In celebration of April as National Poetry Month, the Waccamaw Library’s "First Thursday program" will welcome unsighted poet Ann Chadwell Humphries on April 7.
Humphries will deliver a 10 a.m. presentation entitled “A Poet and the Gift of Blindness,” exploring how the loss of her vision led to the development of her writerly vision. The program will take place in the library auditorium at 41 St. Paul Place, Pawleys Island.
All First Thursday events begin at 10 a.m., and are free and open to the public. If you miss a presentation, videos are made available afterward on the Library’s YouTube Channel.
As an adult, Humphries gradually lost her sight from a genetic disorder. Yet she has used poetry to respond to this transition and to develop other senses — the sense of memory, the sense of concentration, the sense of organization, etc. — so that now she considers blindness a gift.
The winner of poetry contests, awards, and scholarships, Humphries has published work everywhere from literary journals to city buses. Muddy Ford Press selected her poetry collection, “An Eclipse and a Butcher” (2020), for its Laureate series, and she was designated a Notable Woman by the University of South Carolina’s Special Collections Library. Ann Chadwell Humphries’ appearance is sponsored by S.C. Humanities and the Friends of the Waccamaw Library.