Jacquelyn Markham
The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center will host a public launch event for Jacquelyn Markham’s new collection of poetry, Rainbow Warrior, on Thursday, May 18, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at 601 Bladen St., in downtown Beaufort. No advance registration required. Books will be available for sale and signing. Refreshments will be provided. The author will give a reading from her new book at 6:30 p.m.
“Jacquelyn Markham’s dedication of Rainbow Warrior to Rachel Carson prepares us for the power of this collection. Each of the ten poems gives us not only an insightful appreciation of nature but an awareness of its fragility in the lives of humans who too often view themselves as ‘gods’ in relation to it, enjoying what they will without understanding they are destroying it. Drawing from indigenous lore, and imagining the voices of the people directly affected, Markham—as though herself listening to the spirit of the sea in a spiral shell, as though heartfully calling on sky power—expresses outrage and terror in the dark necessary reminder that warfare’s bombs and greed’s oil drilling have poisoned our Earth. ‘I plunge into the water trying/yet I wonder will we survive?’ epitomizes the spirit of this strong sequence compelling in silent reading and superbly ready to be performed aloud by many voices.” – Katharyn Howd Machan, author of Dark Side of the Spoon and other collections
Dr. Jacquelyn Markham has loved poetry since wandering through the meadow along a mint-lined brook as a child in rural Michigan. She has written poetry for nearly as long, so as a freshman in college, she decided to make a career of it. After earning her bachelor’s degree in English, she earned a master’s and a doctorate in English and Creative Writing from Florida State University. Author of two chapbooks and a personal mythology, Peering Into the Iris: An Ancestral Journey, she has published nationally and internationally in literary journals, magazines, and anthologies, including Archive: South Carolina Poetry Since 2005, Adrienne Rich: A Tribute Anthology, Anthology of Appalachian Writers, Lullwater Review, Hawaii Pacific Review, The High Window, and Woman and Earth, among others. Markham enjoyed a rich academic career from which she retired as a full professor. She currently mentors poets and writers, making her home in Beaufort.
To learn more about the Pat Conroy Literary Center, please visit www.patconroyliterarycenter.org.
