
Books Inc. in Alameda is launching a new reading venue, on Thursday evening June 4th at 7:30 p.m. Organized by Sue Levy, there will be three featured readers, two special guests, including City of Alameda poet laureate Mary Rudge, and "instant critiques" offered to those who bring in a poem for feedback by one of the featured poets.
Jannie M. Dresser, Julia Park Tracey, and Dan Brodnitz, will each read for 15 minutes, with shorter readings to follow by Rudge and Jeanne Lupton, the coordinator of the 2nd Saturday Readings at the Frank Bette Center for the Arts in Alameda. Afterwards, those who choose to do so can have a poem critiqued by one of the featured readers, in a private "Sneak Critique" session.
Jannie M. Dresser is a co-founder and publisher of the Bay Area Poets Seasonal Review, and writes this column. She teaches poetry writing in private workshops and adult school programs. Julia Park Tracey is the author of the recently released collection of poems, Amaryllis. She is a journalist and founding editor of the Alameda Sun newspaper. Dan Brodnitz is an Alameda poet who runs a poem-of-the-day mailing list. He is also interviewer-in-chief at About-Creativity.com where he talks with working artists about augmenting their creative process. 
Books Inc. is located at 1344 Park Street (the one in Alameda, that is, not Oakland), and can be reached at 510/522-2226, or at their website: www.booksinc.net. It is one of the oldest surviving independent booksellers in the Western United States.