General Information
All programs, except as noted, are held on the second Friday of the month in downtown Charleston at:
The Charleston Library Society
164 King Street (just before Queen)
7:00 p.m.
Readings are free and open to the public. A book signing and reception follow the program.
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Atsuro Riley

October 8
Young Smith

November 12
Michael McFee

December 10
Christmas Party
for PSSC members only.
January 21
PSSC 90th Anniversary Celebration
February 11
Nathalie Anderson

March 11
Donald Platt

April 8
Cecilia Woloch

May 13
Annual Forum with Malena Mörling


All seminars, except as noted, are held on the second Saturday of the month in downtown Charleston at:
The Charleston Library Society
164 King Street (just before Queen)
10:00 p.m. - noon
Tuition is $10 for PSSC and Library Society members,
$15 for non-members.
September 11
Atsuro Riley
“May the Streams Be Many: Widening the Net of References, Resources, Refreshments”
For bio, please see September 10 reading
For registration form click here
We will range around outside the bounds of contemporary American poetry, sounding out poems, poets, and distinctive moves from the many lively streams of English, past and present.
October 11
Young Smith
“Contemporary Polish Poets”
For bio, please see October 10 reading
For registration form click here
Herbert, Milosz, Szymborska, Zagajewski… Why many of my favorite contemporary poets are Polish, rather than American, and why they should be among your favorite poets as well (even if, like me, you can read them only in translation).
November 13
Michael McFee
“Contemporary Scottish Poets”
For bio, please see November 12 reading
For registration form, click here
We all know about Seamus Heaney, probably Michael Longley, Paul Muldoon and other Irish poets, and perhaps Geoffrey Hill and various living English poets. There’s a vigorous contemporary poetry scene in Scotland, which—perhaps like Southern poetry—is a significant part of America's national literature and yet distinct from it. In this seminar, we'll review the work of a dozen or so Scottish poets, including Don Paterson, Kathleen Jamie, Robert Crawford, Carol Ann Duffy, and Robin Robertson.
Febuary 12
Nathalie Anderson
“Writing to be Sung: The Poet as Librettist”
For bio, please see Febuary 11 reading
For registration form, click here
Drawing on Nathalie Anderson’s experience as librettist for three operas, The Black Swan, Sukey in the Dark, and A Scandal in Bohemia, this seminar will explore the potential for musicality in verse, through exercises in adapting literary passages and familiar narratives to be sung.
March 12
Donald Platt
“Writing the Other's Experience”
For bio, please see March 10 reading
For registration form, click here
We'll read and discuss a few poems that are sparked by extraordinary empathy for "others." In light of our discussion, we'll try to formulate some strategies for writing about the experience of others without appropriating or distorting that experience. The session will end with a writing prompt that participants may follow on their own.
April 9
Cecilia Woloch
“The Pleasures of the Pantoum”
For bio, please see April 8 reading
For registration form, click here
Explore this simple and elegant verse form and generate a pantoum from “recycled materials”—beautiful lines you've already composed. Participants should bring a minimum of four discarded or orphaned lines from their own writing to use or swap during the generative part of the workshop.

WRITERS' GROUPS:
The Poetry Society has hosted writers groups regularly since the early 1920s. Poetry Society members are invited to attend free of charge for support and critique of their poetry.
Charleston
Harriet Rigney, Moderator
2:00 p.m. on the second Sunday of every month. Open to PSSC members only. For more information, contact PSSC.

