Scheherazade Turns Life to Art

Laurinburg, N.C. - "Margaret Boothe Baddour sustains her personal life in Scheherazade and shapes it into art. Whether she writes of beaches, mountains, or water-shredded substances at the bottom of the sea, she holds her love of words up for us to see and admire. And the stories within these beautiful poems receive us like friends and welcome us until we see our own."

This review by 2008 Bellday Prize Award Winner Shelby Stephenson encapsulates the latest book by Baddour published by the St. Andrews Presbyterian College Press this spring.

"I believe the title poem is the best poem I've ever written," Baddour said. "It tells a story, my story and hers. It introduces a collection of poems that will, I hope, capture you with their stories."

The St. Andrews Press published Baddour's first book of poetry, Easy Magic, in 1991. While proud of the publication, Baddour feels this new work shows the growth in her art since that time.

"These poems are more womanly, more sensuous and yet intellectual, I think," Baddour said. "You do outgrow your old poems. Easy Magic was organized around the obvious four sections: childhood memories, love, sense of place and the arts."

"This time, the topics are all scattered throughout, plus the political. Scheherazade has some poems about 9/11," she adds. "There is one about visiting a country called Moldova as an arts ambassador and buying a little box, unknowing that its cost, 300 lira, was a month's minimum wage there. There's another poem about taking some of our exchange students to the N.C. Museum of Art while the fighting had stopped in Bagdad due to snow. These poems are full of ironies."

Scheherazade is divided into four sections with title poems selected through a beachfront creative process.

"I took my manuscript to the beach for a weekend and spread the poems on the table," Baddour said. "Four poems about women landed on top: 'Mary of the Moon' from the story of Martha and Mary in the New Testament, 'The Transit of Venus' from a recent scientific happening, 'The Properties of Mistress' from my theater activities, and, of course, 'Scheherazade,' the Middle Eastern woman who told 1001 tales and saved not only herself but hundreds of young women from death at the hands of the king."

Baddour teaches humanities, creative writing and drama at Wayne Community College in Goldsboro as the Bell Distinguished Chair in Teaching. She directs and performs in productions there and has toured the state with the theater shows. Baddour's poetry has been widely published, helping her to earn the North Carolina Poet Laureate and numerous other awards.

"New writers should read the best poetry and fiction, join writers groups and the N.C. Poetry Society and N.C. Writers Network," Baddour said. "My writers group in Goldsboro is the greatest, most helpful and caring tool you could have."

A fixture on the statewide arts scene, Baddour has served as the President of the N.C. Poetry Society, N.C. Arts Advocates and the N.C. Writers Conference. She received the Fortner Writer and Community Award from St. Andrews Presbyterian College in 1994. The N.C. Writers Network recognized Baddour and her husband Phil as the 2002 North Carolina Art Advocates of the Year.

Scheherazade is available now through the St. Andrews Press for $10 and can be ordered by calling 910-277-5310 or by mail (please include $2 for shipping) at St. Andrews Press, 1700 Dogwood Mile, Laurinburg, N.C. 28352.

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About St. Andrews Presbyterian College

An innovative and bold academic venture to an interdisciplinary curriculum, a highly acclaimed college press, an award-winning pipe band, national champion equestrian teams, and first-rate scholarship have marked the distinctive character of St. Andrews. In addition to classes on the main campus, adult learners also choose the Center for Adult and Professional Studies opportunities through St. Andrews @ Sandhills and St. Andrews ONLINE.

On Aug. 29, 1958, the merger between Presbyterian Junior College and Flora Macdonald College became official with the formation St. Andrews Presbyterian College in Laurinburg, N.C. Further information may be obtained by visiting the College's website www.sapc.edu, calling 800-763-0198 or sending an e-mail to info@sapc.edu.