Thursday, Jan. 31: Creative writing workshop: "Freeing the Book in You"

Otranto Road Regional Library
Thursday, Jan. 31 6-7:30 p.m.
Creative writing workshop:
"Freeing the Book in You"
2261 Otranto Road
North Charleston, SC 29406
843-572-4094
www.ccpl.org

A workshop for writers who want explore the many routes of putting a book together and getting it published, whether prose or poetry. A handout of resources will be provided.

Dec. 3 - 6: The DC trip

Here's the DC trip at a glance. Linda and I fly up to DC on Monday, and then a whirlwind of readings:

Poetry at Noon
The Library of Congress
Tuesday, Dec. 4
Noon - 1 p.m.
"A Sampling of South Carolina Poets"
Introduced by Marjory Wentworth, Poet Laureate of SC:
Carol Ann Davis
Kwame Dawes
Susan Meyers

The Writer's Center
Tuesday, Dec. 4
7:30 - 9:30 p.m.
4508 Walsh Street
Bethesda MD 20815
Reading by SC poets:
Carol Ann Davis
Kwame Dawes
Linda Ferguson
Susan Meyers
Marjory Wentworth, Poet Laureate of SC

Cafritz Art Center
Wed. Dec. 5
6:30 p.m.
Montgomery College
Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus
Reading by SC poets:
Carol Ann Davis
Linda Ferguson
Susan Meyers
Marjory Wentworth, Poet Laureate of SC

Tuesday, Dec. 4: Poetry at Noon, Library of Congress

Library of Congress
Poetry at Noon Series
Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Noon-1 p.m. "A Sampling of South Carolina Poets." South Carolina Poet Laureate Marjory Wentworth brings Kwame Dawes, Susan Meyers, and Carol Ann Davis, award-winning poets from her state, to read in the Poetry at Noon program, Pickford Theater, 3rd Floor, James Madison Building.

[DC, here we come!]

Saturday, Nov. 10: Poetry Writing Workshop--The Path of Surprise

Poetry Writing Workshop:
The Path of Surprise
Saturday, Nov. 10
10 a.m. till 2 p.m.
Waccamaw Center for Higher Education
160 Willbrook Boulevard
Pawleys Island, SC 29585
Susan Meyers, instructor


Writing poems should be more than telling anecdotes from a life you already know or describing something you’ve seen. It should take you down a path of surprise. “No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader,” Robert Frost wisely noted. In this class we’ll use writing activities and handouts of published poems, as well as discussion, to take us farther down that serendipitous path. We’ll study poems that leap, swerve, and follow their particular logic—then we’ll write our own.

Lunch can be purchased at a nearby deli, or bring your own.
Registration, $30: Coastal Carolina University Lifelong Learning,
843-349-4032 or www.coastal.edu/outreach.

My poem featured on the Poetry Foundation's "Harriet" blog

Thanks to Rigoberto Gonzalez for featuring my poem "Contraries" on his Wednesday Shout Out at the Poetry Foundation blog.

Saturday, October 6: Workshop on Writing about the Natural World

Take a Step in the Write Direction: Explore Nature Writing
Saturday, October 6, 10 a.m. - 12 noon
Charleston County Public Library
Calhoun Street, Charleston, SC


Poets Susan Meyers and Marjory Wentworth offer a workshop on writing about the natural world. Writing activities will focus on the Lowcountry landscape in all its manifestations, the spiritual connection to place and the ways in which the natural world incorporates life and death simultaneously and continuously. A recommended bibliography will be provided to all participants. Open to writers of both poetry and prose. Registration is requested.

Marjory Wentworth’s poems have appeared in numerous books and magazines, and she has twice been nominated for The Pushcart Prize. Noticing Eden, a collection of poems, was published in 2003. Her next collection, Despite Gravity, has just been released by Ninety-Six Press. She is the Poet Laureate of South Carolina.

Susan Meyers is the author of two poetry collections that turn to the natural world for subject, imagery, and inspiration. Her book Keep and Give Away (University of South Carolina Press, 2006) won the South Carolina Poetry Book Prize, the SIBA Book Award for Poetry, and the Brockman-Campbell Book Award.

Recent events: August & September, 2007

The Book Stall signing & reading--Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2007,
12-2 signing; 6:30-8:30 reading & open mic.
413 Hayne Ave. SW, Aiken, SC

NC Poetry Society Brockman-Campbell Book Award reading--Saturday, Sept. 15, 2007, 10 a.m. Weymouth Center.
555 East Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines, NC

Emrys Reading Series--Monday, Sept. 24, 2007, 7 p.m.,
The Handlebar, Greenville, SC

A Cappella Books reading--Thursday, Sept. 27, 2007, 7 p.m.,
Moreland Ave. NE, Atlanta, GA

SIBA Book Awards lunch--Friday, Sept. 28, 2007, noon. Atlanta, GA.

Eastern North Carolina Literary Homecoming--Sept. 28-30, 2007. East Carolina University, Greenville, NC. On Saturday, Sept. 29, I'll be participating on a panel on the use of personal and community history in writing poetry.

2007 SIBA Book Award for Poetry

I'm grateful that Keep and Give Away has been selected for this year's SIBA Book Award for Poetry. This honor, presented by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance, goes not only to my book but to its publisher, the University of South Carolina Press, as well. Much gratitude, too, to the South Carolina Poetry Initiative, which sponsors the book prize that enabled the book to be published.

Congratulations to the other category winners, whose company I'm honored to be in:

Fiction--Thirteen Moons, by Charles Frazier (Random House Trade)
Nonfiction--Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee, by Charles J. Shields (Henry Holt & Co.)
Children's--Alabama Moon, by Watt Key (Farrar Strauss Giroux)
Cookbook--I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence, by Amy Sedaris (Warner Books)

I'm looking forward to attending the Book Awards luncheon at the SIBA Trade Show in Atlanta on September 28.

Thank you to SIBA, USC Press, and the SC Poetry Initiative. Learn more about them at their sites:

SIBA
University of South Carolina Press
South Carolina Poetry Initiative

Tuesday, May 8: Sunset, Poemrise -- Reading by Published Members of the Poetry Society of SC

As a part of the 2007 North Charleston Arts Festival, several published poets of the Poetry Society of South Carolina will give a reading of their own work--plus memorable selections from poets Dana Levin, Yusef Komunyakaa, Eavan Boland, Lucille Clifton, Li-Young Lee, Nazim Hekmet, Miklos Radnoti, and others:

Tuesday, May 8
6:30 p.m.
Otranto Road Regional Library
2261 Otranto Road
North Charleston, SC
843-572-4094
Book signing
Free & open to the public


Poets reading:

Linda Annas Ferguson
Ed Madden
Susan Meyers
Dennis Ward Stiles
Marjory Wentworth, SC Poet Laureate
 
North Charleston Arts Festival events
 

Sunday, April 1: Reading at Malaprop's, Asheville, NC

I'm reading, with two other poets, in Asheville on April 1:

Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe
55 Haywood Street
Asheville, NC
Poetrio: Susan Tichy; an Asheville poet (so far unnamed); me
SUNDAY, APRIL 1
3 p.m.
http://www.malaprops.com/NASApp/store/IndexJsp?s=storeevents

Thursday, March 29: Reading at Joseph-Beth, Charlotte, NC

Val Nieman and I are reading together in Charlotte:

Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Charlotte, NC
SouthPark Mall
THURSDAY, MARCH 29
7 p.m.
Valerie Nieman--Wake Wake Wake (Press 53, 2006)
Susan Meyers--Keep and Give Away (Univ. of SC Press, 2006)
http://www.josephbeth.com/Default.aspx?tabindex=2&tabid=3&storeId=10

Feb. 23-25: South Carolina Book Festival, Columbia, SC

SC Book Festival
Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center
1101 Lincoln St., Columbia, SC
Saturday, Feb. 24, 9 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 25, 11:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Panels, readings, book fair
Other special ticketed events, Friday through Sunday
www.scbookfestival.org

Saturday, 12:40 - 1:30 p.m. -- I'll be participating in a panel/reading session called "The Poet's Voice" with Richard Garcia, Mark Turcotte, and Ryan Van Cleave. Marjory Wentworth, poet laureate of SC, will be the moderator. We'll all be signing books afterward.

The University of South Carolina Press, publisher of my book Keep and Give Away, is an exhibitor at the festival's book fair.

Monday, Feb. 12: Tea & Poetry Series, Pawleys Island, SC

Monday, Feb. 12, 2007
3 p.m.
Tea & Poetry Series
Richard Garcia & Susan Meyers
Waccamaw Higher Education Center
160 Willbrook Boulevard, Pawleys Island, SC
Reading, book signing, reception
Free & open to the public


Join noted poets from the Coastal Carolina University faculty, Poetry Society of SC, and the region for afternoon readings and discussions, followed by tea and treats and the opportunity to acquire signed editions of poetry books. Free. Call for poet list & details, 843-349-4030.

Jan. 29 -- Paul Allen & Carol Ann Davis, both of the College of Charleston’s Creative Writing Program.

Feb. 12 -- Richard Garcia of the Antioch MFA program; & Susan Meyers, president of The Poetry Society of SC.

Feb. 26 -- Libby Bernardin, of Georgetown; & Diana Pinckney, of Charlotte--both with numerous publications.

Mar. 19 -- Linda Annas Ferguson, author of three chapbooks and a forthcoming full-length book; & Dennis Ward Stiles, author of five chapbooks.

Apr. 16 -- Lavonne Adams & Malena Morling of UNC Wilmington.

Saturday, Feb. 10: Poetry Writing Workshop--"Digging In"

Saturday, Feb. 10, 2007
10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Waccamaw Center for Higher Education
160 Willbrook Boulevard
Pawleys Island, SC 29585
Susan Meyers, instructor

I'll be teaching a workshop on generating new poems that explore a subject to its fullest. Just because you've written one poem about a subject doesn't mean it's time to move on to something else. Strategies for approaching the subject from numerous angles, digging deeper, moving beyond the obvious, yet retaining the poem’s mystery. Includes class packet of sample poems and resources. For all levels.

A sandwich can be purchased during class, or bring your own. Registration, $30: Coastal Carolina University Lifelong Learning, 843-349-4032 or www.coastal.edu/outreach.

Friday, February 9: Poetry Society of SC, Charleston, SC

February 9, 2007
7 p.m.
Second Presbyterian Church
342 Meeting Street
Charleston, SC 29401
Reading
Book signing & reception

Kwame Dawes is the author of twelve collections of poetry. His most recent collections are Impossible Flying (Peepal Tree, 2006) and Wisteria (Red Hen, 2006). He is the founder and director of the SC Poetry Initiative and the executive director of the University of South Carolina Arts Institute. Dawes is also a faculty member of Cave Canem and the Louise Frye Liberal Arts Professor in the College of Liberal Arts and is the Distinguished Poet-in-Residence at the University of South Carolina.