Anything but Silent–A Book Celebration of Dario Beniquez’s Zone of Silence with Special Guest Readers Robert Allen & Jonathan Fletcher

Friday, July 8th, in-person at Gemini Ink, 1111 Navarro Street
6:30pm-8pm, CST.
Free and open to the public

Join us as we celebrate the release of Dario Beniquez’s debut poetry collection Zone of Silence (Flowersong, 2021) with a reception and reading. Dario has served our writing arts community in San Antonio and beyond for more than 23 years as a volunteer facilitator for Gemini Ink’s Open Writers’ Lab and more. We are excited to honor him and his work of heart, which takes on our complex times with poems that “confront the angst of contemporary life, space, war, theology, antibodies, economics, and love.” 

Dario’s verses move readers through historical events, military experience, and the perils of PTSD. His poems have been described by reviewers as “anything but silent ” and able to “mirror current surreal experiences that test and taunt the reality of human life.” We are thrilled to be paying tribute to the breadth of Dario’s poems and to this new collection of his work! 

He will be joined by Open Writer’s Lab co-facilitator, Robert Allen, and special guest poet Johnathan Fletcher. 

Don’t miss this evening of poetry and literary community at Gemini Ink!

About the Authors

Dario R. Beniquez is a San Antonio poet and veteran. He is a graduate of Pratt Institute and has an MFA from Pacific University in Oregon. He’s been published in Red Palm Poetry Magazine, The Caribbean Writer, Rio Grande Review, Voices de la Luna, and elsewhere. His poetry collection, Zone of Silence, is available from FlowerSong Press.

Robert Allen received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from the University of Texas at Austin, where he studied poetry under David Wevill. Allen has been active in local writers’ groups and open mics including the Sun Poets Society. He’s been published in The Ocotillo Review, the Texas Poetry Calendar, Texas Poetry Assignment, Voices de la Luna, di-verse-city, the San Antonio Express-News, and Poetry on the Move. In 2006, he started attending Gemini Ink’s free Monday night writing classes and has attended regularly ever since. He now co-facilitates Gemini Ink’s Open Writer’s Lab.

Originally from San Antonio, Texas, Jonathan Fletcher currently resides in New York City, where he is pursuing a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing in Poetry at Columbia University’s School of the Arts.  He has been published in Arts Alive San Antonio; FlowerSong Press; Lone Stars; University of Texas Rio Grande Valley’s Literary Magazine, riverSedge; Our Lady of the Lake University’s literary journal, The Thing Itself; TEJASCOVIDO; and Voices de la Luna.  His work has also been featured at the Briscoe Western Art Museum.