Open mic poetry series hosted by Jennifer Maloney. This month features Rachel McKibbens and George Purdy. The event takes place at Nox Cocktail Lounge

Born in Rochester NY the year the music died, David Purdy grew up in the suburb of Henrietta. He married Jo Ann and they had one child together, Alice.  They moved to Sacramento, CA in 1986. David and Jo Ann stayed married until she died, suddenly, in 2006.    

He had many jobs before going to college including: Warehouse-man, Commercial Truck Driver, Production Manager, Software Analyst, Painter, and Restaurateur.

Starting in 1999, David completed three college degrees, Paralegal Studies, an English B.A., and a Creative Writing M.F.A.  He began publishing poems in California literary journals in 2000.  In 2004 he was poetry editor of “Calaveras Station,” the literary journal of California State University, where he worked, briefly, as an Associate Professor of English. David currently lives in Brockport, NY, in an apartment overlooking the Erie Canal. Since 2016, he has been in a committed, and shockingly exciting relationship, with Master Gardener, Masseuse, and reluctant Poet, Monica Beck.

Poet, activist, playwright and essayist Rachel McKibbens is the author of several poetry collections including Into the Dark & Emptying Field (2013) and Pink Elephant (2009). A well-known member of the poetry slam community, she is a nine-time National Poetry Slam team member, appearing on eight NPS final stages, and coaching the New York louderARTS poetry slam team to three consecutive final stage appearances. She also was the 2009 Women of the World Poetry Slam champion and the 2011 National Underground Poetry Slam individual champion. McKibbens appeared on two seasons of Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry Jam and featured in the poetry slam documentary Slam Planet in 2006 at SXSW. In 2011 The Getty Center in Los Angeles commissioned her to write and perform an ekphrastic poem for their multi-media poetry event Dark Blushing.