Poetry Night Reading Series: André Naffis-Sahely with Natachi Mez

The Poetry Night Reading Series is excited to feature André Naffis-Sahely with Natachi Mez at 7 PM on Thursday, November 17th, 2022, on the fourth floor (indoors) of the John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street in Davis.

André Naffis-Sahely is the author of two collections of poetry, The Promised Land: Poems from Itinerant Life (Penguin UK, 2017) and High Desert (Bloodaxe Books, 2022), as well as the editor of The Heart of a Stranger: An Anthology of Exile Literature (Pushkin Press, 2020). He also co-edited Mick Imlah: Selected Prose (Peter Lang, 2015) and The Palm Beach Effect: Reflections on Michael Hofmann (CB Editions, 2013). He has translated over twenty titles of fiction, poetry and nonfiction, including works by Honoré de Balzac, Émile Zola, Abdellatif Laâbi, Ribka Sibhatu and Tahar Ben Jelloun. His writing appears regularly in the pages of the Times Literary Supplement and The Baffler and Poetry (Chicago), among others. A faculty member at the University of California, Davis, he is also the editor of Poetry London in the UK.

Natachi Mez is a Nigerian-American writer, performer, teaching artist, and emcee from the Sacramento area. Through improvisation, call & response, and collective breathing, Natachi facilitates dynamic experiences that deepen audience engagement and celebrate community voice. Natachi is a two-time finalist at the College Union Poetry Slam Invitational (CUPSI) and has featured at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, Oberlin College, as well as venues in Accra, Copenhagen, and Istanbul. Natachi has worked with youth communities and the incarcerated to engage writing and rapping as tools of empowerment. She has facilitated writing and performance workshops at Tufts University, Rutgers University, Rikers Island, and more. Natachi works as a business program manager, focusing on community building, communications, intercultural awareness, and design.

This event will take place indoors on the temperature-controlled fourth floor of the John Natsoulas Gallery (521 1st Street) at 7 PM on Thursday, November 17th, 2022. As with a costume party, masks will be worn by many of the attendees. There will be an open mic after the featured performers. Open mic performances will be limited to four minutes or two items, whichever is shorter. As the Bard says, “Brevity is the soul of wit.” The open mic list typically fills by 7 PM, so please arrive early if you would like to perform something during the 8 o’clock hour. Find out more about the Poetry Night Reading Series at poetryindavis.com.