"Let me introduce you to your shadow ... "
Marcus Amaker, Charleston’s first Poet Laureate, has unleashed his latest project. empath is a 185-page poetry book, a custom journal and a poetry and jazz album with Grammy-nominated musician/producer Quentin E. Baxter.
“empath is a project about connection and conversation. It’s about the empathy I feel for others on a small and large scale. These poems are inspired by the classrooms I’ve visited and the students who continue to spark me. There’s an abundance of love energy in this work - inspired by my wife, my cat and my family. And, of course, it’s about my deep love of Charleston," he said.
Who is Marcus?
Marcus Amaker (he/him) is a husband, a dad, a son, a music nerd, a Spirit in drag, and a Star Wars obsessive. He was born in Las Vegas, Nevada. Marcus lived in England, Maryland, Japan, and Texas before making a home in North Charleston, SC.
Family life
Marcus is married to Jordan Amaker, the director of Advocacy and Communications of Lowcountry Local First. Their daughter, Rei, likes to swing and feel the wind in her curly hair. Their cat, Mr. Wu, was named after the Wu-Tang Clan. Of course.
He is a poet laureate, and is in the SC Literary Hall of Fame?
Yes. Marcus served as the first Poet Laureate of Charleston, South Carolina, from 2016—22. In 2024, the South Carolina Academy of Authors inducted him into the South Carolina Literary Hall of Fame.
Marcus has published ten collections of his poetry, including 2023’s Hold What Makes You Whole, which the Pittsburgh Post Gazette said “questions our assumptions and forces us to confront the very expressions we take for granted,” (Adriana E. Ramírez, April 2023).
In 2021, Marcus was awarded an Academy of American Poets fellowship. In 2019, he won a Governor’s Arts award in South Carolina.
His work has been recognized by airbnb, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Washington Post, The Kennedy Center, American Poets Magazine, The Washington National Opera, The Portland Opera, Button Poetry, NPR, The Chicago Tribune, Edutopia, Departures Magazine, People’s World, PBS Newshour, SC Public Radio, Charleston Magazine, Charleston City Paper, North Dakota Quarterly, Post and Courier, Garden & Gun, Charleston Scene and several other publications.