Hub City's newest book, TWENTY: South Carolina Poetry Fellows, is not just another poetry collection. Here, 20 Palmetto State writers who have received the state's highest honor in creative writing present five of their favorite poems and tell readers what these works reveal about their lives as poets.

"These poets have introduced themselves to us, and all of them provide us with remarkable insights into why poets write," says editor Kwame Dawes in his introduction to the book. "Their short essays are wonderful apologies for the art of making poems."

The poets include: Paul Allen, Jan Bailey, Cathy Smith Bowers, Jessica Bundschuh, Stephen Corey, Robert Cumming, Debra Daniel, Carol Ann Davis, Curtis Derrick, Linda Ferguson, Starkey Flythe, Angela Kelly, John Lane, Susan Ludvigson, Terri McCord, John Ower, Ron Rash, Paul Rice, Warren Slesinger, and Kathleen Whitten. Each has won a Poetry Fellowship from the South Carolina Arts Commission during the period 1977-2004.

The book is available in paperback and hardback. The South Carolina State Library has purchased 275 hardback copies for every branch in the state. Kwame Dawes, Jan Bailey, John Lane, and Linda Ferguson will participate in a panel discussion of the book at the forthcoming South Carolina Book Festival at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center, Feb. 19 at 10 am. Other readings and signings include:

Feb. 24, 6:30-8 pm, Pic-a-Book, Spartanburg March 1, 7:30 pm, College of Charleston, Arnold Hall, Jewish Studies Center March 14, 6 p.m., Open Book, Greenville

TWENTY is a collaboration between the Hub City Writers Project and the South Carolina Arts Commission The two organizations collaborated on an earlier book of award-winning short fiction, Inheritance: Selections from the South Carolina Fiction Project, edited by Janette Turner Hospital (2001). "Readers who are already devoted to poetry and readers new to poetry will take great pleasure in this volume," says Sara June Goldstein, director of Literary Arts for the state Arts Commission.

Cover artwork was provided by Columbia artist Marcelo Novo.

Editor Kwame Dawes is a tireless editor, actor, poet, musician, playwright and critic. Since 1992 he has been teaching English at the University of South Carolina where he is the Distinguished Poet-in-Residence. He also serves as director of the South Carolina Poetry Initiative, a statewide organization that promotes and celebrates the reading, writing and performing of poetry across South Carolina. He has published eight collections of poetry and was a winner of the Pushcart Prize for best American poetry in 2001. He writes a regular column on poetry, "Poetically Speaking," in Columbia's The State newspaper.

TWENTY is available at bookstores and in the book catalog on this website. Or call 577-9349.