
Sally Ashton
Sally Ashton and Rafaella Del Bourgo
14 SEPTEMBER 2025 — sunday
Poetry Flash presents a reading featuring Rafaella Del Bourgo, launching her new book, A Tune Both Familiar and Strange, poems, and Sally Ashton, Listening to Mars, Art House Gallery & Cultural Center, 2905 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, two blocks north of Ashby BART, refreshments, free, 3:00 pm (poetryflash.org).
Thank you for continuing to support Poetry Flash and our reading series. The featured books will be available for signing at the event and at bookshop.org/shop/poetryflash. This event will be posted on the Poetry Flash YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UClwdR-uPFNz7XxbBbLcnoEA.
MORE ABOUT THE READERS
Sally Ashton's fifth book is Listening to Mars. Holly Iglesias says, "Listening is the quietest of talents, and the most fruitful. In this moving collection, Sally Ashton brings to readers what she heard as time and space had their way with us during the early years of the pandemic. In these poems, she creates Einsteinian thought experiments, tools for understanding and enduring the grief and beauty of a world where 'nothing stands still.' Loss and wonder, dread and awe gyrate throughout the book, spinning like heavenly bodies, the poet equally rigorous and tender in her search for 'words that make the world look like what it feels like.' Ashton reveres the mysterious movement of the world and offers it as a comfort: 'While Earth kept turning, gravity held us close.'" Her poem "4.6 Billion Years" is now archived on the Moon as part of the Lunar Codex project. A book of personal essays exploring a personal practice and the race to space, Going to the Moon, is forthcoming from Duke University Press. Former Santa Clara County Poet Laureate, Sally Ashton is also Editor-in-Chief of DMQ Review, an online journal featuring prose poetry and art. Now Faculty Emerita, she taught writing at San José State University and continues to teach workshops locally and online.
Rafaella Del Bourgo's brand new full-length collection launching at this event is A Tune Both Familiar and Strange, winner of the Terry J. Cox Award. Lynne Knight says, "These poems take us to places as far flung as Tasmania or Afghanistan, Israel or Iceland, letting us see across time and space into the lives of others, but also into the love and loss of Del Bourgo's own life. The strange becomes familiar as she braids her narratives with images so precise they seem cinematic. Whether elegies, love poems, or lyrics of wild imagining, these poems are marked by tenderness and compassion, even when the difficult or brutal is acknowledged." Rafaella Del Bourgo's honors include the League of Minnesota Poets Prize, Grandmother Earth Poetry Award, Paumanok Poetry Prize, Northern Colorado Writers Prize for Poetry, New Millennium Prize for Poetry, Mudfish Poetry Prize, and the 2025 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Award. She has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize three times. Her previous chapbook is Inexplicable Business: Poems Domestic and Wild. Her writings have has appeared in magazines and journals including Puerto Del Sol, Rattle, Oberon, Nimrod, and The Bitter Oleander. She lives in Berkeley.


Daily Listings
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7 AUGUST 2025 — thursday
- Poetry Night Reading Series presents poet and translator Keith Ekiss, Burial Fragments, winner of the Barry Spacks Poetry Prize, and poet Robin Ekiss, with host Dr. Andy Jones, air-conditioned venue, John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street, Davis, 7:00 (www.poetryindavis.com)
- Skylight Books welcomes Rachel Eve Moulton to read from and discuss her horror novel, Tantrum, in conversation with Kashana Cauley, an exhausted mother thinks her newborn might be a monster, Skylight Books, 1818 N. Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles, free, 7:00 (www.skylightbooks.com/event)
8 AUGUST 2025 — friday
- Skylight Books presents Trivia Night with Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings, The Complete Kennections, his first new trivia book in more than a decade, Skylight Books, 1818 N. Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles, free, 7:00 (www.skylightbooks.com/event)
9 AUGUST 2025 — saturday
- Sacramento Poetry Alliance presents a poetry reading by Susan Cohen and Jeanne Wagner, One Needful Song, winner of the Catamaran Poetry Prize, open mic follows, 1169 Perkins Way, Sacramento, refreshments, 4:00 (see Sacramento Poetry Alliance on Facebook)
- North Bay Letterpress Arts presents An Afternoon of Poetry, with Brenda Hillman, In a Few Minutes Before Later, and Norma Cole, Alibi Lullaby, handset letterpress broadsides of work by the poets wil be printed for the occasion and available with a donation to NBLA, North Bay Letterpress Arts, 925-D Gravenstein Hwy. S., Sebastopol, light refreshments, free, 4:00 to 5:30 (RSVP suggested: www.northbayletterpressarts.org/upcoming-events-1/2025/8/9?mc_cid=8c4eb62517&mc_eid=c91c6d51fb)
- Sonoma County Fair presents "Poetry Share at the Fair"; come hear poets read their original poems entered into the Sonoma County Fair competition, E.C. Center Craft Building, Sonoma County Fairgrounds, 1350 Bennett Valley Road, Santa Rosa, 1:00 (sonomacountyfair.com)
- Willits Community Theatre presents a poetry experience with The Word-Music Continuum, "a unique performance ensemble uniting music with the spoken word," with Mendocino County poet Kirk Lumpkin, and Bay Area musicians Paul Mills on electric Guitar and Mark Wieder on electric and double bass, celebrating the release of their new CD, Wildflowers of Collaboration; an open mic will follow the featured performance, Willits Community Theatre Playhouse, 37 W. Van Lane, Willits, admission by donation but no one turned away for lack of funds, 7:00
10 AUGUST 2025 — sunday
- Poetry reading by poet and translator Alan Bernheimer, From Nature, and poet, editor, and librarian Jacob Kahnon, Mine Eclogue, presented in a private home in Berkeley, $10 donation, 5:00 (Registration required, email event host at: Harry@fullplatemedia.com)
- The 222 in Healdsburg presents David Seter, Sonoma County Poet Laureate, leading a generative writing workshop on Zoka Nature Writing, "Zoka" is the Japanese term for the transformative power of nature, seek out and discover overlooked natural objects in Healdsburg Plaza; participants will draft poems or pieces of short prose describing the nature subjects they find, The 222, located at 222 Healdsburg Avenue, 3:00-5:00 (Registration required, (the222.org/product/dave-seter)
11 AUGUST 2025 — monday
- Skylight Books welcomes Aisha Muharrar to read from and discuss her new novel, Loved One, with Laura Warrall, a funny, wise, heartbreaking story about a woman journeying into the unknown in the wake of sudden loss, Skylight Books, 1818 N. Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles, free, 7:00 (www.skylightbooks.com/event)
12 AUGUST 2025 — tuesday
- Skylight Books welcomes Rax King to discuss her new book of personal essays unpacking bad behavior, Sloppy: Or, Doing It All Wrong, Skylight Books, 1818 N. Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles, free, 7:00 (www.skylightbooks.com/event)
13 AUGUST 2025 — wednesday
14 AUGUST 2025 — thursday
- San Francisco Poet Laureate emerita Kim Shuck presents a poetry reading by Jennifer Hasegawa, Norma Cole, and Mary Burger, Poem Jam takes place on the second Thursday of each month unless otherwise noted, San Francisco Main Public Library, Latino/Hispanic Room, 100 Larkin Street, San Francisco, free, 6:00 (415/557-4400, on.sfpl.org/08-14-25)
15 AUGUST 2025 — friday
- California Poets in the Schools presents their annual Statewide Poetry Symposium, "The Future We Speak," a three-day event, Day 1 begins with Registration and a light dinner, 5:30, and an evening program with poet Fernando Albert Salinas at 7:15, both at San Benito Arts Council; this workshop is designed to bring together longtime members of the CalPoets network and new voices, offering a space to connect, collaborate, and spark creativity, Fernando Albert Salinas is an award-winning educator teaching poetry workshops to K-12 students and incarcerated youth, and is the California Poets in the Schools Program Manager; he is well-known for his leadership as an arts activist throughout California, especially in Ventura County, held at San Benito Arts Council, 35 5th Street, Hollister; participate in the entire Symposium or in individual events; Registration and Dinner 5:30-7:00, Evening Program 7:15-8:30 (Registration:www.cpits.org/events/full-event-the-future-we-speak-calpoets-symposium-2025)
- Skylight Books welcomes Lio Min to read from and discuss her new immersive novel, The L.O.V.E. Club, following three estranged high schoolers who are pulled into a video game to pursue the disappearance of their friend, with Clare Osongco, Skylight Books, 1818 N. Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles, free, 7:00 (www.skylightbooks.com/event)
16 AUGUST 2025 — saturday
- California Poets in the Schools presents their annual Statewide Poetry Symposium, "The Future We Speak," a three-day event, Day 2 begins with breakfast; 9:30 am: Rosanna Alvarez presents "The Creative Pulse: Poetry, Expression & Possibility in Community"; 11:30 am: Kim Addonizio presents "Poetry Reading & Book Signing"; 3:45 pm: Michael Jasso, "Set the Stage: an introduction in Bringing Spoken Word to the Classroom" and Nancy Lynée Woo, "Poetry of Resistance"; 5:00 pm: James Coats, "Performance Games: Teaching Performance through Play and Improv," Gia Civerolo, "Engaging in Erasure Poetry," earlier events held at San Benito Arts Council, 35 5th Street, Hollister; 7:00 pm–8:30 pm: Open Mic held at Hills Bookstore, 650 San Benito Street, Suite 140, downtown Hollister; participate in the entire Symposium or in individual events; All-day, events 8:30 am to 8:30 pm (Registration: https://www.cpits.org/events/full-event-the-future-we-speak-calpoets-symposium-2025; To register for Kim Addonizio Poetry Craft Workshop & Reading only: www.cpits.org/events/only-kim-addonizio-poetry-craft-workshop-reading)
17 AUGUST 2025 — sunday
- California Poets in the Schools presents their annual Statewide Poetry Symposium, "The Future We Speak," a three-day event, Day 3 begins 9:00 am–10:00 am with a community meeting and breakfast; 10:15 am–11:15 am: Amanda Chiado presents "Gratitude as Gateway," using gratitude as a springboard to creating new work and structuring student workshops; 11:15 am: Symposium Closing; San Benito Arts Council, 35 5th Street, Hollister; participate in the entire Symposium or in individual events; (Registration: www.cpits.org/events/full-event-the-future-we-speak-calpoets-symposium-2025)
18 AUGUST 2025 — monday
19 AUGUST 2025 — tuesday
20 AUGUST 2025 — wednesday
21 AUGUST 2025 — thursday
- Poetry Night Reading Series presents Rhony Bhopla and Mariam Ahmed, with host Dr. Andy Jones, air-conditioned venue, John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street, Davis, 7:00 (www.poetryindavis.com)
22 AUGUST 2025 — friday
23 AUGUST 2025 — saturday
- Fourth Saturdays: Poetry at the Claremont Library presents Raundi Moore-Kondo and Donna Spruijt-Metz, Claremont Helen Renwick Library, 208 N. Harvard Avenue, in the Claremont Village, Claremont, free, 2:00 (909/621-4902, www.claremontlibrary.org/monthly-poetry-readings.html)
24 AUGUST 2025 — sunday
25 AUGUST 2025 — monday
26 AUGUST 2025 — tuesday
27 AUGUST 2025 — wednesday
28 AUGUST 2025 — thursday
- Writers Read presents a featured reader, open mic follows, maximum time for each reader is six minutes, with emcee Michael Riedell, Grace Hudson Museum, 431 South Main Street, Ukiah, suggested donation $5, refreshments, featured reading 7:00, open mic 8:00 (For information, email: Michael Riedell, Innisfreeriedell@gmail.com)
29 AUGUST 2025 — friday
- Cleyvis Natera reads from and presents her new novel, The Grand Paloma Resort, joined in conversation by Ingrid Rojas Contreras, Mrs. Dalloway's Literary and Garden Arts, 2904 College Avenue, Berkeley, free admission, 7:00 (510/704-8222, www.mrsdalloways.com)
30 AUGUST 2025 — saturday
31 AUGUST 2025 — sunday
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