Maybe you think community college is just a place to hang out for a couple of years while you train for a career or gather enough credits to transfer to a four-year school. What you may not know – but will if you come to our reading on Friday September 30 – is that the Los Rios Community Colleges are a rich incubator for literary talent. Writers of fiction, non-fiction and poetry, have found the four Los Rios campuses to be a treasure trove of first-rate writers and teaching talent as well as home to four beautifully produced, national-award-winning literary magazines. For many writers, publication in one of these journals is the first time their work appears in print. In our first collaboration with the community colleges, we are thrilled to present a selection the best fiction from the recent issues of the prize-winning literary magazines of the Los Rios District – Sacramento City College (Susurrus,) American River College (American River Review,) Cosumnes River College (Cosumnes River Journal,) and Folsom Lake College (the machine.)
Fiction from John Adkisson, Bojana Anglin, Rachel Gardner and Molly Stuart
Readings by Jessica Laskey and Pano Roditis
Friday, September 30
Stories on Stage Sacramento
at Verge Center for the Arts, 625 S Street, Sacramento
Doors open at 7PM, Readings begin at 7:30.
A $10 donation is suggested ($5 for students with i.d.)
Thanks to volunteer extrordinaire Laurie Rivlin Heller for coordinating the selection of stories with the faculty advisors to these publications – Josh Fernandez (the machine,) Marci Selva (Susurrus,) Michael Spurgeon (American River Review,) and Heather Hutcheson (Cosumnes River Journal.) Thanks for all your hard work, and we hope this is the first of many collaborations to come.
About our writers:
Bojana (Bonnie) Anglin – Cosumnes River Journal
When she isn’t botanizing in the wilderness of the Western United States, Bojana Anglin lives in Sacramento with her husband and just-born baby boy. Alaska inspired her more than any other landscape in which she’s lived or travelled. She dreams of returning with her son, when he is old enough to appreciate the journey.
John Adkisson – Susurrus
John Adkisson is a retired Sacramento civil rights attorney, lecturer and political consultant. He began writing short fiction last year. He has studied the short story craft with writers Jodi Angel, Stacey Swann & Rusty Dolleman. His first four submitted pieces were published in 2016: “As American as Apple Pie,” “The Hill,” “How She Presented Herself,” and the piece chosen for this stage presentation, “How to Learn to Wrap for Christmas.” John is currently preparing a short story collection. He is married to Anne Stausboll and is the father of two
Rachel Gardner – American River Review
Rachel Gardner has been published in nearly every edition of the American River Review since 2009. She recently graduated with 3 AA’s and a publishing certificate. She lives and writes in East Sacramento.
Molly Stuart – the machine
Molly Stuart is a lawyer by training and works with organizations and individuals moving through significant change-including business development for artists and Conversations About Death, a program that helps people consider their own dying. She has been a hospital volunteer for over 30 years in the Emergency Department and the ICU. She lives in Sacramento.
Our readers:
Jessica Laskey is happy to be back in her hometown after spending 2014-5 in Paris while 
her playwright husband, p joshua laskey, earned his Masters’ Degree in Translation. As an Equity actress, Jessica’s favorite roles include Sally Bowles in Cabaret (UC Berkeley), Mae in Reefer Madness (Artistic Differences), Jenny in Threepenny Opera (California Stage) and several productions with the Sacramento Theatre Company. Jessica is also a freelance writer for Inside Publications—for which she wrote the newly released book, Inside Sacramento: The Most Interesting Neighborhood Places in America’s Farm-to-Fork Capital—as well as for Sacramento Magazine and The Sacramento Bee.
Pano Roditis is a Theatre and Computer Science double major currently attending California State University Sacramento. He has appeared in the CSUS productions of Avenue Q as “Trekkie Monster,” played multiple roles as member of the ensemble in The Producers, and will appear as Nathan Detroit in their upcoming production of Guys and Dolls.
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