Co-sponsored by PSSC, Lowcountry Initiative for the Literary Arts (LILA), and Charleston County Public Library.
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All readings are held monthly on the fourth Tuesday, at 7:00 p.m., in in downtown Charleston at:
Circular Congregational Church
Lower Lance Hall
150 Meeting Street
Readings are free and open to the public.
January 26, at Circular Church
John Allman, Al Maginnes, and Diana Pinckney
John Allman's seventh collection,
Lowcountry, was published in 2007 by New Directions, and joins
Walking Four Ways in the Wind, Clio's Children, Scenarios for a Mixed Landscape, Curve Away from Stillness: Science Poems, and
Inhabited World: New & Selected Poems 1970-1995. He has received a Pushcart Prize, two NEA fellowships, and the Helen Bullis Prize from Poetry Northwest.
Al Maginnes is the author of six collections of poetry, most recently
Ghost Alphabet, which won the 2007 White Pine Poetry Prize and was published in October of 2008;
Dry Glass Blues (Pudding House Publications, 2007), a single long poem published as a chapbook; and
Film History (Word Tech Editions, 2005). He lives with his family in Raleigh, NC and teaches at Wake Technical Community College.
Diana Pinckney has published poetry and prose in
Atlanta Review, Calyx, Main Street Rag, and
Cave Wall. She has published three books,
White Linen, Alchemy, and
Fishing with Tall Women, which won PSSC's Kinloch Rivers Chapbook Competition and the Persephone Press Book Award. She has taught in the Queens University Center for Lifelong Learning and the Cornwell Center.
February 23, at Circular Church
Linda Annas Ferguson, Michael Lythgoe, and Scott Owens
Greenwood, SC native
Scott Owens, author of five collections of poetry and the weekly column
Musings, is editor of
Wild Goose Poetry Review, founder of
Poetry Hickory, and Vice President of the Poetry Council of NC. He has received awards from the Academy of American Poets and NC Poetry Society, and Special Mention by the 2009 Pushcart Prize. He teaches at Catawba Valley Community College.
Linda Annas Ferguson is the author of five collections of poetry. Her newest book,
Dirt Sandwich, is forthcoming from Press 53. She was the 2005 Poetry Fellow for the SC Arts Commission and was 2003-04 Poet-in-Residence at the Gibbes Museum of Art. A recipient of the Poetry Fellowship of the SC Academy of Authors, she is a member of the Academy’s Board of Governors. Her work is archived by Furman University Special Collections in the James B. Duke Library.
Michael H. Lythgoe’s chapbook,
Brass, won the PSSC Kinloch Rivers contest in 2006. He is an Indiana native now living in Aiken, South Carolina. As a retired Air Force officer, Mike has lived in Saigon, Izmir, Turkey, Madrid, Spain, and London. He taught at Syracuse University and worked at the Smithsonian in D.C. He has an MFA from Bennington College.
March 23, at Circular Church
Phebe Davidson, Ron Moran, and Nancy Taylor
Phebe Davidson is Reviews Editor of
Yemassee, a writer for
The Asheville Poetry Review, and on the SC Academy of Authors Board of governors. Her most recent books of poems are
Fat Moon Rising (Main Street Rag, 2008) and
The Surface of Things (David Robert Books, 2009). A new chapbook,
Seven Mile, is forthcoming from Main Street Rag. She lives in Westminster, SC.
Ron Moran lives in Simpsonville. Educated at Colby College and LSU, he retired from Clemson University as professor/dean. Moran has published ten collections of poetry, most recently
The Blurring of Time (2007) by Clemson University Digital Press, two books of criticism, and hundreds of poems, essays, and reviews in journals including
Commonweal, Northwest Review, Southern Review, and
Tar River Poetry.
Nancy Dew Taylor’s short stories and poems have appeared in
The South Carolina Review, Appalachian Journal,Tar River Poetry and
A Millennial Sampler of South Carolina Poetry. In 2008 she was named honorable mention in the Rita Dove Poetry Award by the Salem College Center for Women Writers, and Emrys Press published her chapbook,
Stepping on Air. A native of Lake City, she now lives in Greenville, SC.
April 27
Laurel Blossom, Maureen Sherbondy, and Margaret Baddour
Margaret Boothe Baddour is the author of
Scheherazade and
Easy Magic (St. Andrews Press). She has won the Fortner Writer and Community Award, and the NC Poet Laureate Award. She holds the Bell Distinguished Chair in Teaching at Wayne Community College, specializing in Humanities, Creative Writing, and Drama.
Laurel Blossom is the author of
Degrees of Latitude(Four Way Books, 2007) as well as
Wednesday: New and Selected Poems, The Papers Said, What’s Wrong, and
Any Minute. Blossom’s awards include fellowships from Ohio Arts Council, New York Foundation for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Maureen Sherbondy's poetry has appeared in
Calyx, Feminist Studies, Roanoke Review, 13th Moon, and other journals. Her two chapbooks are
After the Fairy Tale and
Praying at Coffee Shops, both published by Main Street Rag Publishing Company. Her debut short story collection,
The Slow Vanishing, will be released in September, 2009. Maureen lives in Raleigh, NC.
May 18
Jessie Carty, Tim Peeler, and Joe Zealberg
Jessie Carty's poems have appeared, or will be appearing, in publications such as
Margie, Iodine Poetry Journal, and
Georgetown Review. Her first chapbook,
At the A & P Meridiem, was released in 2009 by Puddinghouse Publications. She is the Founding Editor of Folded Word Press and
Shape of a Box, YouTube’s first literary magazine.
Tim Peeler, winner of the Jim Harrison Award for baseball literature, has published four books of poetry, three regional baseball histories, and along with Carter Monroe and Robert Canipe, a book of short fiction and essays. His poems have been anthologized by Time/Life Books and used in an HBO documentary. He is the director of the Learning Assistance Program at Catawba Valley Community College in Hickory, NC.
Joe Zealberg’s was born in Fort Knox, Kentucky and raised in Philadelphia. He is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, MUSC, and in private practice, having served with the National Health Service in Appalachia. A late-comer to poetry, he has studied with Richard Garcia for five years, published in the online journal
Qarrttsiluni, and gave his debut reading last year.
June 29
Willie James King, Richard Krawiec, and Shelby Stephenson
Willie James King lives and writes in Montgomery, AL. He’s been nominated for four Pushcart Prizes. His poems appear in
Mudfish, Pembroke Magazine, Rattle, Southern Poetry Review, Wallace Stevens Journal, Willow Review, and many others. His latest book,
The House in the Heart, is from Tebot Bach Press, foreword by Cathy-Smith Bowers. He holds an M.F.A. from Queens University.
Richard Krawiec has published two novels, a collection of short stories, a book of poetry, four plays, and numerous stories, poems, essays, and feature articles. He has won fellowships from the NEA and the NC Arts Council. He teaches writing in homeless shelters, literacy classes, housing projects, and received the Excellence in Teaching Award from UNC for his work in the Carolina Courses Online program.
Shelby Stephenson is professor of English at UNC-Pembroke, where he has edited Pembroke Magazine since 1979. He has two collections,
Fiddledeedee and
Plankhouse, and seven chapbooks:
Middle Creek Poems, Carolina Shout!, Finch’s Mash, The Persimmon Tree Carol, Poor People, Greatest Hits, and
Possum. With his wife Linda he has made three musical CDs.
September 28
Lavonne Adams, Helen Losse, and Susan Meyers
Lavonne Adams is the author of
Through the Glorieta Pass, winner of the Pearl Poetry Prize, and two chapbooks,
In the Shadow of the Mountain and
Everyday Still Life. She has published in the
Missouri Review, Poet Lore, and
The Southern Poetry Review, and been awarded residencies at the Vermont Studio Center, the Wurlitzer Foundation, and the Harwood Museum of Art. She teaches at UNC, Wilmington.
Helen Losse is the Poetry Editor of
The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature. Her recent poetry publications include
The Wild Goose Poetry Review, Shape of a Box, and
Blue Fifth Review. She has two chapbooks,
Gathering the Broken Pieces and
Paper Snowflakes, and a new collection,
Better With Friends, (Rank Stranger Press, 2009). She now lives in Winston-Salem.
Susan Meyers, of Givhans, SC, is the author of
Keep and Give Away (University of South Carolina Press, 2006), winner of the SC Poetry Book Prize, the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) Book Award for Poetry, and the Brockman-Campbell Book Award. Her chapbook
Lessons in Leaving received the Persephone Press Book Award. Recent work appears in
Jubilat, Cave Wall, and
Saw Palm.
October 26
the winners of the 2009 Poetry Initiative Chapbook Contest
