South Carolina History through Poetry with Kimberly Simms - Episode 50

Dr. Curtis Rogers discusses South Carolina cotton mill history through the poetry of author Kimberly J. Simms. Kimberly is graduate of Furman and Clemson Universities and her work has appeared in over 30 literary journals including the Asheville Poetry Review and the Broad River Review. She is a Pushcart Prize nominee and her work is included in the South Carolina Poetry Archives at Furman University. She is the proud founder of Wits End Poetry, a non-profit now celebrating 15 years of creating South Carolina poetry events and educational outreach. Kimberly is also a recent participant in our Speaker @ the Center program in March of 2018.

Simms' book, Lindy Lee: Songs on Mill Hill, brings to life the social fault lines of textile mills in the rural South Carolina Piedmont — themes of child labor, the changing roles of women, of a fading away of life where isolation is juxtaposed against a strong sense of community. Part history, part poetry — this collection is peppered with the poignant, rarely seen photography of Lewis Hine (1874 – 1940). With Lindy Lee, Simms finds the vast and profound in the smallest of domestic spaces. In the words of William Wright (2016 Georgia Author of the Year), she celebrates and records in vivid imagery “the joys and hardships of a charged, mythic, and sweat-soaked place.”

Links:

• Author website: http://www.kimberlysimms.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KimberlyJSimms 
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/kimberlyjsimms