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HoCoPoLitSo Announces Selection of 2024–2025 Bauder Writer-in-Residence
Nigerian American Author Tope Folarin Will Visit High Schools and Homewood
The Howard County Poetry and Literature Society (HoCoPoLitSo) has selected Nigerian American author Tope Folarin as its 33rd Writer-in-Residence. A Rhodes Scholar, he is the recipient of the Caine Prize for African Writing, the Whiting Award for Fiction, and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. His debut novel, A Particular Kind of Black Man, was published by Simon & Schuster.
The writer-in-residence program was designed to give students access to a professional writer who visits each school to read and discuss poetry and literature, the writing life, and selected works. Since its official launch 33 years ago, thousands of students have benefited from the program, which since 2020 is made possible through the generous support of Dr. Lillian Bauder.
Folarin serves as Director of the Institute for Policy Studies and is the Lannan Visiting Lecturer in Creative Writing at Georgetown University. His reviews, essays and cultural criticism have been featured in The Atlantic, The Baffler, BBC, The Drift, High Country News, Lithub, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Nation, The New Republic, The New York Times Book Review, Vulture, The Washington Post and elsewhere.
“For the past 50 years, HoCoPoLitSo has distinguished itself with world-class literary programs. We are calling our anniversary year ‘Beyond Words, Beyond Borders’ in recognition of our desire to expand understanding and response to universal truths as expressed in the literature of extraordinary writers and thinkers, such as Tope Folarin,” said HoCoPoLitSo Co-Chair Tim Singleton.
Folarin joins a roster of accomplished poets, writers, and memoirists who have served local students at Howard County’s 13 high schools, the Homewood Center, and Howard Community College, through the Howard County Public School System’s partnership with HoCoPoLitSo, which began with a reading at Wilde Lake High School by poets Lucille Clifton and Carolyn Kizer in 1974. HoCoPoLitSo is celebrating its 50th anniversary of bringing renowned literary artists and emerging writers to the community to meet in-person with audiences of all ages.
“In addition to being an accomplished writer and a teacher of creative writing at Georgetown University, Tope Folarin is an outstanding human being with a real interest in young people,” said retired Howard County educator Judy R. Young, the liaison between HoCoPoLitSo and the school system.
In addition to the 2024–2025 schools-based residency of Folarin, HoCoPoLitSo anniversary year programs will include a presentation featuring national Young People’s Poet Laureate Elizabeth Acevedo in partnership with Howard Community College’s Bauder Lecture Series; the “Writing the Land” reading in partnership with Howard County Conservancy; the 47th Annual Evening of Irish Music and Poetry showcasing writer Seán Hewitt; and collaborations with Howard Community College’s Blackbird Poetry Festival and Downtown Columbia Partnership’s Books in Bloom book festival.
“HoCoPoLitSo makes and holds space within our community for people to come together in recognition of our human need to connect through language, ideas, and common experiences. Literature is not only educational but enlightening, enlarging, elevating and enjoyable. We greet each other in fields of words and learn we are not alone,” said HoCoPoLitSo Co-Chair Tara Hart.
The 2024 Ellen Conroy Kennedy Poetry Prize
Held annually in loving memory of HoCoPoLitSo’s co-founder, the 2024 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.
A mother of a show
With enough different perspectives, we can describe the indescribable.
On May 11, ten writers attempted a daring feat: Describing motherhood. From a copper-haired child of Holocaust survivors to a freshman at Marriotts Ridge, this group of storytellers told their truths to a sold-out crowd at the Carriage House in Columbia.
Listen to Your Mother Howard County, a local iteration of a national storytelling project, held its premiere on the night before Mother’s Day. A co-production of writers Faye McCray, Amanda Loudin and Susan Thornton Hobby, Listen to Your Mother Howard County offered ten radically different takes on motherhood.
But the thread – of reckless, ineffable love for children – carried through all ten tales.
Eleven, actually, since Nette Stokes, director of JustLiving Advocacy, spoke in an introduction about her life as a teen mother and the daughter of a strong mother. Listen to Your Mother Howard County raised more than $2,400 for JustLiving Advocacy, a nonprofit that aids local single parents.
“The event was a masterful curation of diverse stories and storytellers, directed by the talented local playwright and director Aladrian Wetzel,” said co-producer Faye McCray. “The audience was captivated, hanging on every word, moved to both tears and laughter. It reaffirmed a beautiful truth: stories unite us.”
Amanda Loudin, who attended a Listen to Your Mother show in Colorado and decided to launch the project here with her co-producers, said, “There are so many words to describe the evening: poignant, raw, funny, uplifting, inspiring … . I could go on. But I guess the word that best describes it is powerful. It was powerful to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with these storytellers as they courageously shared their truths. Mother, daughter, other–everyone could find something relatable from these stories. I’m so proud of what this group put together and hope that this year’s show is the first of many to come.”
For more information, email ltymhoco@gmail.com
To watch the full show, visit the Listen to Your Mother Howard County YouTube playlist:
Individual storytellers’ videos are here:
Introduction and Nette Stokes of JustLiving Advocacy
Margarete Levy, “Mama’s Advice”
Ashleigh Owens, “I’m Not Enjoying this Season of Motherhood”
Amanda Loudin, “Role Reversal”
Jillianne Trotter, “Mother F”
Susanna Sung, “Don’t Forget Who You Are”
Ashley Rappa, “Field of Artichokes”
Faye McCray, “Unfinished”
Kim Flyr, “The Pillow”
Iris Hai, “I Love You”
Susan Thornton Hobby, “To Do”
– Susan Thornton Hobby,
HoCoPoLitSo recording secretary
Wilde Readers of June: Kathy MacMillan & Sam Schmidt
HoCoPoLitSo welcomes all to the June edition of the Wilde Reading Series, with Kathy MacMillan and Sam Schmidt, hosted by Laura Shovan. Due to the closure of the Columbia Art Center for renovations, this month’s reading will be held via online livestream: please join us on Zoom, Tuesday, June 11th at 7 p.m. through the following link: bit.ly/wildereadingjune24
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 in the chat when you arrive, or let us know in advance by contacting HoCoPoLitSo or the Wilde Reading Series hosts.
Below, get to know Kathy and Sam!
Who is the person in your life (past or present) that shows up most often in your writing?
Kathy: My sister. She is 16 years older than I am, so we didn’t become close until we were adults, but I often find that she shows up in unexpected ways in my stories.
Sam: I would say my late father—because of all that went unresolved between us—followed by my wife Virginia Crawford (also a poet) and my eldest child Luca (pronouns they/them; singer-songwriter).
Where is your favorite place to write?
Kathy: An antique secretary desk in the corner of my living room. I try to keep that desk only for creative writing projects, not mundane things like paying bills.
Sam: I have a big Apple computer in the dining room—although sometimes I will speak or tap into my phone.
Do you have any consistent pre-writing rituals?
Kathy: Make a cup of apricot tea, light a candle, put on my writing sweater, pull up a chair next to my desk for my cat.
Sam: For my most recent book, Dark Bird, I took a picture of a particular tree each day. Thought about it all day while at work as my writing prompt. Then laid the poem down on the computer before going to bed.
Who always gets a first read?
Kathy: My critique partner (and sometimes co-author), Manuela.
Sam: My wife Virginia.
What is a book you’ve read more than twice (and would read again)?
Kathy: Watership Down by Richard Adams, The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien, and the Queen’s Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner.
Sam: For poetry, I regularly dip back into modernist classics: Leaves of Grass, The Wasteland, Wallace Stevens’ Harmonium and Idea of Order. I’m also a big fantasy fan. I have read The Lord of the Rings several times. When my kids were younger, I read the Harry Potter books several times, and not just for them. Right now I’m reading through Robin Hobbs’ Farseer trilogy for the second time.
What is the most memorable reading you have attended?
Kathy: Meg Eden Kuyatt’s launch for GOOD DIFFERENT. I am one of her critique partners and it was incredible to see that book come to life.
Sam: A recent reading at Manor Mill (Monkton) featuring Bruce Jacobs and Mark Sanders has to be up there. They both write poems that vibrate emotionally and bring passion to their delivery. The open mic brought out more fine poets, well known and less well known.
• Kathy MacMillan (she/her) is a writer, nationally certified American Sign Language interpreter, librarian, and signing storyteller. She writes picture books, children’s nonfiction, and middle grade and young adult fiction. Her debut young adult novel, Sword and Verse, was a finalist for the Compton Crook Award. She has also published eight resource books for educators, librarians, and parents.
Kathy can be found online at kathymacmillan.com, and on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter as “kathys_quill”. Her books are available for purchase from major online retailers— and with author signatures from the online store of Deaf Camps, Inc., in support of a great cause.
• Sam Schmidt‘s books include Suburban Myths (Beothuk Books 2012) and Dark Bird (Galileo Press 2024). For more than a decade he edited and published WordHouse, a newsletter for Maryland writers, and hosted the WordHouse reading series at the Minas Gallery. His work has been published in such journals as Passager, Free State Review, and Gargoyle. He is a three-time recipient of the Maryland State Individual Artist Grant and has a Master’s Degree in Comparative Literature from Johns Hopkins University. His wife Virginia Crawford, also a poet, is the author of questions for water (Apprentice House Press 2021). Sam lives and works in Baltimore, Maryland.
Find Sam online at darkbirdpoetry.com, or on Facebook, where he accepts friend requests from actual people. His books are available for purchase from the publisher, Galileo Press, and from Amazon.
Howard County Executive Calvin Ball Introduces World-renowned Poet Truth Thomas, Howard County’s Inaugural Poet Laureate
ELLICOTT CITY, MD – Howard County Executive Calvin Ball today announced Truth Thomas has been selected as Howard County’s inaugural Poet Laureate. In honor of National Poetry Month, Ball made the announcement during the Howard County Poetry and Literature Society’s (HoCoPoLitSo) Nightbird Reading at the 16th annual Blackbird Poetry Festival. Photos of the event can be seen here. Video of the event can be viewed here.
“We are incredibly fortunate to have such an active and vibrant literary arts community in Howard County. From our schools and gathering places, to our energized Downtowns and Main Streets, the arts are the heartbeat of our county, breathing life and meaning into our everyday lives,” said Ball. “I am thrilled to have the talented, terrific, transformative Truth Thomas serve as Howard County’s very first Poet Laureate. He brings a wealth of knowledge, experience, passion and creativity to this new role, and I am confident as Poet Laureate, he will elevate poetry in the consciousness of Howard County residents.”
A singer-songwriter, poet and photographer born in Knoxville, Tennessee and raised in Washington, D.C., Thomasstudied creative writing at Howard University and earned his Master of Fine Arts in poetry from New England College. The founder of Cherry Castle Publishing and creator of the “Skinny” poetry form, his collections include Party of Black, A Day of Presence, Bottle of Life, Speak Water and My TV is Not the Boss of Me. Winner of the 2013 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work in Poetry, his poems have appeared in more than 150 publications including: Callaloo, The Newtowner, New York Quarterly, The Emerson Review, The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South and The 100 Best African American Poems. His work focuses largely on matters of race and social justice, both nationally and worldwide. A former writer-in-residence for the HoCoPoLitSo, Thomas is currently a member of the Society’s Advisory Group.
“When I think about the blessing of being Howard County’s inaugural Poet Laureate, I celebrate most the opportunity to serve others through the arts–to honor the human dignity of all people. That is my literary prayer, to follow in the giant steps of great poets who have preceded me in that quest and—hopefully—leave a loving path for others to follow,” said Truth Thomas, Howard County’s Poet Laureate.
Ball first announced the launch of the County’s inaugural Poet Laureate program in partnership with the Howard County Arts Council and HoCoPoLitSo this past November. As the Howard County Poet Laureate, Thomas will serve as an ambassador for poetry, literature and the arts and contribute to Howard County’s poetic and literary legacy through public readings and participation in civic events. An honorary two-year position, Thomas will serve in this role from April 2024 through March 2026.
“I am delighted about Truth’s appointment as Howard County’s first Poet Laureate and look forward to working with him. Howard County has a proud history of influential poets and writers. Recognizing this, our inaugural Poet Laureate Review Panel emphasized the importance of the first appointee to be an exemplar for future poet laureates,” said Coleen West, Executive Director, Howard County Arts Council. “With the appointment of Truth, County Executive Ball has set the bar high. As a poet, writer, teacher and musician, Truth has already inspired so many. There is great power in his words, and he has so many stories to tell. In his new role as Howard County Poet Laureate, I am confident that Truth will have a profound impact on our community and on the next generation of aspiring poets as well.”
“HoCoPoLitSo celebrates the selection of Truth Thomas as the Inaugural Poet Laureate for Howard County and is grateful to County Executive Calvin Ball for embracing the role of the poet in public life. From its beginning, HoCoPoLitSo has sought to couple literary excellence with community engagement, to present authors whose revealing and penetrating work seeks to make a difference. Truth Thomas embodies HoCoPoLitSo’s 50th Anniversary theme, ‘Beyond Words, Beyond Borders,’ and we look forward to the many opportunities ahead for him to bring his inspiring voice to the community,” said Tara Hart, co-chair of HoCoPoLitSo Board of Directors.
Howard County Arts Council
The Howard County Arts Council was created in 1981 to serve the residents of Howard County by fostering the arts. The Arts Council is devoted to nurturing local artists and arts organizations, furthering the public’s appreciation of the arts and ensuring that the arts are accessible to all, regardless of age, ability, or economic status.
In his proposed Fiscal Year 2025 budget, Ball has included approximately $1.25 million in funding for the Arts Council to support its operations and its administration of local artist grant programs. In October, during his 2023 State of the County address, Ball announced that the Arts Council would be relocating its headquarters to the historic Circuit Courthouse located atop Historic Ellicott City. Following a full renovation and restoration of the historic building, it will be reopened as a new Center for Arts, Culture, and History in Ellicott City.
HoCoPoLitSo
Founded in 1974 by National Book Award finalist Ellen Conroy Kennedy, Prudence Barry and Jean Moon,HoCoPoLitSo engages the community with the literary arts by hosting events, offering literary workshops and producing local readings, lectures and presentations with critically acclaimed writers, including Nobel Laureates, U.S. Poets Laureate, and Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winners.
HoCoPoLitSo also produces literary workshops for college and public school students, teachers, emerging writers and others. With support from Howard Community College’s Dragon Digital TV, HoCoPoLitSo produces The Writing Life, an award-winning writer-to-writer interview show available on YouTube and Maryland community college stations. This year marks the 50th Anniversary celebration of the organization.
Poet Laureate Truth Thomas to read at Books In Bloom Festival
Wilde Readers of May: Eric D. Goodman & Charles Rammelkamp
HoCoPoLitSo welcomes all to the May edition of the Wilde Readings Series, with Eric D. Goodman and Charles Rammelkamp, hosted by Linda Joy Burke. Join us at the Columbia Art Center on Tuesday, May 14th 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 Eric and Charles!
Who is the person in your life (past or present) that shows up most often in your writing?
Eric: That’s a hard question to answer because rather than base characters or situations on a specific person, I tend to base them on aspects of different people or occurrences. For example, a character may be inspired by traits or reactions or situations of a number of different people. Friends and family have certainly recognized themselves (or certain situations) in my fiction and poetry before.
Charles: My wife, Abby.
Where is your favorite place to write?
Eric: There have been times that I’ve written on the fly, in a cafe or bar, park or restaurant. But my favorite place to write (unless I’m on a writing retreat) is at my own desk in my own home. Portions of all my books have been written at the same simple, pine desk that used to belong to my father, although most of my writing now takes place at the desk in my home office where my computer awaits.
Charles: At the computer.
Do you have any consistent pre-writing rituals?
Eric: I do my best writing in the morning, after a cup (or two) of coffee. When I’m submerged in a project, I tend to do a little reading or research for an hour or so before jumping into the writing.
Charles: Not particularly.
Who always gets a first read?
Eric: I have a small group of about half a dozen writer friends who always get gifted (or burdened) with a first read— but not until I feel my first draft is reader-ready. I’ve come to depend on these beta readers because I do believe writing in isolation without a sounding board can make for less clear writing. If three or four readers independently think something isn’t working, it probably isn’t working no matter how much I may want it to.
Charles: Of my writing? I have a few penpals I try things out on, writers/poets themselves.
What is a book you’ve read more than twice (and would read again)?
Eric: There are many. I’m a big fan of Steinbeck and have read The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, and East of Eden several times. I’m also a fan of George Saunders and have read Pastoralia and Tenth of December more than once. And some of the books of Alice Monroe, Jonathan Franzen, and David Mitchell. Reading a book that you loved again is like comfort food. Even though my list of new books to read never gets shorter, I still take time to read old books again.
Charles: Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov.
What is the most memorable reading you have attended?
Eric: I once participated in an anthology reading that had a negative audience-to-reader ratio. There were more readers than there were members in the audience. That was memorable, although not necessarily in a good way. We still had a fun time.
Charles: T.C. Boyle at AWP Minneapolis, 2015.
• Eric D. Goodman is author of seven books, including Faraway Tables (Yorkshire Publishing, forthcoming), Wrecks and Ruins (Loyola University’s Apprentice House Press, 2022), The Color of Jadeite (Apprentice House, 2020), Setting the Family Free (Apprentice House, 2019), Womb: a novel in utero (Merge Publishing, 2017), Tracks: A Novel in Stories (Atticus Books, 2011), and Flightless Goose (Writer’s Lair, 2008) and more than 100 published travel stories, short stories and articles. He’s also co-founder and curator of Baltimore’s Lit and Art Reading Series.
You can learn more about Eric and his writing at ericdgoodman.com, and on Facebook as edgewriter and Twitter @edgewrite.
• Charles Rammelkamp is Prose Editor for BrickHouse Books in Baltimore. His poetry collection, A
Magician Among the Spirits, poems about Harry Houdini, is a 2022 Blue Light Press Poetry winner. Another
poetry collection entitled Transcendence has also recently been published by BlazeVOX Books and a
collection of flash fiction, Presto, has just been published by Bamboo Dart Press. A collection of poems and flash called See What I Mean? will be published later this year by Kelsay Books.
Keeping it old-school, Charles does not maintain a personal website, but his books are available through Amazon and independent sellers, and a search for his name will turn up results in numerous online and print journals.
Wilde Readers of April: Nancy Naomi Carlson & Esperanza Hope Snyder
HoCoPoLitSo welcomes all to the April edition of the Wilde Readings Series, with Nancy Naomi Carlson and Esperanza Hope Snyder, hosted by Ann Bracken. Join us at the Columbia Art Center on Tuesday, April 9th 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 Nancy and Esperanza!
Who is the person in your life (past or present) that shows up most often in your writing?
Nancy: This is a great question! I’d have to say “me,” from my past and present life, as my work is deeply personal. It would be lovely to have the “me” from any past lives show up, but that would be an answer to a very different question.
Esperanza: Growing up in Bogotá I spent a great deal of time with my grandfather. He taught me about poetry. Memorizing poems and reciting them was our favorite pastime. My grandfather shows up a great deal in my writing because he was the first person who introduced me to the literary world. I feel he inspired me to pursue writing.
Where is your favorite place to write?
Nancy: I’m not one who can write or translate under a tree on a perfect spring day, nor can I write by a pool or lake. I can’t write “on demand” in a workshop or at a residency. Actually the only place I seem to be able to write is seated at my desk in my study (where I am right now), with everything I need at my fingertips. Even the necessary snacks.
Esperanza: I enjoy writing in my study, surrounded by my favorite books and photographs. It’s the space where I get the greatest inspiration for my work.
Do you have any consistent pre-writing rituals?
Nancy: Absolutely. I usually have to engage in a lot of pre-writing thinking, jotting down ideas (an image or thought; a possible title; a repeating line for a villanelle; a quote from a philosopher or writer, preferably French) on yellow stickies. This process can take days or weeks. I also pick up the pace of my journal reading, choosing ones that particularly inspire me, like The Southern Review, Prairie Schooner, APR, hoping to find the “missing link” that connects the many ideas in my head and on the yellow stickies. Typically the inspiration comes (or doesn’t) on a Friday night, when I go to my computer with hardly any expectations, armed only with chocolate and chips. Invariably, after several hours, a new poem starts to take shape.
Esperanza: My pre-writing ritual includes journaling, meditation and drinking coffee.
Who always gets a first read?
Nancy: One editor/friend of mine has seen the first draft of almost every poem I’ve written for over a decade. (I don’t show him my translations, as I know if they’re “there” or not.)
Esperanza: When I feel the piece I’m working on is ready to be shared and I want feedback, if it’s a poem, I send it to a poet with whom I work closely. If it’s prose, I send it to my editor.
What is a book you’ve read more than twice (and would read again)?
Nancy: Although I watch the same movies again and again, I don’t tend to re-read books, as there are so many I haven’t read yet.
Esperanza: I’m currently reading Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey, and I would read it again. It’s wonderful. In graduate school I fell in love with Don Quixote and have often returned to Cervantes’s masterpiece. I’ve also read Jack Gilbert’s poetry book, Refusing Heaven, several times.
What is the most memorable reading you have attended?
Nancy: When I was in Calcutta conducting a master class in translation at the Seagull School of Publishing, I had the extreme pleasure of attending a reading by Palestinian poet Ghassan Zaqtan and his translator. His reading was electric.
Esperanza: Due to my connection with the Bread Loaf Writers Conference, I’ve been fortunate to attend many memorable readings. Ilya Kaminsky‘s poetry reading was one of them. Additionally, I’ll never forget Stanley Plumly‘s reading of his poem, “Cancer”.
• Nancy Naomi Carlson‘s translation of Khal Torabully’s Cargo Hold of Stars: Coolitude (Seagull Books, 2021) won the Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize. Delicates (Seagull Books, 2023), her co-translation of Wendy Guerra with Esperanza Hope Snyder, was noted in The New York Times, as was An Infusion of Violets (Seagull, 2019), her second full-length poetry collection. Piano in the Dark (Seagull Books, 2023), another full-length poetry collection, was recently published. She serves as the Translations Editor for On the Seawall.
Nancy can be found online at www.nancynaomicarlson.com.
• Born in Bogotá, Colombia, Esperanza Hope Snyder is a poet, a novelist, and a playwright. Honors include the Donald Everitt Axinn Award in Poetry for Bread Loaf, and fellowships for The Gettysburg Review and The Kenyon Review. Assistant Director of Bread in Sicily, co-coordinator of the Lorca Prize, her poetry book, Esperanza and Hope was published by Sheep Meadow Press (2018). Her co-translation with Nancy Naomi Carlson, of Wendy Guerra’s poetry, was noted in The New York Times.
You can find more from Esperanza at www.esperanzahopesnyder.com, or on Instagram, @esperanza_hope_snyder.
Poetry, Speak Easy — HoCoPoLitSo’s 16th Annual Blackbird Poetry Festival
Nate Marshall headlines the Blackbird Poetry Festival to be held on April 25th, 2024, at Howard Community College (HCC). Now in its 16th consecutive year, the festival is a day devoted to verse, presented in partnership between HoCoPoLitSo and HCC, and including a student workshop, multiple poetry readings, HCC Poetry Ambassadors, a recording session of HoCoPoLitSo’s writer-to-writer talk show The Writing Life— and newly this year, the evening reading will welcome on-stage Howard County Executive Dr. Calvin Ball, to announce the inaugural Howard County Poet Laureate!
While the event is free and public, RSVP is required to attend the 7 p.m. Nightbird evening reading where the announcement will be made, available now through this link while limited seating lasts: bit.ly/blackbird16
The event kicks off with an 11 a.m. writing workshop in the Science, Engineering, and Technology Building room 101 (SET-101), led by HoCoPoLitSo’s 2023–2024 academic year Bauder Writer-in-Residence, Hayes Davis. The afternoon Sunbird Reading features guest artist Nate Marshall, local authors, and Howard Community College faculty and students, at 2 p.m. in the same space, SET-101.
Finally, the festival culminates its daylong celebration of poetry with the Nightbird Reading, in the Rouse Company Foundation Studio Theatre of the Peter and Elizabeth Horowitz Visual and Performing Arts Center on HCC campus; doors open at 6:30 p.m. for the 7 p.m. performance. Nightbird features guest artist Nate Marshall; Howard County Poetry Out Loud winners; and the exciting announcement of the Howard County Poet Laureate appointee by the County Executive. Complementary light refreshments are offered, including adult beverages to guests providing proof of age. Reception, book sale and signing to follow the reading.
Free tickets can be reserved while seats last through the Horowitz Center Box Office, at bit.ly/blackbird16 or by phone to 443-518-1500 Wed.–Fri., 12–4 p.m. Find more information on hocopolitso.org/blackbird-poetry-festival.
• Nate Marshall is a poet, playwright, performer, educator, speaker and rapper, and the award-winning author and editor of numerous works including Finna, Wild Hundreds, The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop, and the audio drama, Bruh Rabbit & The Fantastic Telling of Remington Ellis Esq. He is an assistant professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has previously taught at a number of institutions including Colorado College, Wabash College, Young Chicago Authors, Northwestern University, InsideOut Literary Arts, and the University of Michigan. Nate was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago.
• Hayes Davis is a poet and educator who has taught English in Washington, D.C. area independent schools for 24 years, and currently teaches at Sandy Spring Friends School where he serves primarily as Assistant Director of Institutional Equity, Justice, and Belonging. His first collected volume of poetry, Let Our Eyes Linger, was published by Poetry Mutual Press in 2016, and his work has appeared in many journals and anthologies. Hayes lives in Silver Spring, MD with his wife, poet Teri Ellen Cross Davis, and their two children.
Entering its semicentennial in autumn of 2024, the Howard County Poetry & Literature Society— HoCoPoLitSo for short— has for the past near-50 years nurtured a love and respect for the diversity of contemporary literary arts in Howard County. The society sponsors numerous literary readings; the Bauder Writer-in-Residence program providing for a current working author to visit Howard County high school classrooms; produces The Writing Life talk show; and partners with many other cultural arts organizations to support the arts in Howard County, Maryland. More information is available at hocopolitso.org, and tax-deductible donations are always welcomed.
HoCoPoLitSo is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and receives funding from Howard County Government, Howard County and Maryland State Arts Councils, Community Foundation of Howard County, Dr. Lillian Bauder, The Reis Foundation, and generous individual contributors. The Howard County Poet Laureate program is administrated in partnership between HoCoPoLitSo, Howard County Arts Council, and the Office of the Howard County Executive. Proceeds support live and recorded literary programs produced by HoCoPoLitSo for student and general audiences.
Howard County Youth Poet Laureate Applications Now Open!
Last year, HoCoPoLitSo announced the establishment of the first-ever position of Howard County Poet Laureate, created in partnership with the Office of County Executive Calvin Ball and the Howard County Arts Council. Today, we are excited to open applications for the first term of the Howard County Youth Poet Laureate position for all eligible young poets!
The Youth Poet Laureate, an honorary one-year position formally appointed by the County Executive, will act as an ambassador for literacy, arts, and youth expression in Howard County, demonstrating their passion for poetry, and its power to connect our local community through participation in public readings and civic events.
The next Youth Poet Laureate will serve from August 2024 – June 2025, and will receive an honorarium of $500 for their one-year term. The position is open to young writers, between the ages of 14–21 at the time of application, who either reside in or will be available to present at in-person events in Howard County— for example, those attending a college or university next year within commuting distance. Applications are open now, until May 30th, 2024. To learn more about the program please visit the HCAC program landing page here or review the complete program guidelines.
Eligible candidates may apply now by clicking HERE! The deadline for submissions is May 30, 2024.
Wilde Readers of March: Fran Abrams & Jared Smith
HoCoPoLitSo welcomes all to the March edition of the Wilde Readings Series, with Fran Abrams and Jared Smith, hosted by Linda Joy Burke. Join us at the Columbia Art Center on Tuesday, March 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 Fran and Jared!
Who is the person in your life (past or present) that shows up most often in your writing?
Fran: My mother who passed away over 50 years ago. She not only shows up but also inspires my writing. I credit her with encouraging my love for the arts and humanities.
Jared: The people I write about most often are working people who find dignity in the jobs they do and who respect those around them. They are thoughtful types who enjoy music, art, and the world around them rather than money or thinking about getting ahead. I have very seldom written in my poetry about individual people I have known, but rather what has been accomplished by them or experienced by them. I seldom mention them by name.
Where is your favorite place to write?
Fran: At my dining room table. Even though I have an office and a desktop computer, I love the afternoon light that comes into my dining room and enjoy writing on my laptop in that setting.
Jared: I take notes in my head for lines of poetry wherever I am, whether at work, or walking in the forest, or observing people at a coffee shop, or any of the other activities I’m involved in each day. These phrases, lines of poetry and the images they come from flow together over a period of time until they begin to lead to a new vision or understanding of some aspect of life that is new and exciting to me. Then I go into my study where I begin to put them down on paper, generally working on my computer because the visions and thoughts flow faster than I can write longhand.
Do you have any consistent pre-writing rituals?
Fran: No. I write when inspiration hits— no time for rituals. I send myself rough drafts by email on my phone, and as I noted, I write at my desk and at the dining room table. Sometimes I will simply stop in the middle of checking emails or other tasks and start writing, picking up a thread that just ran through my mind.
Jared: I’ve always found it important to have a ritual to prepare my mind for entering into the nonlinear poetic trance necessary to my writing. Key for me is my study, which is covered on three walls with bookshelves bulging with both hardcover books and hundreds of small press magazines and journals dating from the European Romantics to the present day. The other walls contains abstract art paintings and drawings. Having those books, journals, and artworks surrounding me somehow infuses me with and makes me a part of the unending conversation all poets and creative people enter into across time as to what life is and how rich it is.
Who always gets a first read?
Fran: I spend a great deal of time revising my own poems. However, I am very fortunate to participate in two workshop groups. When I feel a poem is close to being finished, but not quite there, I share it with one of those groups.
Jared: Generally my wife gets the first read.
What is a book you’ve read more than twice (and would read again)?
Fran: One of my favorite books of poetry is Scattered Clouds by Reuben Jackson who sadly passed away recently. I have read it many times and expect to read it again. I’ve also written a Golden Shovel poem based on one of his poems.
Jared: There are so many books I read and re-read for pleasure . . . books of poetry, novels, essays. I have hundreds of volumes of poetry and novels in my study but I guess that The Wasteland And Other Poems by T.S. Eliot has to be the book of poetry I’ve gone back to most often. Among novels I’ve gone back most often is Catch-22 by Joseph Heller and The Lord Of The Rings by Tolkien. Looking For Dragon Smoke by Robert Bly is the best essay I’ve come across on how modern poetry works.
What is the most memorable reading you have attended?
Fran: A reading by Aaron Caycedo-Kimura at the Gaithersburg Book Festival was the most memorable. His two books—a full-length collection titled Common Grace and a chapbook titled Ubasute—include some of the most moving poems I’ve encountered, and his reading of the poems was superb.
Jared: There have been so many! The earliest was one I attended by Galway Kinnell, when I was a young boy and went up to talk with him afterwards and he told me that he thought I would become a good poet. Somewhat later I took a two hour bus trip to head to a reading by Robert Bly, and that led to many years of correspondence with him. A reading by Beat poet Gregory Corso in New York led to the two of us hanging out together for several months. A reading W.S. Merwin gave to celebrate the publication of his book Migration led to an extended talk with him and resulted in my reviewing the book for The Pedestal Magazine. And then there are all the wonderful meetings and talks I have had with both known and unknown poets at open mics over the years! It is wonderful to listen to poets converse as well as read their works.
• Fran Abrams’ poems have been published in Cathexis-Northwest Press, The American Journal of Poetry, The Ravens Perch, Delmarva Review, Gargoyle, and many others. Her poems also appear in more than a dozen anthologies. Her autobiographical book of poems titled I Rode the Second Wave: A Feminist Memoir was published in November 2022. Her first chapbook, The Poet Who Loves Pythagoras, was released in April 2023. Her second chapbook, Arranging Words, was published in November 2023.
Fran lives in Rockville, Maryland and can be found online at franabramspoetry.com, and on Facebook as Fran Abrams, Poet.
• Jared Smith is the author of 16 books of poetry, as well as two stage productions. His poems, essays, and commentary have appeared in hundreds of journals and anthologies in this country and overseas. He is Poetry Editor of Turtle Island Quarterly, and served on the editorial boards of New York Quarterly, Home Planet News, and The Pedestal Magazine, along with the boards of arts and literary nonprofits in New York, Illinois, and Colorado.
You can find more on Jared at his home page, jaredsmith.info.
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