Meet Dawn Radford...

Dawn Radford graciously agreed to join us again at the 2007 St. George Island Writers' Retreat to tell us about the Apalachicola Bay area she loves and calls home. This year we celebrated the release of her first novel, Oyster Flats! One of her poems, seen below, will give you a little taste of her rare talent. We know we'll be hearing and reading more about Dawn's work. We hope that we'll have a chance to spend more time with her in person..

Raised in Apalachicola, Florida, Dawn Evans Radford holds an MFA in Creative Writing and an MA in English from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. In 1993, she received the Sherwood Anderson Foundation Award for a short story set in Apalachicola. Other honors include an Emerging Artist grant from the North Carolina Arts Council. Published in a variety of genres, including poetry, fiction, and scholarly research, she teaches and performs in educational, literary, volunteer and professional arenas.

Dawn's novel, Oyster Flats, was released on October 15, 2007. See the details on the home page of Pottersville Press where her book is featured right now. We are so proud! Ms. Radford lives in Eastpoint, Florida, where she is currently writing a second novel and preparing to publish a third book of poetry.

Click here to buy Oyster Flats from the publisher.

AUTHOR VISITS
Dawn maintains a busy schedule of readings, classes and talks. If your group is intersted in hosting her at one of your functions, please contact her as follows:

Dawn Evans Radford
103 Whispering Pines Drive
Eastpoint, FL 32328
dawn_radford@hotmail.com
850-670-1315

Meet Dawn Evans Radford

Dawn is very active. She is running for county commissioner in Franklin County, FL, and also attending readings and offering classes and programs. Here's a partial calendar:

March 28 - Miramar (Broward County, FL), .

March 29 - Port St Lucie, FL, Morningside Library.

April 12, 2008. Gulf Coast Genealogical Society

August 21, 2008 - Ridge St. Coffee Co., Glens Falls, NY

August 22, 2008 - Dog Ate My Homework, Glens Falls, NY

August 23, 2008 - Adirondack Mountain Writers' Retreat, Thurman, NY

August 24, 2008 - Trees Book and Gift Shop, Bolton Landing, NY

September 18, 2008 - Jasper, Georgia, sponsored by Bent Tree Book Clubs (1:30 p.m.) and Jasper Friends of the Libraray (7 p.m.)

September 19, 2008, 10 a.m., guest of Big Canoe Book Clubs. Details to come.

November 5, 2008 - Apalachicola a la Carte Workshop Day for Writers. Dawn will present a workshop called "Go Fishing: Catching Content for Your Writing," and participate in a panel discussing "Getting Published: Taking your Baby from Desktop to Bookshop," as well as presenting a reading that evening. Event to be held at Trinity Episcopal Church, Apalachicola, FL. For details go to www.PersisGranger.com/St._George_Home1.htm

North Georgia. They begin in Jasper on Sept 18th and are sponsored by the Bent Tree Book Clubs (1:30 pm) and Jasper Friends of the Library (7pm). On Fri. 19th at 10 am, the Big Canoe book clubs will sponsor. I can get more details.

Oysterman

The oysterman groans and rolls over into the four o'clock cold
to pull on white rubber boots and layers of shirts.

By bald-faced bulb light he gulps fatback, grits and biscuits,
coffee sweetened to a syrup,
then gives his sleepy-eyed wife his last dollar.

He wades the black bay to his oysterboat and sputters
into the dawn away from the sleeping town.

With shrinking shadow and twelve-foot tweezers, he probes
the bay bottom, forces mudclusters of oysters
that clunk into his boat.

By four o'clock sun, he shakes ice from his beard
and guides his heavy boat across the bay to the dock
where he trades a harvest in wire baskets

for a palmfull of dollars.
By bulb light he pares mudbaked clothes and steams
clean in a galvanized tub of stove-heated water.

Over supper of beans and fatback, a platter of hoecakes,
the oysterman boasts to his bright-eyed wife of the Selects
he tonged today-

oysters that will grace the lace
and china tables of New York, Chicago, Atlanta, St. Louis.

Oysterman © Dawn Radford - - - Photo courtesy of Dawn Radford