In today’s episode, we meet David Radavich and Dede Wilson, two very talented and well-published Charlotte poets.

David and Dede will be reading and discussing their recent books that involve connected poems. Dede’s book Eliza: The New Orleans Yearsfrom Main Street Rag is a journey of discovery and hardship for a young woman who travels to and settles in the new world in the 19^thcentury. David’s book America Abroad: An Epic of Discovery explores the grand adventure of American settlement and expansion into the world over several centuries.

We start the show with Dede reading Happy Hours, from her book, Under the Music of Blue, followed by David reading Sterling, from his book, America Bound.

David Radavich writes poetry, drama, and essays, often on social issues. He has published five full-length collections of poetry and three chapbooks, along with individual poems in many journals and anthologies. His plays have been performed across the U.S and in Europe.

Although David is happy to be a Charlottean, he has been a nomad for much of his life, having been born in Massachusetts, raised in Oklahoma and Idaho, and gone to college in Kansas, British Columbia, and Scotland. He also taught in West Germany for two years and for many years in Illinois. Perhaps that explains his interest in national and international themes.

Dede Wilson did not seek adventure, adventure found her. She simply followed her love of writing to a job at her hometown newspaper, the Alexandria (LA) Daily Town Talk, where she wrote routine obituaries, to a second newspaper, The Dallas (TX) Times Herald, where she copyread recipes for a while, before being asked to become the Travel Editor. Suddenly she was flying to Venezuela with celebrities Rod Serling and June Lockhart, exploring Jamaica with crooner Andy Williams, being chased by a wild bull elephant in the Serenghetti, having silk dresses and pearl-covered shoes made to order in Hong Kong.

Dede finally fluttered down to marry, as she says, have three children and confine her writing to the quiet pursuit of poems, which have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies and in seven poetry collections, the most recent of which is Mrs. H. and her Tooty-Falooty Ways,from Main Street Rag.  Her first book, Glass,was published as a finalist for the Persephone Press Award; her second, Sea of Small Fears,won the Main Street Rag Chapbook Competition.

Both David and Dede have been president of The Charlotte Writers Club, one of the oldest such organizations in the state and coming up on its 100 year anniversary. David also served as president of the Thomas Wolfe Society and North Carolina Poetry Society, and he currently coordinates the Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet Series.