top of page
Home: Welcome

Our Mission:

The Poetry Society of South Carolina strives to support member poets both amateur and professional through innovative programming and a time-honored catalogue of events.  We seek to maintain a high profile for poetry within all South Carolina communities and beyond, and to provide various opportunities for the art form to be enjoyed.  The Society supports American poetics by making space for creatives whose vision represents the entire spectrum of ingenuity from classic to entirely new forms. 

Our Vision:

Every Corner, Every County

Requiem for Past Poets:
Honoring the First 100
Years
 
Building the Next 100 Years
266154240_4461307570658563_7450460720319186142_n.jpg
This is a code interested parties can scan to join the Poetry Society.

Walter Edgar Interview with Former President, Jim Lundy

Cover of The History of the Poetry Society of South Carolina, 1920-2021, by James Lundy, Jr.

Click the book to purchase!

Logo for South Carolina Humanities, a supporter of the Poetry Society

Poetry Society of SC readings and workshops are supported by South Carolina Humanities, a not-for-profit organization; inspiring, engaging, and enriching South Carolinians with programs on literature, culture, and heritage.

Upcoming Events

  • Annual Holiday Party and Member Showcase
    Annual Holiday Party and Member Showcase
    Annual Holiday Party and Member Showcase
    Sat, Dec 09
    The Living Room (at Jubilee! Circle)
    Dec 09, 6:00 PM
    The Living Room (at Jubilee! Circle), 6729 Two Notch Road, Suite 10, Columbia, SC
    Dec 09, 6:00 PM
    The Living Room (at Jubilee! Circle), 6729 Two Notch Road, Suite 10, Columbia, SC
    For the first time, we're having our holiday party in Columbia! You're going to love The Living Room -- we'll be decked out and offering our absolute best. Bring a holiday or winter poem!
  • Members' Open Mic
    Members' Open Mic
    Members' Open Mic
    Fri, Jan 12
    Gage Hall
    Jan 12, 2024, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM
    Gage Hall, 4 Archdale St, Charleston, SC 29401, USA
    Jan 12, 2024, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM
    Gage Hall, 4 Archdale St, Charleston, SC 29401, USA
  • Maya Marshall with Richard Allen Taylor
    Maya Marshall with Richard Allen Taylor
    Maya Marshall with Richard Allen Taylor
    Fri, Feb 23
    Charleston Library Society
    Feb 23, 2024, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM
    Charleston Library Society, 164 King St, Charleston, SC 29401, USA
    Feb 23, 2024, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM
    Charleston Library Society, 164 King St, Charleston, SC 29401, USA
    Maya Marshall is the author of the debut full-length poetry collection All the Blood Involved in Love (Haymarket Books, 2022) and the chapbook Secondhand (Dancing Girl Press, 2016). Please see "About the Event" for more information.
  • Angelo Geter with Miho Kinnas
    Angelo Geter with Miho Kinnas
    Angelo Geter with Miho Kinnas
    Fri, Mar 08
    Charleston Library Society
    Mar 08, 2024, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM
    Charleston Library Society, 164 King St, Charleston, SC 29401, USA
    Mar 08, 2024, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM
    Charleston Library Society, 164 King St, Charleston, SC 29401, USA
    Angelo Geter is the author of More God than Dead (Muddy Ford Press, 2022). He received a BA in Political Science from Winthrop University and a MS in Higher Education from Drexel University. Please see "About the Event" for more information.
  • Tarfia Faizalluh with Elizabeth Robin
    Tarfia Faizalluh with Elizabeth Robin
    Tarfia Faizalluh with Elizabeth Robin
    Fri, Apr 12
    Location is TBD
    Apr 12, 2024, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM EDT
    Location is TBD
    Apr 12, 2024, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM EDT
    Location is TBD
    Tarfia Faizullah was born in Brooklyn, New York to Bangladeshi immigrants, and raised in Texas. She is the author of two poetry collections, Registers of Illuminated Villages (Graywolf, 2018) and Seam (SIU, 2014). Please see "About the Event" for more information.
Home: Events

All of our 2023 program readings are now featured at our YouTube site. Please visit and enjoy!

​

Watch some of the prior years' readings below, and enjoy other mentions in the press.

​

​

Contests - Submissions For Spring & Fall Writing Contests 

PSSC has two rounds of poetry contests each academic year, Fall and Spring.

Prize-winning poems are published on this website and in the Poetry Society of South Carolina Yearbook, published annually since 1922 and now distributed to libraries of SC schools and universities, as well as to the membership.

Woman Typing
Yvette Murray, Board Member, Poetry Society

Yvette Murray

Board Member, PSSC

Yvette has won the Susan Laughter Meyers Summer Scholarship for 2022! Photo credit to Bill Griffin. Read more here.

"I love what syntax can do in a poem, its ability to indicate not just sequence but also hierarchy and relationships, its role in manipulating the rhythm and pacing. Syntax is truly like a conductor leading an orchestra."

Susan Laughter Meyers

Press For The History of the Poetry Society of South Carolina

​

On its 100th birthday, Poetry Society of South Carolina gets a romp of a read
(link behind paywall)

 By Mara Hogan, Post & Courier, October 21, 2021

​

Years in the making, the full history of the country's oldest state poetry society is now available in softcover. Purchase a PSSC Softcover Edition here.

Contact Us

The Poetry Society of South Carolina
P.O. Box 1090
Charleston, SC 29402

and

PSSC Columbia Hub

Jubilee Circle Center for Spirituality and the Arts

6729 Two Notch Road, #70

Columbia, SC

tamaramilessc@gmail.com

We're Open to the World

bottom of page