Book Debuts today

 I am happy to announce the release of Scott Owens' 25th poetry collection. Scott has been a friend of NCWN-West for many years. 

On April 16, he will speak at the Literary Hour, 7:00 PM at John C. Campbell Folk School. I look forward to reading with him.

News Press Release Date: January 24, 2026

Company: Redhawk Publications


IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Redhawk Publications Announces The Song Is Why We Sing, the 25th Poetry Collection by Scott Owens, City of Hickory Poet Laureate

Hickory, NC – Redhawk Publications is proud to announce the release of The Song Is Why We Sing, the latest poetry collection by Scott Owens—poet, professor, coffeehouse owner, and the City of Hickory Poet Laureate. Marking more than four decades of writing, reading, and teaching poetry, this landmark collection reflects a lifelong artistic practice and invites readers to pause, observe, and listen more closely to the music of language.

Owens, a longtime instructor at Lenoir-Rhyne University and owner of Taste Full Beans Coffeehouse in Hickory, has been writing poetry for over 40 years. His extensive body of work includes recent collections such as Elemental, eventually, An Augury of Birds, and Prepositional. With The Song Is Why We Sing, Owens reaches a significant milestone—his 25th published book—while continuing to evolve as a poet deeply engaged in making meaning through words.

Described as part ‘ars poetica’ and part ‘carpe diem,’ The Song Is Why We Sing gathers poems that explore why poetry matters and how it shapes how we perceive and inhabit the world. The collection blends reflection, instruction, and inspiration, offering readers insight into both the craft of poetry and the lived experience of a writer committed to attention, contemplation, and expression. As poet Malaika King Albrecht observes, the poems are marked by “a reverent attention to the present moment with exacting language… grounded in the dailiness of life yet attuned to wonder.”

“To some extent, every poem is an ‘ars poetica,’” Owens notes. “By its very existence, a poem declares the rightness of its approach toward perception, contemplation, expression, and existence. Putting these poems together in one book made that process a conscious one.”

While the collection looks back across a long and accomplished career, it is far from purely retrospective. Instead, The Song Is Why We Sing invites readers into an ongoing conversation about language, creativity, and the necessity of art in everyday life. The poems linger on small but expansive moments—clouds, memory, a knot in the grass—revealing, as Albrecht writes, “how small things hold entire universes for those willing to pause with presence.”

This collection will appeal to poets and poetry lovers, as well as teachers, students, thinkers, observers, and anyone who enjoys words and the quiet revelations they can bring.

As Owens puts it simply through the work itself, poetry is not just something we read—it is something we live.

Order your copy of Scott Owen’s Newest Poetry Collection, The Song Is Why We Sing at https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftinyurl.com%2FTheSongIsWhyWeSing&data=05%7C02%7C%7Cfe9a581b5a3b453e8f1808de5b50b0c9%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C639048599284883448%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=sDq%2FGYjF5q6GOQMXV4YRKLlZVa2J7Enp3b9wgclzEcw%3D&reserved=0

Author Contact for media follow-up interviews, feature articles, book events, etc.

Scott Owens
Email address: asowens1@yahoo.com
Best Phone number: 828-234-4266