2023 S.C. Arts Awards: Ray McManus
Governor's Award: Artist Category
As the day nears for the 2023 South Carolina Arts Awards, The Hub is focusing on this year's recipients: five receiving the South Carolina Governor's Awards for the Arts from the South Carolina Arts Commission and two receiving the Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Award, managed jointly by the SCAC and McKissick Museum at the University of South Carolina.
Born and raised in Lexington County, Ray McManus is frequently active in poetry initiatives across the state.
He serves as the writer-in-residence at the Columbia Museum of Art. McManus founded Split P Soup, a creative writing outreach program that places writers in schools and communities across South Carolina, and former director of the creative writing program at the Tri-District Arts Consortium that serves Columbia area schools. He coedited a collection of writing responding to historical photographs from South Carolina archives.
He writes of the Carolinas’ semi-rural and sometimes repressive culture, often including the haunting presence of the imagined Ireland that exists in family stories and immigrant memory. His work explores themes of loss, faith, denial, and rebellion, offering both a narrative of hope and a heroics of failure. His poems and prose have appeared in numerous journals, including Poetry, Prairie Schooner, and StorySouth, as well as anthologies of Southern and Irish-American writers.
McManus earned his master’s in poetry and his doctorate in rhetoric and composition from the University of South Carolina. Now an English professor at USC Sumter, he teaches creative writing, Irish literature, and Southern literature. He is division chair of both arts and letters and humanities and social sciences and director of the school’s Center for Oral Narrative.
McManus is the author of five collections of poetry. His first was selected for the S.C. Poetry Book Prize and published in 2007. Since, he published three more collections and a fifth, Last Saturday in America, will be published by Hub City Press in 2024.
The South Carolina Arts Awards are coming live to SCETV on Sunday, May 14, 2023 at 8 p.m. ET. South Carolina ETV, the state’s public educational broadcasting network, will broadcast the awards ceremony through its 11-station TV network that spans the state. Viewers can access the broadcast via livestream on the homepage of SCETV.org; by using a digital antenna; or through cable, satellite, and streaming live TV providers. Further information about accessing SCETV is available here.
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: February 5, 2023 at 11:59 p.m. ET
As the day nears for the 2022 South Carolina Arts Awards, The Hub is focusing on this year's recipients: four receiving the 
Angelo Geter. Provided photo.[/caption]
The first festival in 2021 attracted a crowd of approximately 500 people. Many of the events were free and open to the public.
Events taking place during this year’s five-day festival will include:
Emily Allison. Provided photo.[/caption]
Emily Allison, now a sophomore and now at the Fine Arts Center of Greenville, made it two in a row Saturday, earning first prize over seven other finalists in a virtual competition. Allison was champion last year in her first experience in a contest that often favors more experienced students.
The South Carolina Arts Commission (SCAC) 
The South Carolina Arts Commission (SCAC) 
The mission of the South Carolina Arts Commission (SCAC) is to promote equitable access to the arts and support the cultivation of creativity in South Carolina. We envision a South Carolina where the arts are valued and all people benefit from a variety of creative experiences.
A state agency created by the South Carolina General Assembly in 1967, the SCAC works to increase public participation in the arts by providing grants, direct programs, staff assistance and partnerships in four areas: arts learning, community and traditional arts, artist development, and arts industry. Headquartered in Columbia, S.C., the SCAC is funded by the state of South Carolina, by the federal government through the National Endowment for the Arts, and other sources. Visit 
The poet describes her works as “word paintings,” deeply rooted and inspired by the magical and mournful circumstances of her lifetime.
“Six decades in, it is the exact right time to share my poetic journey. We ‘evolve’ throughout our lives, and I hope that my personal achievement inspires others, no matter their age, to fulfill their own dreams,” Walder said.
Running Naked in the Snow (ISBN: 978-1734673791, 57 pages, $13.99 U.S.) is available on Amazon and at fine book sellers throughout Charleston and select cities across the U.S. It also will be available as an e-book and audio book in 2022.
Evelyn Berry, an award-winning Aiken-based poet, novelist, editor, and podcast host, has worked closely with Walder as a mentor, and is excited about her debut collection of poems.
“Linda’s work is deeply invested in not just truth-telling, but truth-sharing. Such radical candor invites the reader to feel and reflect deeply,” she said.
Free Verse Press is a new publishing company started by Charleston Poet Laureate Marcus Amaker. In the introduction of Walder’s book, Amaker says that readers will "experience a wildly creative book from a writer who has confidence in what makes her unique. ‘Running Naked in the Snow’ gives you short poems about seasons, rhythm word experiments, gentle pieces about family, and more.”
Linda’s creativity blossomed in early childhood, and she began writing poetry in elementary school. Her artistic bent continued throughout her education, studying art, literature, and history. After graduating from Vassar College, Linda thrived in the creative world of art and fashion public relations. Then, after graduating from The Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Linda continued her focus on the arts as an attorney for artists.
For the past 20 years, she has been a visionary and activist in the field of adult Autism. Her internationally recognized Foundation (The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation) has led the global community in accepting, valuing, and supporting the diversity of adults diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders.
Linda’s own story is one of courage and heart. She is the mother of an adult daughter and a son (who died of an Autism-related seizure at age 9, and in whose memory the foundation is named). She is also a recent widow, navigating the crushing loss of her cherished husband.
Linda resides in Charleston with her beloved family of human and furry beings. Her website, 
Lizelia Augusta Jenkins Moorer (1868-1936) was a teacher and social activist in Orangeburg. Born in Pickens, she taught at the Normal and Grammar Schools at Claflin College for 40 years. Her published anthology of poems Prejudice Unveiled and Other Poems (1907) examined the Jim Crow South’s propensity for lynching, racism, and social injustice. Moorer was also an advocate for women’s suffrage in South Carolina, especially in the Methodist Church.
The purpose of the Lizelia August Jenkins Moorer Prize, affectionately called the Lizelia Prize, is to offer a first-time BIPOC poet from South Carolina a publishing contract with Muddy Ford Press to publish their debut chapbook under the guidance of an established poet. The brainchild of Dr. Len Lawson, who is a member of the Jasper Project board of directors and the author, editor, or co-editor of four books of poetry, Lawson will also serve as project manager as well as editor of the winner’s chapbook and will collaborate with the winner on the construction of the book.
South Carolina BIPOC poets who have yet to publish a book of poetry are invited to submit 30-40 single spaced numbered pages in Times New Roman 12-pt. font and include a cover sheet with your name and manuscript title. Your name should not appear on the manuscript. The winning submission will receive publication via Muddy Ford Press, a cash prize of $250, and ten author copies of the book. Submissions should be in MS Word format and should be sent to 
