Hickory – Few people have been more important to the NC poetry world over the past 30 years than M. Scott Douglass.

Award Winning Publisher

M. Scott Douglass

Douglass is the founding editor and publisher of Main Street Rag Publishing Company in Charlotte. As such, he has published the work of hundreds of NC poets and writers. He has also had a half dozen of his own books published during that same time.

Douglass who grew up in Pittsburgh has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and is a North Carolina Arts & Science Council Grant recipient. His poetry has appeared in North American Review, Mid-America Review, Plainsong and Twelve Mile Review, among others. His graphic design work has earned two PICA Awards and an Eric Hoffer Award nomination. He has also received virtually every honor that exists for service to the NC poetry community.

Douglass will be the featured reader at the February 14 Poetry Hickory to be held from 6:30 to 8:00 pm at Taste Full Beans Coffeehouse in downtown Hickory.

When not writing, editing, or publishing, Douglass is an avid motorcyclist who took a month off work in 2021 (at the age of 65) for an 8-thousand-mile solo ride across America. In past lives he has been a dental technician, construction worker, and community college instructor. He was once recruited to play for the Pittsburgh Pirates, bred rats for University of Pittsburgh research labs, coached baseball and basketball, and even wrestled a lion once.

His most recent book is Living in a Red State Blues. Previous books include Just Passing Through, Hard to Love, Steel Womb Revisited, Balancing on Two Wheels, and Auditioning for Heaven.

Douglass’s reading will be followed by an Open Mic. Registration for the Open Mic must be made by 6:30 the day of the event. To register, contact Scott Owens at 828-234-4266 or leave your name at Taste Full Beans. Poetry Hickory is free and open to the public since.