NSAA 360

Poetry at Albion Hall
2024-11-17 16:00 - 19:00 UTC | Albion Hall, 143 Albion St, San Francisco, CA, CA, United States
Poetry at Albion Hall
Sunday, November 17, 2024, 4:00 pm
A Sunday afternoon reading featuring eight poets:
Genny Lim, current San Francisco Poet Laureate,
Giovanna Lomanto
Kim Shuck, 7th San Francisco Poet Laureate
David Gorin, Winner of the 2023 Emily Dickinson Award
Deborah Bachels Schmidt
NSAA (Lawrence Dinkins, Jr)
Rebecca Lee Whiting
Bob Stanley, Sacramento Poet Laureate, 2009-2012
With musical accompaniment by Mike Shea on bass

Join us for this special poetry event!
Sunday, November 17 from 4:00 to 6:00 pm
Doors open at 3:30
Albion Hall is located at 143 Albion St, San Francisco
Seating is limited
Please make your reservation at albionpoetry@gmail.com
Suggested donation $20 per person
All donations will benefit two Bay Area literary organizations:
Colossus Press and The Ina Coolbrith Circle
Note: Donations may be made directly to these organizations, or you may donate at the door.
To support the work of Colossus Press, please donate at https://colossuspress.org/support-colossus-press
To support Ina Coolbrith Circle, please send a check to Gayle Eleanor, Treasurer
1245 Pine Creek Way, #J Concord, CA 94520
(please indicate “Albion Poetry” on check)
Note: Parking is very difficult, we recommend ridesharing or public transit. 16th Street/Mission is the nearest BART station.
FEATURED POETS
Genny Lim was born in San Francisco, and she earned a BA and an MA from San Francisco State University. Lim earned a certificate in broadcast journalism from Columbia University and later worked as a reporter, producer, and commentator for CBS News. Lim is the author of the poetry collections Winter Place (1989), Child of War (2003), and Paper Gods and Rebels (2013). Her work appears in the Oxford Book of Women’s Writing in the United States (1995), and Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island (1980). Lim is the winner of the 1981 American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation. In 1982, she founded a theater company, Paper Angels Productions, now known as Theatre XX, a company that performs experimental theater. Lim has taught at the New College of California, and her papers are held at UC Santa Barbara. She was named Poet Laureate of San Francisco’s in August 2024.
David Gorin is the author of To a Distant Country, selected by Jennifer Chang for the Poetry Society of America Chapbook Fellowship and forthcoming in 2024. His writing received the 2023 Emily Dickinson Award from the Poetry Society of America. He holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and a BA, MA, and MPhil in English Literature from Yale University. He has taught creative writing and literature at Deep Springs College, Stanford Continuing Studies, the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution (via the Yale Prison Education Initiative), Eastern Correctional Facility (via the Bard Prison Initiative), and Yale.
Kim Shuck is a poet, visual artist, and educator. She is solo author of eleven books, part of editing another eleven. Shuck served as the 7th Poet Laureate of San Francisco.
Deborah Bachels Schmidt has published five chapbooks, including Stumbling into Grace, published by Orchard Street Press. She is co-author of Love’s Meditation from Random Lane Press). Her work has appeared in journals including Blue Unicorn, California Quarterly, The Exacting Clam, and The MacGuffin, as well as in numerous anthologies. She has earned awards from the Coolbrith Circle, the Soul-Making Keats Literary Competition, and Orchard Street Press. This year her poems won grand prizes in the Poets’ Dinner and the Dancing Poetry Festival.
NSAA (Lawrence Dinkins, Jr.) was born in Detroit and moved to California in the 1990s. He studied writing at Sacramento City College and has been writing and performing his poetry for over twenty years. Lawrence served on the board of the Sacramento Poetry Center, and he has hosted dozens of Sacramento poetry events at both Mahogany Urban Poetry and Luna’s Café. Lawrence published Open Mic Sketchbook and And It Is Beautiful with little m press, and his selected poems, Warrior Poet, was published by Random Lane Press in 2019.
Giovanna Lomanto is a Pushcart Prize-nominated poet and dog costume contest judge (ask her about it), who has published 3 poetry collections, 2 chapbooks, and an art book with various small presses. A recent MFA graduate from NYU, she currently serves as the co-publisher of the indie press Game Over Books and the lead curator of LitQuake’s QTBIPOC event series. Her work can be found in the SFMOMA, KQED, and the bookshelves of her friend’s homes.
Rebecca Lee Whiting has published her poetry in many independent literary magazines and presses including Prometheus Dreaming, Colossus: Freedom, and Colossus:Body.. She has served as an editor for Colossus Press, an Oakland-based literary nonprofit press that funds good works with good art. Rebecca studied creative writing at Bennington College and has a BA from Yale, an MA from the Courtauld, and a JD from UC Berkeley. A Los Angeles native, these days she splits her time between Sea Ranch and San Francisco with her partner and their goldendoodle, Justice.
Bob Stanley has published two books from CW Press, Miracle Shine (2012), and Language Barrier (2024). He has organized poetry events in Northern California for over 40 years, and he served as Sacramento’s fifth Poet Laureate from 2009 to 2012. With his wife Joyce Hsiao, Bob leads online poetry classes and manages Random Lane Press, a small publisher, from their home in Sacramento.
Mike Shea, bass, has played in numerous jazz groups over the years, including a duo with vocalist Michelle Abby, and both a trio and a quintet featuring vocalist Mike Biber. Mr. Shea has performed with poets Lawrence Dinkins and Bob Stanley at the Sacramento Poetry Center, and he played bass in the group that provided accompaniment for a 12-hour performance of Homer’s Iliad at Grace Cathedral in 2023.
The Ina Coolbrith Circle was founded in 1919 by Ina Coolbrith, California’s first Poet Laureate. Today, over 200 ICC members continue to nurture the poetry and history of the Golden State. www.coolpoetry.org
Colossus Press publishes anthologies and organizes events to help fund nonprofits that work for social justice. Colossus’s goal is to create a space to gather in the spirit of resistance to “call out cruelty and support concrete change.” colossuspress.org
Albion Hall is an historic Mission District building known as Equality Hall when it served as a headquarters for the Socialist Party in 1908. From 1912 to 1966 the hall was headquarters for the International Longshoreman’s Association and the Workmen’s Educational Association. This is the first poetry event held at this venerable San Francisco home.
Poetry at Albion is hosted by Leslie Lai and Rebecca Lee Whiting.

NSAA @ Mahogany Urban Poetry Series
2024-08-28 19:00 - 22:00 | Our Place, 1107 Firehouse Alley, Sacramento, CA, 95814, United States
Come join us for an evening of powerful spoken word performances at Our Place! The Mahogany Urban Poetry Series showcases talented poets from diverse backgrounds, sharing their unique perspectives and stories through the art of poetry. Whether you’re a poetry enthusiast or just looking for a night of inspiration, this event is sure to captivate you. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to experience the beauty and raw emotion of urban poetry in person. We will have open mic for singers, comedians, poets, and more.
Plus we will be featuring two of the Mahogany veterans: Khiry Malik and NSAA on the same stage for the first time in 5 years….you don’t want to miss this!! See you there!

Bob Stanley & NSAA @ Sacramento Poetry Center
2024-06-24 19:30 - 22:00 | Sacramento Poetry Center, 1719 25th Street, Sacramento, CA, 95618, United States

Sacramento Poet Laureate Emeritus Bob Stanley reads with Autumn Newman and Lawrence Dinkins
2024-06-20 19:00 - 22:00 | John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st St, Davis, CA, 95616, United States
Dear Friends of Poetry,
The Poetry Night Reading Series is excited to feature an evening with Sacramento poet laureate Bob Stanley at 7 PM on Thursday, June 20th, 2024, on the first floor of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis. On the release of his new book, Language Barrier, Bob Stanley will be reading with Sacramento poets Autumn Newman and, a fan favorite, Lawrence Dinkins.
Bob Stanley studied poetry at Caltech and UCLA, and taught English and Creative Writing at Solano College, Sac City College, and Sacramento State University before retiring in 2021. President of Sacramento Poetry Center for a record 12 years, Bob has organized hundreds of poetry events, and he served as Sacramento Poet Laureate from 2009 to 2012. He has edited two anthologies: Late Peaches (2013), and Sometimes in the Open (2009). Bob’s poetry collections include Walt Whitman Orders a Cheeseburger (Rattlesnake Press, 2009), Eleven Blue Strings (little m press, 2012), Miracle Shine (CW Books, 2013) and the e-chapbook November Sun (Random Lane Press, 2022). Bob lives in Sacramento with his wife, Joyce Hsiao, and they run online poetry seminars that help support small nonprofits. Bob’s newest collection of poems, Language Barrier, has just been published by CW Books in June 2024.
Autumn Newman will be returning to Davis to open for Bob Stanley. Newman writes poetry and book reviews. Her work has appeared, or is forthcoming, in many journals including Pleiades, Cider Press Review, and River Heron Review, and she has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her chapbook, A Flower Burst Open, is forthcoming from Finishing Line Press in 2025. She received her BA from CSU Sacramento and her MFA in poetry from Stonecoast, and served as a Scansion Assistant for Annie Finch’s book How To Scan a Poem. Most recently she has invented the 0/30 poetry challenge so that poets with disabilities and other limitations can grow as writers without hurting their bodies or damaging their mental health. You can find Autumn on Instagram where she discusses poetry: @autumnnewman36 and on her blog where she discusses life with disability: disabled-poet.com.
The Poetry Night Reading Series is thrilled to welcome back Lawrence Dinkins for this event. NSAA (Lawrence Dinkins, Jr.) was born in Detroit, Michigan. After coming to Sacramento, he studied writing at Sacramento City College, and he has been writing poetry for nearly twenty years. Lawrence has served on the board of the Sacramento Poetry Center, and he has hosted monthly poetry events at both Mahogany Urban Poetry and Luna’s Café. Lawrence has published three collections with little m press, and his new and selected poems, Warrior Poet, was published by Random Lane Press.
This event will take place on the first floor of the John Natsoulas Gallery (521 1st Street in Davis) at 7 PM on Thursday, June 20th, 2024. An open mic will follow the featured performers. Open mic performances will be limited to four 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. There’s a good chance that creative luminary Chris Erickson may perform at the open mic this week.
Find the Facebook event for this much anticipated evening of all-star poets at https://www.facebook.com/events/819719153633825/
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 made possible by Katerina Hanks, producer of The Poetry Night Reading Series, with support from Helaina Flores and Cami Rothmuller.
Find out more about the Poetry Night Reading Series in Davis, California by visiting https://www.poetryindavis.com. Invite your friends to sign up for the mailing list. To learn more about Dr. Andy’s tiny media fiefdom, check out his weekly podcast at https://poetrytechnology.buzzsprout.com/.
Future readers will include Julia Connor, Katie Peterson, Clarence Major, and other favorites.
The Poetry Night Reading Series has been committed to serving the literary and arts community in the city of Davis since 2006. Happening every 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month at the Natsoulas Gallery, each reading contains two featured poets followed by an open mic. Poetry in Davis was voted “Best Open Mic” in The California Aggie’s “Best of Davis″ edition and has been featured in Davis Life Magazine. The more than 375 featured poets have included UC Davis faculty Francisco X. Alarcón, John Boe, Zinzi Clemmons, Joshua Clover, Jack Forbes, Sandra Gilbert, Laurie Glover, Brad Henderson, Pamela Houston, Andy Jones, Clarence Major, Sandra McPherson, Maceo Montoya, Katie Peterson, Kim Stanley Robinson, Margaret Ronda, Joe Wenderoth, and Alan Williamson, as well as many regional and traveling poets, including Molly Peacock, Jane Hirshfield, Dana Gioia, and James Ragan.
Follow us:
Twitter- @poetryindavis
Instagram- @davispoetrynight
Facebook: Poetry in Davis
Bob’s new book is out Language Barrier, click image.
