Poet Hadaway to Read from Her New Collection

CHESTERTOWN—Poet Meredith Davies Hadaway will read from her newly published collection, The River is a Reason (2011, Word Press), on January 26 at Washington College. The book launch event—a tribute to the Chester River in words, images and music—­­features work by artist Marcy Dunn Ramsey, whose painting is featured on the cover of Hadaway’s book, and performances by local musicians.

The event takes place at 6 p.m. in Tawes Theatre, Gibson Center for the Arts, on the Washington College campus (300 Washington Avenue). It is sponsored by the College’s Center for Environment & Society and the Sophie Kerr Committee.

Hadaway, the College’s vice president for college relations and marketing, has taught literature and composition courses as an adjunct in the Department of English. She holds an M.F.A. in poetry from Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Fellow poet Peter Campion described her work as "a blend of down-to-earth congeniality and genuine intensity." Of her latest collection, he wrote, " . . . these poems are dignified throughout by a master's feel for sentence and line."

Hadaway's home sits some 30 feet from the bank of the Chester River and the water is visible from nearly every room. "You cannot live beside a river and not be influenced by it," she observes. "A river, with its tidal flux and constant motion, is the perfect metaphor for our lives on this planet."

Hadaway has been published in numerous literary journals and serves as poetry editor for The Summerset Review. She has been a fellow of the Virginia Center for Creative Arts and has received two Pushcart nominations. A poem from her new collection received honorable mention for the Robinson Jeffers Tor House Poetry Prize in 2010. Another will appear in the forthcoming anthology, Best Millennium Writings.

The River is a Reason is available in area and online bookstores. For information on the January 26 reading and reception, call the Center for Environment & Society at 410-778-7295.