Messiah College hosts reading by novelist and poet Kwame Dawes
March 9th, 2010
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GRANTHAM, Pa. (March 9, 2010) — Messiah College hosts novelist, poet, musician and AIDS activist Kwame Dawes for a reading on March 30. The reading will include excerpts from his various collections of poetry and prose followed by a time of questions and answers. The reading will take place at 7:30 p.m. in Hostetter Chapel on the college’s Grantham campus. Admission is free, and no ticket is necessary. For more information, call 717-766-2511, ext. 2412.
Dawes spent the majority of his youth growing up in Jamaica, and many of his writings reflect his passion and understanding of the Jamaican culture, including specializations in reggae aesthetics. For example, his book, “Bob Marley: Lyrical Genius,” focuses on Marley as an inspirational and political performer whom expressed emotions of being a black man in a world where segregation still existed. In addition to his non-fiction works, Dawes has also written verse, fiction, essays, children stories and plays that have been published or performed across the globe. Currently, Dawes is the executive director of the South Carolina Poetry Institute as well as the director of the University of South Carolina Arts Institute. He is also the programming director of the Calabash International Literary Festival, an annual production of workshops, seminars and performances held in Jamaica to help reshape the literary arts in the Caribbean.
Messiah College, a private Christian college of the liberal and applied arts and sciences, enrolls 2,800 undergraduate students in more than 60 majors. Established in 1909, the primary campus is located in Grantham, Pa., near the state capital of Harrisburg. A satellite campus affiliated with Temple University is located in Philadelphia.
