April 20, 2017: Poetry Café Bellas Artes

Three Poets to Headline Final Spring Café

By Maia Williams

Poets Gregory Ellis, Judith Jenya, and Dan Siegel will headline Poetry Café Bellas Artes on Thursday, April 20, beginning at 5:00 PM. Join these multi-faceted creatives for what will be another memorable celebration of poetry.

Gregory Ellis has loved reading and writing poetry since he was a young teenager. He graduated from the University of Texas in Austin with a Bachelor of Science degree in Petroleum Engineering, and a Masters Degree in Clinical Psychology from Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, California.

Gregory holds a black belt in the martial art, Aikido, and is an accomplished painter and sculptor who lives and works in San Miguel de Allende.

Judith Jenya is a painter, photographer and poet. Her bilingual book of poetry, Aromas de Dos Pueblos was published in Mexico in 2014. She has been published in Solamente en San Miguel – vol II, in Hamilton Stone Review, and in many newspapers and magazines including AARP, Time, and Today.

Judith has made San Miguel her home since 2006 and lives with her husband, Mark Johaningsmeir, whom she met in Guanajuato at an exhibit of her paintings.

Judith has been an advocate for women and children all her life as an attorney, humanitarian, educator and therapist. She has worked in Hawaii, California, Bosnia, Kosovo, Jordan and N. Ireland. In 2002, Judith was named “International Humanist of the Year in Europe,” received the “Temple Award for Creative Altruism” in 2001, and named a “Giraffe-Hero” in 2001. She speaks and gives readings in the U.S. and Mexico.

Dan Siegel has been a researcher, writer, changemaker and social entrepreneur across the worlds of U.S. foreign policy, civil society development in Eastern Europe, youth leadership & philanthropic change. He is the author and co-editor of several books and studies, and blogs on politics, cinema and society at the Huffington Post. With his wife Jenny, Dan has consulted to various NGOs, refugee relief efforts, college study abroad programs and foundations in the U.S. and around the world.

Dan is now Navigator of Purpose & Prose for GoodWorld Journeys, which organizes craft and conversation Salons on storytelling, memoir, music, poetry and purposeful living on the Greek isle of Patmos and the Scottish isle of Iona.

Dan’s passion is listening to poetic singer-songwriters (Leonard Cohen is his spirit animal), which has nudged him toward claiming to be a poet (aided by the beauty of San Miguel and other sacred landscapes).

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Founded in January of 2016, Poetry Café Bellas Artes meets monthly, September through April. The all-volunteer community organization features local and visiting poets (established and emerging) sharing original work in a casual setting.

Please arrive a few minutes early. Seating is first come, first seated.