Arts Institute Blog

24 February 2008 SOUTH CAROLINA BOOK FESTIVAL

The South Carolina Book Festival was this weekend –and what a treat it was this year.  The festival always gives me a good sense of the vibrant, supportive, and generous community of writers that exists in the state.  I always love the range of writing—memoirs, fiction, poetry, even sometimes cookbooks you buy for the stories as well as the recipes. (The real treat last year was the Lee Brothers promoting their Southern cookbook—which has some fascinating bits of culture, like that venison wok made from a farm disc blade.)  And I always spend an hour or so—okay, a few hours and lots of money—wandering through the stalls of the book dealers, looking for that perfect nineteenth century “language of flowers” book or an old volume by an Irish poet.  Or this year’s finds:  the first, a 1940s government sex ed pamphlet called “Manpower” (the cover features a park ranger rolling up his sleeves—who could guess what this booklet was about!).  And the second, an extraordinary collection I found at Ed’s Editions (one of my favorite local bookstores), a 1978 anthology of poems written in South Carolina prisons and published by the SC Arts Commission.  A remarkable collection. 

A GOOD YEAR FOR POETRY!  This year was the year for good poetry.  Saturday morning I had the real pleasure of introducing Lola Haskins.  Her poems are—to use the word often invoked in reviews—exquisite.  My friend Randy Spencer had recommended her to me –and told me that she is a warm and generous person as well as a fine poet.  If you don’t know her, check out her website at www.lolahaskins.com.  The SC Poetry Initiative had a panel featuring poets who’ve won the Initiative’s annual chapbook contest—Gilbert Allen, Phillip Belcher, Therese Gleason, Angela Kelly, Karen Peluso, Charlene Spearen, and Josh Watson.  Good work all around—though I’ll admit my favorite was Josh Watson, whose affable and sometimes goofy personality (yes, he came in late, and yes, he knocked his chair over, and yes, I think he thanked every person he knew in the audience) belies the extraordinary precision and power of his work.  All of their books area available from the SC Poetry Initiative (www.cas.sc.edu/engl/poetry/). 

I also got to be one of the judges for the Poetry Out Loud recitation contest—with poets from Midlands high schools reciting poems.  Poetry Out Loud is a national recitation contest sponsored by the Poetry Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts (and here by the SC Arts Commission).  This was the Midlands regional finals, from which 3 students were selected for the state finals.  Judging was tough, but there were some real winning performances!  Kaneisha Payton from Spring Valley High School was simply amazing.  She recited Paul Laurence Dunbar’s “We Wear the Mask” and Vachel Lindsay’s “General William Booth Enters Into Heaven.”  The Lindsay poem is a tough one, and not one I find particularly interesting, but she had the audience riveted.  Although Ashley Cohen-Burnell of Richland Northeast didn’t make the regional finals (she was the winner from her school, an arts magnet school that meant tough competition), I have to say that her riveting rendition of Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce et decorum est” (one of the most famous anti-war poems of the twentieth century) gave me chills.  And Joseph Adams reciting “Playing Dead” by Andrew Hudgins had the whole audience laughing.

FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS:  Other poets reading during the festival were Susan Myers and Ray McManus—both winners of the SC Poetry Book Prize.  Susan’s Keep and Give Away is a beautiful book, and Ray’s Driving through the country before you are born is simply stunning.  Also Marjory Wentworth, our poet laureate and a whirlwind of energy—just being around her gets you excited about all of the literary stuff going on.  (She has organized an exciting series of readings in Charleston focused on the art of Jonathan Green—more about that in a future blog entry.)  And Linda Ferguson and Phebe Davidson and Carol Ann Davis and Kwame Dawes…. 

Other highlights from the festival?  Chatting with the Yemassee boys at the Yemassee table, there to promote our increasingly fine USC literary journal.  Seeing Susan Lenz at the Mouse House booth, with her stunning handmade and altered books (gallery80808vistastudios.com/Lenz/index.shtml).  And seeing a beamingly happy Sheila Morris at the Red Letter Press table with her memoir, Deep in the Heart (www.writersheilamorris.com).  Red Letter Press is a local press putting out some good work, and Sheila’s memoir is a poignant and often laugh-till-you-cry hilarious collection of stories about growing up lesbian in rural Texas. 

My big regret this year was missing John Lane, the Wofford poet and nature writer whose work I really love. A good festival this year!  Lots of poets and too many conflicting things to attend!  A stack of books on my desk to go through over the next few months, and lots of ideas, lines jotted down, ways of thinking about the work, people to email.  It was a good one this year. Fingers crossed I’ll be reading from my own new book at the 2009 festival!