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SC Academy of Authors increases prize money for awards, adds student category

scacademyof authorslogo Apply for fiction and poetry awards by Dec. 1 The South Carolina Academy of Authors has expanded its annual award competitions to include a separate category for student writers of fiction and poetry and an increase in prize money. Thanks to a recurring grant from the Penelope Coker Hall and Eliza Wilson Ingle Foundation, the SCAA now sponsors two prizes in both fiction and poetry. The Elizabeth Boatwright Coker Fellowship in Fiction and the Elizabeth Boatwright Coker Student Prize in Fiction offer winning authors $1,500 and $1,000, respectively. The grant honors the memory and literary legacy of the late Elizabeth Boatwright Coker (1908-1993), who was herself an SCAA inductee in 1991. Likewise, the Carrie McCray Nickens Poetry Fellowship and SCAA Student Prize in Poetry offer winning authors $1,500 and $1,000, respectively. The entry deadline for all awards is Dec. 1, 2016. Applicants for the Fellowships in Fiction and Poetry must be full-time South Carolina residents. Applicants for the Student Awards in Fiction and Poetry must be 18 to 25 years old at the time of submission, legal residents of South Carolina and enrolled full time at a private or public South Carolina institution of higher education. Complete submission guidelines can be found at www.scacademyofauthors.org. Fellowship winners in fiction and poetry will be invited to the SCAA induction ceremony and awards brunch in Florence, S.C., in April 2017. The winning entries will be published in “Fall Lines, “an annual literary journal published by Muddy Ford Press in Columbia, S.C. Student award winners in each category also will be invited to the SCAA Awards brunch. Questions about the fiction prizes may be directed to Tim Johnston at editors@shortstoryamerica.com; questions about the poetry prizes may be directed to Daniel Cross Turner at dturner@coastal.edu. About the South Carolina Academy of Authors The SCAA was founded at Anderson College in 1986. Its purpose is to identify and recognize the state’s distinguished writers and their influence on our cultural heritage. The Academy board selects new inductees annually whose works have been judged culturally important. Each inductee, whether living or deceased, has added to South Carolina’s literary legacy by earning notable scholarly attention or achieving historical prominence. Entry fees help support the SCAA in its mission to preserve and promote South Carolina’s literary legacy.

SC Academy of Authors celebrates 30 years

scacademyof authorslogoThe South Carolina Academy of Authors will honor writers Dorothy Allison, Orville Vernon Burton, Betsy Byars and Guy Davenport during a 30th anniversary celebration April 15 - 17 in Anderson, S.C.  A reception and ceremony will recognize the writers and their induction in the South Carolina Academy of Authors literary hall of fame.  The induction ceremony takes place April 16 at 6:30 p.m. at the Anderson County Library in Anderson, SC.  Tickets are $35 per person. Find out more about the event and the writers at www.scacademyofauthors.org. About the South Carolina Academy of Authors The South Carolina Academy of Authors was founded at Anderson University in 1986. The academy, which is devoted to the identification, recognition and promotion of the state’s distinguished authors and emerging writers, annually honors writers in a weekend of literary events. Its public recognition of the state’s literary talents serves to increase the general readership of authors working today and leads to the rediscovery of works from the past.

S.C. Academy of Authors announces annual awards in fiction and poetry

The S.C. Academy of Authors has expanded its annual award competitions to include a separate category for student writers of fiction and poetry and an increase in prize money. Thanks to a recurring grant from the Penelope Coker Hall and Eliza Wilson Ingle Foundation, the SCAA will now sponsor two prizes in both fiction and poetry. The Elizabeth Boatwright Coker Fellowship in Fiction and the Elizabeth Boatwright Coker Student Prize in Fiction will offer winning authors $1500 and $1000, respectively. The grant honors the memory and literary legacy of the late Elizabeth Boatwright Coker (1908-1993), who was herself an SCAA inductee in 1991. Likewise, the Carrie McCray Nickens Poetry Fellowship and SCAA Student Prize in Poetry will offer winning authors $1500 and $1000, respectively. Fellowship winners in fiction and poetry will be invited to the SCAA induction ceremony and awards brunch in Anderson, S.C., in April, 2016; their entries will be published in Fall Lines, an annual literary journal published by Muddy Ford Press in Columbia. Student Award winners in each category will also be invited to the SCAA Awards brunch. The entry deadline for all awards is Dec. 1, 2015. Applicants for the Fellowships in Fiction and Poetry must be full-time South Carolina residents.   Applicants for the Student Awards in Fiction and Poetry must be 18-25 at the time of submission, legal residents of South Carolina, and enrolled full time at a private or public South Carolina institution of higher education.  Complete submission guidelines can be found at www.scacademyofauthors.org. Questions about the fiction prizes may be directed to Jon Tuttle at juttle@fmarion.edu; questions about the poetry prizes may be directed to Libby Bernardin at libbypoet@gmail.com. The Fellowship in Fiction is now in its fifth year. Previous winners are Rachel Richardson of Spartanburg (2015), Nancy Brock of Columbia (2014), Thomas McConnell of Spartanburg (2013), and Craig Brandhorst of Columbia (2012). This year’s fiction judge is Ron Carlson, the award-winning author of four story collections and five novels, most recently Five Skies and Return to Oakpine. His fiction has appeared in Harper’s, The New Yorker, Playboy, and GQ, and has been featured on NPR’s This American Life as well as in Best American Short Stories and The O. Henry Prize Stories. Carlson is the director of the UC Irvine writing program and lives in Huntington Beach, California. Recent winners of the Carrie McCray Nickens Poetry Fellowship include Barbara G.S. Hagerty of Charleston (2015), Jo Angela Edwins of Florence (2014), Susan Laughter Meyers of Givhans (2013), and Kit Loney of Charleston (2012).  This year’s poetry judge is Joseph Bathanti, former Poet Laureate of North Carolina and the author of eight books of poetry, including This Metal, nominated for the National Book Award, and winner of the Oscar Arnold Young Award, and Restoring Sacred Art and Concertina, both winners of the Roanoke Chowan Prize. Bathanti is Professor of Creative Writing at Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C. About the South Carolina Academy of Authors The South Carolina Academy of Authors was founded at Anderson College in 1986. Its purpose is to identify and recognize the state’s distinguished writers and their influence on our cultural heritage. The Academy board selects new inductees annually whose works have been judged culturally important. Each inductee, whether living or deceased, has added to South Carolina’s literary legacy by earning notable scholarly attention or achieving historical prominence. Entry fees help support the SCAA in its mission to preserve and promote South Carolina’s literary legacy. For more information about the South Carolina Academy of Authors, visit www.scacademyofauthors.org.

South Carolina Academy of Authors announces Fellowship recipients

SC Academy of AuthorsThe South Carolina Academy of Authors (SCAA) has announced the winners of this year’s fellowship competitions in fiction and poetry. Rachel RichardsonRachel Richardson of Spartanburg is the winner of the fourth annual SCAA Fiction Fellowship. Richardson’s short story, “Schism” was chosen by this year's judge, novelist Ann Hood, from among 30 submissions. Hood described “Schism” as “100 percent fresh and original, a unique new voice in the world of fiction. Quirky and honest, with a keen eye toward detail and the inner machinations of the human heart and mind, ‘Schism’ completely won me over from the very beginning.” Hood described the submission pool as “mostly wonderful, and at a high level of writing skill. Many times, I got lost in the story and the writing, which made it difficult to choose just one winner.” Barbara G.S. HagertyBarbara G. S. Hagerty of Charleston is the winner of the sixth annual Carrie McCray Nickens Fellowship in Poetry. Her entries were chosen by judge Traci Brimhall, who described Hargerty’s submission as evincing “an incredible command of language. I was also struck by the poems' concision--how a word pairing could pull up a startling association or how the poet's mind could leap from one line to the next. Even more than strong images, emotion, and music in the poems, there was a deep intelligence here that had me returning again and again to the poems.” Of all the submissions, she said, “There are some truly amazing poets in South Carolina. I was really blown away by the talent in the submissions. The seven finalists were especially hard to choose amongst. There were some strong voices in there, a wide range in subject matter and aesthetics, and a compelling use of language.” (Note: Hagerty received the South Carolina Arts Commission's 2011 Poetry Fellowship.) Richardson and Hagerty will each receive a $1,000 prize at a special brunch held in conjunction with the Academy's 2015 induction ceremony in Charleston on April 11-12, at which Dorothea Benton Frank, Bret Lott, Marjory Wentworth and 19th-century playwright William Ioor will be inducted into the state's literary hall of fame. The submission period for next year’s fellowships will open next autumn. For more information about the South Carolina Academy of Authors or to make reservations for the induction, please visit scacademyofauthors.org. Via: S.C. Academy of Authors  

Jasper Magazine and partners launch new literary journal

Jasper Magazine, in partnership with Richland Library, USC Press and One Columbia, will release the inaugural issue of a new annual literary journal, Fall Lines – a literary convergence, on Sunday, June 8 at 4 p.m., at a free reception at Richland Library. A panel of judges selected 30 works of poetry and prose from nearly 500 submissions, and other writers were invited to submit works, including S.C. Poet Laureate Marjory Wentworth (sponsored by the Roe Young State Farm Agency), Christopher Dickey, Josephine Humphreys and Ray McManus. In addition, Fall Lines will publish the South Carolina Academy of Authors 2014 fellowship winners in fiction and poetry, Nancy Brock of Columbia, and Jo Angela Edwins of Florence, respectively. Two new literary arts prizes, sponsored by Friends of the Richland Library, will be presented.  The Saluda River Prize for Poetry will be awarded to Mary Hutchins Harris of Daniel Island, and the Broad River Prize for Prose will be awarded to Nicola Waldron of Columbia. A certificate and check for $250 will accompany each prize. “Richland Library is not only interested in offering the best in literature to our community, we also value writers and want to support their work and success,” says Tony Tallent, director of literary and learning at Richland Library. “Partnering with Jasper to make Fall Lines a reality allows a new opportunity to explore the library's role in supporting writers and unleashing their creations to our community and the world.” A 98-page perfect-bound book with cover art by W. Heyward Sims, Fall Lines is published by Muddy Ford Press in lieu of the summer issue of Jasper Magazine and was edited by 2014 Elizabeth O'Neill Verner Award recipient and Jasper editor-in-chief Cindi Boiter with poetry editor Ed Madden. Fall Lines will be distributed in several locations in Columbia, including all branches of the Richland Library, USC Press offices on Senate Street, the One Columbia office on Taylor Street, Gallery West, Ed’s Editions, Trustus Theatre, If Art, Tapps Arts Center, City Art, 701 Whaley CCA, the S.C. Arts Commission, and the Jasper Studio in the historic Arcade at 1332 Main Street. Fall Lines will also be available as an E-book via Richland Library and for purchase from Amazon.com, BandN.com, and MuddyFordPress.com.

Celebrate accomplishments of state’s writers

South Carolina Academy of Authors to induct four writers. This column originally appeared in The Greenville News.

Jill HendrixAs the owner of local independent bookstore Fiction Addiction, I have the pleasure of meeting South Carolina authors on nearly a weekly basis and I’m deeply impressed by the depth of literary talent that our state is home to. It was a natural fit when I joined the board of the South Carolina Academy of Authors last year, since the Academy’s principal purpose is to identify and recognize our state’s distinguished writers. This April, the Academy will be holding its first-ever awards ceremony in Greenville and three of the four writers we are inducting into the state’s literary hall of fame have ties to the Upstate. I invite everyone who supports the literary arts — from readers, to writers, to teachers — to join us the weekend of April 25-26 to celebrate the accomplishments of Gilbert Allen, Janette Turner Hospital, John Lane and Robert Quillen. Gilbert Allen is a prize-winning poet, a tenured professor of literature at Furman University, and the editor of Ninety-Six Press, which has published distinguished S.C. poets since 1991. Janette Turner Hospital’s award-winning body of work — nine novels and four short-story collections to date — shows her belief in resilience and redemption; though born in Australia, she has come to call South Carolina home and serves as Professor Emerita at USC. John Lane is a poet, essayist and author who is now taking on the challenge of developing the environmental studies major at Wofford College. Robert Quillen, deceased, was an American journalist and humorist who founded the Fountain Inn Tribune and at the height of his career syndicated his stories to over 400 publications across the world. The induction festivities kick off on Friday, April 25, at noon with a luncheon featuring Janette Turner Hospital, then continue on Friday with a tour of Robert Quillen’s office in Fountain Inn and a reading at the S.C. Governor’s School for the Arts by past inductees Terrance Hayes, Josephine Humphreys and George Singleton. On Saturday, John Lane will give a reading from his new book, “The Web of Water: Reflections of Life Along the Saluda and Reedy Rivers” at Furman’s Shi Center (co-sponsored by Upstate Forever) then lead a walk on the Swamp Rabbit Trail. Gil Allen will read at the Hughes downtown library Saturday afternoon, then the weekend concludes with the awards banquet at Furman’s Younts Center at 6 p.m. The detailed schedule of events is online at http://scacademyofauthors.org. The opening and closing events are ticketed (tickets are still available), but the others are completely free. If you can’t attend this year’s events, I challenge you to view the academy’s list of past inductees then stop by the library or a local bookstore and take a moment to marvel at the number of S.C. authors on the shelves and perhaps even try the work of one previously unknown to you. The South Carolina Academy of Authors is a nonprofit organization funded in part by the SC Arts Commission and reliant on our university and community sponsors. We thank you all for your support! Jill Hendrix is the owner of Fiction Addiction. She grew up in Greenville, was the 1991 valedictorian of Southside High School and one of its first International Baccalaureate diploma recipients, and graduated from Yale University. Write to her at jill@fiction-addition.com.

by Jill Hendrix

South Carolina Academy of Authors announces Fiction Fellowship winner

The South Carolina Academy of Authors is pleased to announce Nancy Brock of Columbia, S.C, as the 2014 Fiction Fellowship winner. Brock’s short story, “Davy Crockett’s Last Stand,” was chosen by this year's judge, professor and author Randall Kenan of the University of North Carolina.

“Davy Crockett’s Last Stand” is set in 1956, when Disney’s “Davy Crockett, Indian Fighter” was met with eager anticipation by television audiences--particularly by an earnest young high school history teacher who finds herself in a battle of wills with her better-informed, even-more-earnest student. Of the story, Kenan said, “this story has a simple, almost old-fashioned shape, like a bell. And though it is set in the so-called more innocent times of the 1950s, it gets at some important social undercurrents efficiently and not at the expense of character and story and drama. The main character remains a captivating young woman throughout this journey, and her parents have so much personality. Well-written, well-made, wonderfully memorable. I admire ‘Davy Crockett's Last Stand’ tremendously.”

Of the pool of submissions, Kenan added, “This lot of writers covered the water front, from soldiers in Iraq to shape-shifters, from moonshine runners to noir-ish lovers running about in the night, from family dramas to dystopian trouble. This group of stories shows me how varied the world of writing remains, and, more important, it demonstrates how strong the written word remains in our land. Congratulations to them all.”

Brock will receive a $1,000 prize at a special brunch held in conjunction with the Academy's annual induction ceremony. This year's ceremony will be held in Greenville, S.C., April 26-27, when John Lane, Gilbert Allen, Janette Turner Hospital and Robert Quillen are inducted into the state's literary hall of fame.

The submission period for the 2015 Fellowship will open next autumn.

For more information about the South Carolina Academy of Authors, visit www.scacademyofauthors.org.

South Carolina Academy of Authors offers poetry and fiction fellowships

The South Carolina Academy of Authors invites entries for its annual fellowships in poetry and fiction. Fellows receive $1,000 and are invited to the Academy’s induction ceremony in April. Fellowship applicants must be full-time South Carolina residents. There are no restrictions on content, however submitted works must unpublished. December 1, 2013, is the deadline for both competitions. The judge for the 2013 Carrie McCray Nickens Poetry Fellowship competition is Lavonne J. Adams, author of Through the Glorieta Pass (Pearl Editions). She teaches in the Department of Creative Writing at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. She is the recipient of the Persephone Poetry Prize for her chapbook Everyday Still Life, and the Randall Jarrell/Harperprints Chapbook Award for In the Shadow of the Mountain. She has been published in more than 50 additional venues, including Prairie Schooner, Missouri Review, Cincinnati Review and Crab Orchard Review. Randall Kenan, the Fiction Fellowship judge, is the author of the novel  A Visitation of Spirits (Grove Press, 1989) and a collection of stories, Let the Dead Bury Their Dead, (Harcourt Brace, 1992), which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and was among The New York Times Notable Books of 1992. He is also the author of a biography of James Baldwin (1993) and recently edited The Cross of Redemption: The Uncollected Writings of James Baldwin (Pantheon, 2010). His latest book, The Fire This Time, was published in May 2007. Kenan is Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Visit the S.C. Academy of Authors website for application guidelines. About the S.C. Academy of Authors The Academy’s principal purpose is to identify and recognize the state’s distinguished writers and to promote their literature’s influence on our cultural heritage. Public recognition of our state’s literary hall of fame not only serves to increase the general readership of authors working today but also leads to the rediscovery of works from the past. Via: S.C. Academy of Authors

South Carolina Academy of Authors offers fellowships for poetry and fiction

The South Carolina Academy of Authors invites entries for its annual fellowships in poetry and fiction. Fellows receive $1,000 and are invited to the Academy's induction ceremony on April 27 in Columbia. Fellowship applicants must be full-time South Carolina residents. There are no restrictions on content, however submitted works must unpublished. December 1 is the deadline for both competitions. The judge for the 2012 Carrie McCray Nickens Poetry Fellowship competition is Nick Lantz, author of  poetry collections "We Don’t Know We Don’t Know" (Graywolf Press, 2010) and "The Lightning That Strikes the Neighbors’ House" (University of Wisconsin Press, 2010). He is the recipient of the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference Bakeless Prize, the Felix Pollak Prize, the Great Lakes Colleges Association New Writers Award and the Larry Levis Reading Prize. He teaches creative writing at Tinker Mountain Writers’ Workshop, Queens University’s Low-Residency MFA, and at Sam Houston State University, where he is the poetry editor of the Texas Review. Mary Robison, the Fiction Fellowship judge, has been widely hailed for her biting depictions of contemporary American life since her story “Sisters” was published in The New Yorker in 1977. Since then, her stories have appeared in The Paris Review, Esquire, GQ, Harvard Magazine, The Norton Anthology of Contemporary Fiction, The Pushcart Prize and The O.Henry Prize Stories. Her novel "Why Did I Ever" won the Los Angeles Times Book prize for Fiction, and "One D.O.A., One on the Way" was chosen by The New York Times Book Review as one of the “100 Most Notable Books of the Year." Robison has received numerous awards, including a grant from the Guggenheim Foundation, and in 2009 the prestigious Rea Award For The Short Story. She teaches at the University of Florida. Visit the S.C. Academy of Authors website for application guidelines. Induction ceremony open to the public The public may purchase tickets to the induction ceremony being held April 27 in Columbia at the University of South Carolina. This year's inductees are Jack Bass, Nikky Finney, Terrance Hayes and Eugene Robinson. The Academy board selects new inductees annually whose works have been judged culturally important. Each inductee, whether living or deceased, has added to South Carolina's literary legacy by earning notable scholarly attention or achieving historical prominence. For ticket information, visit the Academy's website. [caption id="attachment_2344" align="aligncenter" width="750"]SC Academy of Authors inductees Left to right: Jack Bass, Nikky Finney, Terrance Hayes, Eugene Robinson[/caption] About the S.C. Academy of Authors The Academy's principal purpose is to identify and recognize the state's distinguished writers and to promote their literature's influence on our cultural heritage. Public recognition of our state's literary hall of fame not only serves to increase the general readership of authors working today but also leads to the rediscovery of works from the past. Via: S.C. Academy of Authors

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