Description
Eugene Platt was born in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1939. He is one of the increasingly rare residents of that inspirational setting who was born and grew up there. As evidenced in his poetry collections, plays, and novel Saint Andrew’s Parish, the Carolina Lowcountry informs much of his work.
After a happy childhood, he served in the Army with the 11th Airborne and 24th Infantry Divisions. Next, he earned degrees at the University of South Carolina and Clarion University of Pennsylvania as well as a Diploma in Ango-Irish Literature at Trinity College Dublin.
His poems have appeared in many literary journals, and some have been choreographed. He has given over 100 public readings of his work and was invited to read in the inaugural Dublin Arts Festival in 1970.
He was the first Poet Laureate of the Town of James Island. He served as Poet-in-Residence for public radio station WSCI in Charleston and is Poet-in-Residence at Saint Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Charleston.
An environmentalist and political activist, he has been a nominee for Congress, both as a Democrat and later as a Green. He served over twenty years as an elected member of the James Island Public Service District Commission.
At age 85, he lives peacefully (most of the time) with his main muses: Montreal-born wife Judith; sweet corgi Bess; and inscrutable cats Finnegan and Maeve.
Also by the same author:
