Thursday, September 18: After Shocks: The Poetry of Recovery, a reading by area anthology contributors, Charleston (SC) County Public Library

After Shocks: The Poetry of Recovery from Life-Shattering Events
Thursday, Sept. 18
Charleston County Library
68 Calhoun Street
Charleston, SC
7 p.m.
Book signing and reception will follow the reading.
Anthologies will be available for purchase.

Area poets included in the anthology who will read:
Paul Allen, of Charleston
Linda Ferguson, of Charleston
Richard Garcia, of Charleston
Barbara G.S. Hagerty, of Charleston
Kurtis Lamkin, of Charleston
Susan Meyers, of Summerville
Gail Peck, of Charlotte
Marjory Wentworth, of Mt. Pleasant
Tom Lombardo, editor, of Atlanta


MORE ABOUT AFTER SHOCKS:

Sante Lucia Books is pleased to announce publication of a ground-breaking anthology, entitled After Shocks: The Poetry of Recovery for Life-Shattering Events, edited by Tom Lombardo. The anthology comprises 152 poems by 115 poets from 15 nations, including: 3 U.S. Poets Laureate, a Pulitzer Prize winner, 2 Whitbread Prize winners, and many others. Chapters cover stories of recovery from Grief, War, Exile, Abuse, Divorce, Bigotry, Illness, Injury, Addiction, and Loss of Innocence.

The anthology grew out of the editor’s personal experience surviving the death of his spouse when he was in his early 30s. “I was a young widower, and over the years since then, I've spoken with others going through similar trauma, trying to come to terms with my own grief and what it meant for my continuing life. After receiving my MFA in Creative Writing, and turning my writing more toward poetry, I came to realize that poetry could help express the hope and the will to live that eventually springs from these life-shattering events,” said Tom Lombardo.


Early Praise for After Shocks:

This anthology is of national and international significance. It is a collection that crosses and embraces all boundaries—culture, class, gender, and race. It takes us into the hardest places human beings have to go—the failures of personal relationships, loss of loved ones, genocide, racial oppression, addiction, loss of innocence, marginalization, and more. And, yet, each section moves, finally, toward a place of hope and dignity and resilience.
—Cathy Smith Bowers, Author, The Candle I Hold Up To See You

This wonderful and important anthology…is a solid act of generosity…a gift of testimony from poets across a broad range of experience and language, poems that tell us we can gather ourselves from the shock of upset and loss in life and continue…After Shocks: The Poetry of Recovery is a book that seeks to stand up and walk among us as a living thing, a force to activate the good and prepare us to weather the bad.
—Afaa Michael Weaver, Author, The Plum Flower Dance

The sum of these poems is to tell the truth and by the telling to find relief and sometimes healing. The ones who read and hear these poems can share the loss that is so common among us, and perhaps also share the healing that comes through bold voice.
—Walter Brueggemann, Ph.D. Author of Finally Comes the Poet, Biblical Scholar, Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Georgia

In this collection of poetry, recovery…speaks to transformation and hope…Many of these poems can help individuals acknowledge the reality of their losses and develop an understanding that helps them continue on their life's journey…This international collection of poetry can serve as an aid in promoting compassion and courage. We draw courage from those on a similar path.
—Nicholas D. Mazza, Ph.D., editor of Journal of Poetry Therapy


Complete List of Poets Included:

Rita Dove Simon Armitage Carol Dine Douglas Dunn Cathy Smith Bowers Patricia Wellingham-Jones Donald Hall Carol Ann Duffy Molly Gloss Thomas Lux Pam Bernard Elizabeth Bernardin Sandor Kányádi Stellasue Lee Doug Anderson Jim McGarrah Sonja Besford Martha Collins Rachel Tzvia Back Brian Turner Nazand Begikhani Liu Hongbin Paul Sohar Satyendra Srivastava Marjorie Wentworth Diana Woodcock Majid Naficy Shelley Davidow J. P. Dancing Bear Margaret Chula Major Jackson Lisha Adela Garcia Ron Rash Annie Finch Barbara Mitchell Roseann Lloyd Joy Helsing Nehassaiu deGannes Peter Cooley Paul Allen R.G. Evans Barbara G.S. Hagerty Clinton B. Campbell Iain Haley Pollock Laurel Blossom Willie James King Georgia Ann Banks-Martin Kevin Young Tolu Ogunlesi Meir Wieseltier Randall Horton Richard Garcia György Faludy Bette Lynch Husted William Stafford Terri Wolfe J. Stephen Rhodes Gail Rudd Entrekin Anthony S. Abbott Faye J. Hoops Farideh Hassanzadeh Rebecca McClanahan Sister Lou Ella Hickman Anna Rabinowitz David Bottoms Janet Winans Alexa Selph Dennis Ward Stiles Renée Michele Breeden Ellen Doré Watson Joseph Mills Liesl Jobson Deborah P. Kolodji Aimee Nezhukumatathil Kurtis Lamkin C.C. Thomas Barbara Presnell Naomi Ruth Lowinsky Jericho Brown Therése Halscheid Becky Thompson John McAllister J.E.Pitts William Greenway Susan Varon Shaindel Beers Genie Cotner Marcia Slatkin Barbara Mitchell Joan Houlihan Jenni Meredith Rhett Iseman Trull Pramila Venkateswaran Diane Holland Valerie Nieman Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda Susan Meyers Joseph Enzweiler Jane Gentry Rachel Eliza Griffiths Gail Peck Jennifer Barber Ilya Kaminsky Allison Hedge Coke Steven Cramer Linda Annas Ferguson Kevin Simmonds Nancy Tupper Ling Carole Baldock Deema Shehabi Kate Gale Jeffrey Levine Bernardo Atxaga


After Shocks: The Poetry of Recovery for Life-Shattering Events
Edited by Tom Lombardo, 388 pages
Available August 29, 2008
Sante Lucia Books
Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9816354-0-8

For further information or to order copies in advance,
please go to The Poetry of Recovery.
Also visit the press's blog.

Fri., Aug. 22: Celebration for Ed Madden's book Signals

Signals: Celebrating the Art of Ed Madden
Friends of Ed Madden Book Launch
Friday, August 22nd
6:30 PM to 8:00 PM
Columbia Museum of Art
Corner of Hampton and Main
Free and Open to the Public

Join the South Carolina Poetry Initiative for a celebration of Ed
Madden’s Signals, a work already acclaimed by award-winning poets: "Signals calls us to consciousness in a natural world that is at once quietly witness to our loves and losses and yet always as urgently and insistently alive as we are. Ed Madden, as with any of our most necessary poets, locates us plainly in this conflicted Eden, this garden of the reverent imagination…" — Rafael Campo

Signals was selected by Afaa Weaver as the winner of the 2007 South Carolina Poetry Initiative’s Book Contest, and on August 22 the Initiative is going to toast the book, celebrate Ed Madden’s journey, and maybe roast the poet a bit! Hear Madden read from the book as well as hear readings from some of Ed’s friends, who happen to be among South Carolina’s finest poets. Vera Gomez, Ray McManus, Kevin Lewis, and Susan Meyers are a few of the folks who will take to the stage to toast this gifted poet. The evening will include a reception, music, and a superb display of photography that maps many of the landscapes Madden brings to life in this stunning collection. Join us as we celebrate friendship, the written word, and art that addresses the legacies and landscapes of our region.

Ed Madden is an associate professor of English and associate director of Women's and Gender Studies at the University of South Carolina as well as writer in residence at the Riverbanks Botanical Gardens in Columbia, South Carolina. Madden is the author of Tiresian Poetics and coeditor of Geographies and Genders in Irish Studies. His essays on politics and Southern culture have appeared in many newspapers and journals and been featured on NPR. He was selected by editor Natasha Trethewey for inclusion in the anthology Best New Poets 2007. For information contact Charlene Spearen at cmspeare@mailbox.sc.edu or call (803)777-5492.