Arlyn Rhea Bayan of Manteca is among the poets who will be reading their published poetry in the book, Song of the San Joaquin, Summer Issue.

The poetry reading will be held Saturday, Aug. 10 at 1 p.m. in the downstairs auditorium of the Stanislaus County Library located at 1500 I Street in Modesto.

The program will have the poets reading their own poetry, followed by an open mike. The public is invited to this free event. The reading is appropriate for all ages. Light refreshments will be served. The event is presented by the Poets of the San Joaquin, the Stanislaus County Library, and Friends of the Library.

Other readers will include Ed Bearden, former Poet Laureate of Modesto, Cleo Griffith of Salida, Taylor Graham of Placerville, Nancee Kinkaid Maya of Patterson, and Linda Gordon Sawyer of Waterford. Others are poets from Sacramento, Modesto, Citrus Heights, Carmel, Wawona, and Kenai, Alaska.

Poets, whose writings are included in the book, but are out of the area and are unable to attend will have their readings read by members of the editorial board.

Rose Albano Risso of Manteca was among the poets featured in the Song of the San Joaquin, 2012 Fall Issue.

Song of the San Joaquin Quarterly, the Poetry Magazine for the San Joaquin Valley, is now accepting poetry for the Fall Issue through Sep. 15. Send three poems to cleor36@yahoo.com (the preferred method), or to P.O. Box 1161, Modesto, CA 95353-1161. For guidelines and more information, call (209) 543-1776.

“We love poems about human nature, character studies, poetry of more general and/or more universal subjects and those that resonate specifically with our local lifestyles,” said Cleo Griffith, chair of the editorial board of Song of the San Joaquin.

Submissions are judged by a six-person editorial board on a “blind” basis – i.e., with no poet’s name attached, and individually by each editor, then votes are tallied at a board meeting.