The Georgetown County Library will present a series of 5 writing workshops around Georgetown County in May 2025 led by the newly-named Georgetown County Library Poet Laureate, Marlanda Dekine. The “Writing the Family” workshop will be offered at each of the five different library branches in the county. The workshops will include a presentation and facilitated dialogue on the topic, close readings of work by other poets, writing prompts, and a roundtable to share initial drafts. SC Humanities supported this program series with a Fast Track Literary Grant.
In January 2025, the Georgetown County Library announced the appointment of Marlanda Dekine as its first official Poet Laureate. A native of the historic Plantersville district, Dekine is an accomplished writer who is the author of Thresh & Hold (Hub City Press, 2022) and i am from a punch & a kiss (unnamed LLC, 2017). She is one of fifty poets who contributed work to the new Coast Lines poetry anthology, which contains over 140 poems exploring the amazing flora and fauna of the South Carolina coastal plain alongside dozens of photographs of the region by Philip Wilkinson. In addition to Coast Lines, Dekine’s work has also been anthologized in This is the Honey: An Anthology of Contemporary Black Poets, What Things Cost: An Anthology for the People, and Ecological Solidarities: Mobilizing Faith and Justice in an Entangled World. She has received awards and fellowships from the South Carolina Arts Commission, South Carolina Humanities, Castle of our Skins, Tin House, Hub City Press, and the Palm Beach Poetry Festival. Her poems have been set to music by composers, performed by chamber ensembles and singers, and published by literary magazines worldwide.
For the “Writing the Family” workshops, participants will investigate why writing about our family can be difficult and complex, including how families change over time and effective ways to be authentic and ethical. Through studying craft techniques, including psychic distance, voice, tone, simile, metaphor, etc., participants will use the epistolary and narrative forms to write poems about family and ancestors. Personal family stories or memories will be remembered to generate new poems. Poet Laureate Dekine will bring in poems from emerging and established poets relevant to the topic for close readings, offer a presentation on exploring family dynamics, and facilitate group dialogue. Dekine will also present two to three generative writing prompts for participants to complete within the session. Participants will be encouraged to share their poetry drafts in a roundtable format. Dekine will offer feedback on participants’ poems and facilitate peer feedback.
All sessions are free and open to the public. However, space is limited. Please register online at: www.marlandadekine.com.
Monday, May 12 | 10:00 – 11:30 a.m.
Writing the Family Workshop
Location: Southern Georgetown Library, 4187 Powell Road, Georgetown, SC 29440
Tuesday, May 13 | 10:00 – 11:30 a.m.
Writing the Family Workshop
Location: Waccamaw Library, 41 St. Paul Place, Pawleys Island, SC 29585
Wednesday, May 14 | 10:00 – 11:30 a.m.
Writing the Family Workshop
Location: Georgetown Library, 405 Cleland Street, Georgetown, SC 29440
Thursday, May 15 | 10:00 – 11:30 a.m.
Writing the Family
Location: Carvers Bay Library, 13048 Choppee Road, Hemingway, SC 29554
Friday, May 16 | 1:30 – 3:00 p.m.
Writing the Family
Location: Andrews Library, 105 N. Morgan Avenue, Andrews, SC 29510
The mission of the Georgetown County Library is “to serve as a community resource that expands and enriches the lives of residents by providing and promoting the use of the library system’s information, education, and recreation resources.” Learn more: https://www.gtcounty.org/187/Georgetown-County-Library.
The mission of SC Humanities is to enrich the cultural and intellectual lives of all South Carolinians. Established in 1973, this 501(c)3 organization is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors comprised of community leaders from throughout the state. It presents and supports literary initiatives, lectures, exhibits, festivals, publications, oral history projects, videos, and other humanities-based experiences that directly or indirectly reach more than 250,000 citizens annually. South Carolina Humanities receives funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities as well as corporate, foundation and individual donors. The National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom.
