Held annually in loving memory of HoCoPoLitSo’s co-founder, the 2023 Ellen Conroy Kennedy Poetry Prize is now open to all entrants! Whether you are a life-time poet or have never written a line before, we invite you to share with us whatever moves you to poetry.

The author of the poem selected for first place will be awarded a cash prize of $500, celebrated on HoCoPoLitSo’s website, social media, and in our annual report— and have their winning poem published in The Little Patuxent Review and right here on HoCoPoLitSo’s front page.

To enter, click here, or visit the contest’s page to learn more or to read past winners’ poems. A reading fee of $10 per entrant supports a panel of fair and balanced judges.

This Thursday, September 21, 2023, HoCoPoLitSo proudly presents in partnership with Howard Community College and the Howard County Library System, the 2023 installment of the Bauder Lecture Series, featuring Nadia Owusu, author of “Aftershocks“, hosted by Tope Folarin, author of “A Particular Kind of Black Man“.

Join us for this free and public event, in person at the Horowitz Visual and Performing Arts Center on the HCC campus, or online streamed live via Vimeo at this link. The day’s events begin with a reading and keynote at 12:30 p.m., followed by a short reception and second reading at 6:00 p.m. Signed books will be available for purchase from HoCoPoLitSo to in-person attendees following both presentations.

The Bauder Lecture Series is made possible by a generous grant from Dr. Lillian Bauder, a community leader and Columbia resident. HoCoPoLitSo is a private nonprofit 501(c)(3) cultural arts organization designed to enlarge the audience for contemporary poetry and literature and celebrate culturally diverse literary heritages. HoCoPoLitSo receives funding from the Maryland State Arts Council, the Howard County Art Council through a grant from Howard County government, Community Foundation of Howard County, Dr. Lilian Bauder, the Reis Foundation, and from individual contributors like you.

For more information, visit the Horowitz Center event page available here— and be sure to check back right here for more literary events coming soon from HoCoPoLitSo.

let there be lit.

HoCoPoLitSo welcomes all to the September edition of the Wilde Readings Series, with Adina Ferguson and Edward Belfar, hosted by Ann Bracken. Join us at the Columbia Art Center on Tuesday, September 12th at 7 p.m., at 6100 Foreland Garth, Columbia, MD 21045. Please spread the word— bring your friends, family and students! Light refreshments will be served and books by the readers available for sale.

An open mic follows the featured authors and we encourage you to participate. Please prepare no more than five minutes of performance time, about two poems. Sign up when you arrive, or in advance by calling the Columbia Arts Center at (410)-730-0075.

Below, get to know Adina and Edward!

Who is the person in your life (past or present) that shows up most often in your writing?

Adina: I’d have to say my Mom shows up in my work a lot (more). Whether it’s a paragraph or whole essay, Connie is getting her shine (LOL). I’m often writing about growing into womanhood and my mom has definitely had an influence in that area. And of late, my therapist has become a character in my work. So much so that she’ll slide in a “It’s fine. You can write about me in your next story” when we have a “heavy” session and I want to quit her.

Edward: I am primarily a fiction writer, and all my characters are composites, drawn from various sources, including direct experience, things I heard about second- or third-hand, my reading of fiction and nonfiction, and my imagination. There is never a one-to-one correspondence in my fiction, such that Character X equals Real Person Y. The closest I might come to that is imagining how someone like Real Person Y might respond to a situation faced by Character X, but when I do that, I often find that Character X surprises me in a way that Real Person Y probably would not.

Where is your favorite place to write?

Adina: The Purple Room aka my home office/guestroom is my writing sanctuary. I was very intentional with the artwork I put on the walls, the photos I have on the bookshelf, my goal board, the color scheme.

Edward: I have made part of our basement into an office, in which I have a desktop, a printer, and many reference books. I do most of my drafting there. I like to edit on paper, though, and I often do that at the dining room table.

Do you have any consistent pre-writing rituals?

Adina: Before I can get in a good writing groove, I like to listen to one of my Spotify playlists of R&B songs and then I’ll switch to YouTube to watch a few Jodeci videos. I’m a big 90s/2000s R&B fan. And so I pretty much have a little mini concert before I finally get down to business (professional procrastinator here). All the while there’s a candle burning in the background. I like tapping into a few senses first.

Edward: I do not.

Who always gets a first read?

Adina: I’ll drop a message in the group chat with my best friends, Davie and Marquetta. But the way everyone’s lives are set up, it comes down to whichever of them is available. We went to the same arts high school and were in the same department. So, I value their feedback as fellow writers who happen to be my sisters for life.

Edward: My wife Kathleen always gets a first read. Without her support and encouragement, I doubt that I would have been able to persevere through all the rejection, disappointment, and frustration to publish two books. At the same time, she is an astute critic and will not hesitate to tell me if she finds a false note in something I have written.

What is a book you’ve read more than twice (and would read again)?

Edward: Many books fit that description. One that comes readily to mind, because it is both eerily prescient and hilarious, is Walker Percy’s Love in the Ruins. It was very much on my mind when I was writing my novel A Very Innocent Man.

What is the most memorable reading you have attended?

Adina: Oooh, that’s a great question! I can’t narrow it down to one event but I will say I always have a great time when I attend Zora’s Den’s “In Our Own Words” Reading series in Baltimore. There’s an indescribable feeling when you hear Black women share their lives with you. The voices, styles, experiences are so eclectic. I’m always finding new writers to fangirl over and honestly, it’s just a whole vibe of sistahood!

Edward: It is hard to pick one, as I have attended many memorable readings, both in person and online. One that does stand out in my mind, though, even after many years, was given by the late Amiri Baraka when I was in graduate school at SUNY/Stony Brook. He was as great a performer as he was a poet. Without singing a note, he made an instrument of his voice and transformed the poems that he read into music. Until that night, I don’t think I had realized the power of the spoken word.

On a sunny Saturday this past August 5th, HoCoPoLitSo brought poetry to people of all ages at Howard County Library’s H3 Carnival— that’s “Hi-Tech, How-to, Hands-on”. From kindergartners through teens and couples married for 30 years alike, all wrote poems with the help and prompts provided by HoCoPoLitSo volunteers.

Naomi Ling, a Bauder Youth student member of the board and award-winning poet, guided the poetry writing using tools such as Metaphor Dice, instructions on writing a ghazal, and “blackout poetry“, in which a page of text is redacted by the poet and a poem discovered within just the words they chose to remain. When visitors finished their poems, volunteers typed them up on an antique manual Olivetti Lettera typewriter using worn, vintage-looking paper. Visitors of all ages marveled at the typewriter and wrote poems so they could have an artifact of their efforts.

Susan Thornton Hobby, HoCoPoLitSo board member and recording secretary had this to say:

A rising sixth-grader with long hair wrote three poems over the course of the day, and kept returning with his work to have it typed up. I saw him wandering around the other booths with his paper and pen, gazing up at the ceiling, tapping his pen to his mouth, clearly thinking. Every once in a while, he would stop at a different booth and use their flat surface to write his poems. One of his poems was about the woods, about building forts and feeling the breeze through the leaves.

Another trio of teenagers collaborated on a poem and wanted just their initials as authors, and laughed as a volunteer typed it up, speaking their phrases out loud as they were struck on the Olivetti. A man wrote a ghazal, which is a poem that repeats a word at the end of each line in a different way. He chose the word light and wrote the poem for his wife, his “guiding light”.

Poetry can sometimes intimidate would-be writers, but by bringing poetry to people where they are, at a free carnival where “hands-on” was the theme, HoCoPoLitSo helped visitors to shake off those fears and jump in, going home with a record of their own art. I know of at least two refrigerators now graced with original poetry by the children of the household.

Naomi Ling shared the thought that titled this post:

What kind of heart is cocooned? What kind of family is a lethargic drum? Questions like these swarmed the HoCoPoLitSo table, where eager kids rolled dice with seemingly untethered, random words on them to make metaphors. Many times I’d glance at the kids’ parents— who were just as flabbergasted by the metaphors— and answer: “I don’t know . . . That’s just poetry for you.”

You see, poetry doesn’t beget intentionality. It manifests at the roll of a die or the scratch of a head, and all we can do is let it flow from there. I personally had a great experience trying to decipher strange word concoctions (and laughing at the worst ones random chance laid out) with guests at our table. Not only did it prove that anyone could indeed craft a metaphor, but anyone could craft a writer out of themselves. They just have to roll with it.

You can find many more photos of the day’s outings, poetic and otherwise, at the library’s Flickr album found here— and check back at this very page for information on more literary events coming soon from HoCoPoLitSo.

let there be lit.

As the popular anthology Where We Stand, Poems of Black Resilience is available for sale again, we share student Neal Goturi’s review of a reading held this summer to promote the first printing of the anthology. Neal is a sophomore at River Hill High School and he has recently begun serving as a Bauder Youth Advisor on the board of the Howard County Poetry and Literature Society.

“I can not praise and recommend
Where We Stand: Poems of Black Resilience enough.”

Last summer, I went to the reading of the poetry anthology, Where We Stand: Poems of Black Resilience, in the Lucille Clifton Reading Room of Busboys and Poets, the popular restaurant in Downtown Columbia that has a performance space on the second floor. It was the first reading I had ever attended; I was excited to take a break from the more conventional avenues of consuming literature and branch out.

Where We Stand has its roots in a group of socially conscious poets and artists coming together to process the outcomes of the 2016 election and the impending doom of America’s ethos. By the end of production, one understood that editors Enzo Sirloin, Melanie Henderson, and Truth Thomas have put together a must-read collection . It features nearly 30 authors, and a number of poems from each. Powerful photographs partition the book into four parts: Watch for Black Lives, The District Line, The Breathing Fence, and Black Joy Matters.

The evening’s first reader was Joseph Ross, opening with his lines from the anthology:

There is an essential difference
between wood and flame.

It is a gap wide enough
for the Pledge of Allegiance

to walk through laughing.
Remember to not let the base
burn so the cross can stand
for as long as needed…

(“Cross, Hood, Noose An American History Lesson”, Ross, Where We Stand, 16)

[In the following clip, Ross reads his poem, “If Mamie Till was the Mother of God,” at the Busboys & Poets event. The powerful poem, not featured in the anthology, won the Enoch Pratt Free Library / Little Patuxent Review Poetry Contest in 2012.]

His poetry commanded attention and set the tone for the night. As the night went on, the speakers read through selected poems — the air kept quiet and was foreboding. Each story told by verse was so heavy that I felt like I needed to take a moment to process it — a break from the cacophony of injustice presented. The person sitting next to me agreed.

Later, as I was walking out, I realized the irony of the situation. We desired something inaccessible to the artists who had just presented: a break. Be it from tragic stories, blind angels, or clipped wings. After only a glimpse of the potency of American venom, the recess from reality requested is out of sight to those most inundated. That is something so foul that no gilded sentiment or sentence can do it justice; it lies beyond a formation of words.

I’ve recently become more aware of my privilege and the privilege present in my community. Columbia is always serene on summer evenings. It is a sheltered and affluent suburban enclave. This lends itself to the vast majority of residents enjoying a level of cognitive dissonance to the obstacles myriads of Americans face. The poets who performed on July 8th brought black experiences into the spotlight and celebrated them; they shortened the empathetic gap between.

I can not praise and recommend Where We Stand: Poems of Black Resilience enough. It is raw, essential, and uniquely comforting. While I was writing this post, the anthology quickly sold out online. If you looked, you could find the odd copy at places like Busboys and Poets. Its publisher, Cherry Castle Publishing has just issued a second printing of the anthology. To order a copy, visit their website cherrycastlepublishing.com

Where We Stand, Poems of Black Resilience quickly sold out of its first printing. As of November 25, this popular and important anthology is available again. Visit CherryCastlePublishing.com to get yourself and everyone you know copies.

About HoCoPoLitSo

Founded in 1974 by Ellen Conroy Kennedy in Columbia, Maryland, HoCoPoLitSo is an innovative, small, not-for-profit community literary arts organization devoted to fostering a love of contemporary literature, preserving the world literary heritage, and responding equitably and inclusively to the evolving needs and interests of our dynamic community.

Job Description

The managing director (MD) reports directly to the co-chairs of the Board of Directors. The MD represents and supports the organization’s day-to-day operations through dynamic project management, conscientious fiscal oversight, creative problem-solving, and highly effective communication. The MD works collaboratively with the board and the program coordinator to create, manage, and maintain a schedule of literary events that cultivate literary appreciation and provide high-quality interactive opportunities for our community to engage with great writers. The MD manages resources, produces financial and grant reports, organizes volunteers, establishes meeting agendas, and contracts with vendors, as well as documents, tracks, and maintains the organization’s financial income and expense records, including oversight of grant funding.

The ideal candidate has:

• Bookkeeping and grant management experience sufficient to manage within a limited budget and uncertain revenue stream (e.g., familiarity with QuickBooks)
• Budget and management experience (non-profit experience preferred)
• Demonstrated evidence of flexibility, resourceful problem-solving skills, and a collaborative spirit
• Strong written and verbal communication skills and interpersonal skills
• Conscientious attention to detail, follow-through, and organization
• Technical knowledge sufficient to manage communication and finances effectively, to update website content, with some social media skills
• The ability to multitask
• Evidence of ability to work effectively as a team member
• Willingness to perform other duties as necessary to accomplish the organization’s objectives

The position requires:

• Access to reliable transportation and ability to transport event materials; lives within a reasonable commuting distance
• Regular attendance and availability are requirements. Willingness to work remotely when necessary.
• Ability to meet on a regular schedule each month with the board and the program committee
• Ability to work flexible hours both in person, in the office, and online as needed, including occasional nights and weekends as needed for events
• Commitment to a safe and confidential working environment by participating in necessary training
• Ability to lift 25 pounds

Additional Information

• Hours Per Week: varies with schedule of events and deadlines; approximately 20-25
• Work Schedule: Monday – Friday, occasional nights and weekends for events
• Compensation: $18,000-$25,000/year
• FLSA Status: Exempt
• Open Until Filled
• Please apply by September 30, 2022 for best consideration

Application Instructions

Send cover letter and resume with three professional references to HoCoPoLitSo.74@gmail.com.

HoCoPoLitSo values diversity within its staff, board, and volunteer population. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, disability or protected veteran status.

Columbia, MD – August 3, 2022 – The Howard County Poetry & Literature Society is delighted to receive a grant in the amount of $2,500 from the Community Foundation of Howard County (@CFHoCo on Twitter). Supported by grants and individual donors, HoCoPoLitSo cultivates the appreciation for contemporary poetry and literature, celebrates a culturally diverse literary heritage, and broadens exposure to the literary arts to foster community.

Funds from the Community Foundation of Howard County helps HoCoPoLitSo produce live, virtual and recorded literary programs accessible world-wide. Programs such as “Poetry Potluck” took the audience into the kitchens of four former writers-in-residence, who discussed their food inspired poetry and the importance of food in creating a vibrant community.

HoCoPoLitSo is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit literary arts organization. Founded in 1974, the society has presented 5 Nobel Laureates, 31 Pulitzer Prize winners, 22 National Book Award winners, 19 National Poets Laureates, 9 Maryland Poets Laureates, and more than 300 writers to the Howard County community. Audiences can attend programs in-person, virtually or view at YouTube.com/HoCoPoLitSo twenty-four hours a day from anywhere in the world.

About the Community Foundation of Howard County – For more than 50 years, the Community Foundation of Howard County has served as a knowledgeable, trusted partner that forges connections between donors and nonprofit organizations to provide impactful investments in Howard County. Since 2020 the foundation has awarded more than $6.5 million through more than 1,000 grants to organizations delivering human service, arts and cultural, educational and civic programs. Funds to support grant programs comes primarily from income generated by the foundation’s endowment supported by more than 365 funds established by Howard County businesses, families and individuals. For more information, visit CFHoCo.org or call 410-730-7840.

HoCoPoLitSo thanks its audiences and donors, like the Community Foundation of Howard County, for supporting the literary arts in our Howard County Community!

“Your help is important. Not just to keep this local literary organization going, but to keep the positive work of words out there in the world, connecting people along the way.”

-Tim Singleton, Board Co-chair.