Taylor Graham, Katy Brown and D. R. Wagner
Monday, Dec. 19, 2011 at 7:30 PM
1719 25th Street
Host: Bob Stanley
Born Judith Ann Taylor in Pasadena in 1944, Judy was raised by her doctor father and nurse mother in Sierra Madre and later Newhall, California. She first realized her interest in poetry and literature when introduced to Shakespeare in her 10th grade English class at Wm S. Hart High School in Newhall. She majored in German with a French minor at Cal Lutheran College in Thousand Oaks, then went to USC for a master’s in comparative literature. She spent a year in the Fulbright Program at Freiburg, Germany and returned to USC as a Woodrow Wilson scholar. She also worked on a newspaper as a reporter and photographer. She left school and married Hatch in 1972 and they set off for his Forest Service tour in Alaska.
Writing under the name Taylor Graham, Judy has had thousands of poems printed in poetry magazines, journals, newspapers, and anthologies, and a number of books of poetry. She is very proud of her inclusion in the anthology California Poetry: from the Gold Rush to the present. Judy is active in two local poetry groups,Tuesday@Two and Red Fox Underground.
D.R. Wagner is the author of over 20 books and chapbooks of poetry and letters. He founded press : today : Niagara and Runcible Spoon (press) in the late 1960’s and produced over fifty magazines and chapbooks. His work is much published and has appeared in many translations. He is also a visual artist, producing miniature needle-made tapestries that have been exhibited internationally and are included in numerous publications. He is, further, a professional musician, working as a singer-songwriter and playing guitar and keyboards. He has taught Design at the University of California at Davis for almost twenty years. He resides in Sacramento, California.
Katy Brown has won many awards for her poetry from organizations such as the Ina Coolbrith Circle, Berkeley Poets Dinner, and California Chaparral Poets. Her poems have been published in numerous journals, and her workbook Poetry Potions was used in schools for many years. Katy, who lives in Davis, recently retired from a career in Social Work, and is already busy volunteering.
