of Montana, where he worked with Richard Hugo and Madeline De Frees. His poems have appeared in many journals, including The New England Review, New Letters, Mirimar, and Valparaiso Poetry Review. Most recently he has been selected as the Featured American Poet in The High Window (United Kingdom).

This event will take place on the roof of the John Natsoulas Gallery (521 1st Street) at 7 PM on Thursday, June 15th, 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.

The Facebook event page for the June 15th, 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.