Quitman Marshall in Conversation with James Hendrick

Take a holistic dive into the meaning of swamps, specifically the Congaree in the center of South Carolina, with Quitman Marshall author of Swampitude. Marshal will be in conversation with James Hendrick on Thursday, October 10th at 6 PM at Hub City Bookshop. Discover what the Congaree means not just to the south but in all aspects of historical, ecological and social importance.

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Swampitude: Escapes with the Congaree explores and meditates upon the social, literary, historical, personal, ecological, psychological, and political meanings of a swamp: swamps in general, and a particular swamp, the Congaree in the center of South Carolina, which has been designated a United Nations Biosphere Reserve and is now Congaree National Park.

A magical place of escape and fecundity, the Congaree Swamp, emblematic of all such often forbidding terrains, is the largest old-growth river bottom forest in the United States.

It is in the American South and has filtered much of that region's history. The Congaree is also lucky to have gathered an environmental movement, escaped the fate of most similar wetlands, and to continue to flood, drain, and provide refuge for all creatures in need of it.

This book celebrates the survival, the stories, and the continuance of such places.

Quitman Marshall, born and raised in Columbia, SC, later he lived in Barcelona, D.C., Amherst, and, for a dozen years, New York City. He was the founding coordinator of the Literary Series at Spoleto Festival USA. His new book, SWAMPITUDE: ESCAPES WITH THE CONGAREE was twice a finalist for the River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Book Prize. YOU WERE BORN ONE TIME (Ninety-Six Press, 2014), his book of poems, won the 2013 SC Poetry Archives Book Prize. He has published several chapbooks, including THE BIRTH GIFT (1986), 14th STREET (1988), and THE SLOW COMET (1996), all from the Hale Press. In 1996 he won the Writers Exchange Award sponsored by Poets & Writers, Inc. He moved to Paris in 1999, and since 2001 has lived in Beaufort, SC, with his wife, Martine, and their three children.

James Hendrick grew up in Spartanburg. Aside from a brief time in New York, he lived in Columbia but recently returned to Spartanburg where he’s trying to decide whether one can go home again. (At least he’s found and supports Hub City Bookshop.) After undergrad University of South Carolina, he became an auditor for a large SC bank before transferring to the mailroom and finishing graduate work in English and education. He taught for over 30 years in Columbia and became intimate with the Congaree Swamp. After retirement, he worked with a notable SC horticulturist on two books but now spends his time volunteering at a local garden and reading. He’s known Quitman for over 30 years and has followed him through the swamps of life.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Hub City Bookshop & Press, 186 West Main Street, Spartanburg, United States