Acclaimed Poet, Writer to Speak at Coker College

Hartsville, S.C. - The Coker College Department of Communication, Language and Literature presents a reading and discussion with writer Kwame Dawes, executive director of the South Carolina Poetry Initiative, on Monday, January 21 at 7 p.m. in the C. W. Coker Auditorium in Davidson Hall. Admission is free and the public is invited to attend.

Born in Ghana in 1962, Dawes is a poet, a writer of fiction and non-fiction, a playwright and a musician. His most recent work, “Gomer’s Song” (Akashic/Black Goat, 2007) explores freedom and sacrifice in a poetic re-telling of the Old Testament story about the wife of the prophet Hosea. Dawes’s 2002 book “Bob Marley: Lyrical Genius” (Sanctuary Publishing) is considered the most authoritative study of the legendary reggae star’s lyrics.

In February 2007, Akashic Books published Dawes’s novel, “She's Gone,” and Peepal Tree Books published his 12th collection of poetry, “Impossible Flying” and his non-fiction work, “A Far Cry From Plymouth Rock: A Personal Narrative.” His 11th collection of verse, “Wisteria: Poems From the Swamp Country,” was published in January 2006 by Red Hen Press.

Over the past 25 years, Dawes has seen 15 of his plays produced including his musical, “One Love,” at the Lyric Hammersmith in London in 2001. Dawes’s essays have appeared in numerous journals including Bomb Magazine, The London Review of Books, Granta, Essence, World Literature Today, and Double Take Magazine.

Dawes has performed and read from his work in Europe, the Caribbean and North America. He has received several awards including a recent Individual Artist Fellowship from the South Carolina Arts Commission and a Pushcart Prize for his poetry, in 2001.

Dawes is the Louise Frye Liberal Arts Professor in the College of Liberal Arts and Distinguished Poet in Residence at the University of South Carolina. He is the founder and director of the USC Poetry Initiative, Executive Director of the University of South Carolina Arts Institute, and Director of the Calabash Writer’s Workshop held annually in Jamaica.

Throughout 2008, Coker College is marking its centennial with guest speakers and other events that celebrate the Coker experience. For more information, visit www.coker.edu/100.

 

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January 15, 2008