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Inaugural Deckle Edge Literary Festival to honor traditions and forge new ground

Note: One Columbia for Arts and History received a South Carolina Arts Commission Quarterly Grant to help support the Deckle Edge Literary Festival. The inaugural Deckle Edge Literary Festival, taking place Feb. 19 – 21 in Columbia, S.C., features readings, book signings, panel presentations, exhibitors, writers’ workshops, activities for children and young adult readers, and a range of other literary events for many interests and all ages. Events take place in or near downtown Columbia, and many events are free. A sample of events: Friday, Feb. 19

  • 1 - 2 p.m.: Top 20 "Outside the Box" Book Marketing Ideas, Shari Stauch, $30 per person, Historic Columbia's Woodrow Wilson Family Home
  • 2 - 3 p.m.: Plotting Strategies for Short Stories, Novels, and Plays, $30 per person, Paula Gail Benson, Historic Columbia's Woodrow Wilson Family Home
  • 7 p.m.: Opening Night Celebration - Concert and Burlesque Show, Columbia Museum of Art, $10
Saturday, Feb. 20
  • 9 - 10 a.m.: S.T.E.A.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) Workshop for Kids, free, presented by The Watering Hole Poetry Organization, Tapp's Art Center
  • 11 a.m. - noon: Hub City Press Executive Director Betsy Teter moderates a panel of First Novel Prize winners Matt Matthews, James E. McTeer and Susan Tekulve, Columbia Museum of Art
  • 3:30 - 4:30 p.m.: Conversation with Southern Superstar Mary Alice Monroe, Columbia Museum of Art
Sunday, Feb. 21
  • 9 - 10:15 a.m.: Overcoming Creative Anxiety: 5 Steps to Jumpstart Your Writing & Remain Calm, Cassie Premo-Steele, $30 per person, location TBA
  • 1 - 2:30 p.m.: Writing and Healing with Ed Madden, $30 per person, Historic Columbia's Seibels House
  • 3 - 4 p.m.: IndieSC Launch - Calling all indie authors and aspiring writers in S.C! Presentation of free self-publishing platform by the South Carolina State Library, Columbia Museum of Art
View the full schedule online. Read a Free Times article about the festival. While Deckle Edge has its roots in the storied tradition of South Carolina’s literary life, festival organizers are committed to forging new ground and hope to appeal to regional and national audiences while remaining a community-focused effort. Festival partners make up an extensive network of South Carolina literary and cultural organizations, including Richland Library, the University of South Carolina Press, Hub City Writers Project, the S.C. Center for Children’s Books & Literacy, Ed Madden and the Columbia Office of the Poet Laureate, South Carolina Poet Laureate Marjory Wentworth, the Low Country Initiative for Literary Arts, Jasper Magazine, Richland County schools, and others. Deckle Edge is built on the strong foundation of the South Carolina Book Festival, a project of the Humanities CouncilSC , which announced the festival’s dissolution this past summer. The Humanities CouncilSC is now actively pursuing a variety of year-round statewide literary initiatives and has been supportive of the plans for Deckle Edge as a new literary event to be hosted in Columbia. “The S.C. Book Festival was a tremendous gift to readers and writers in the South, and we’re grateful to the Humanities CouncilSC for sharing their expertise with us as we create something new,” said Deckle Edge co-chair Darien Cavanaugh. “We would not have been able to move so quickly on launching Deckle Edge without their guidance and good will.” In addition to local talent, the festival will highlight a handful of New York Times bestselling authors from the Carolinas, beloved favorites from past S.C. Book Festivals, and many voices not previously heard from at South Carolina literary events. “This is Columbia’s literary festival,” said Deckle Edge co-chair Annie Boiter-Jolley, “but it’s also joining the larger conversation about literature of and in the South. We look forward to sharing our vision with writers and readers, and to hearing from them as to what Deckle Edge might become in future years.” Via: Deckle Edge Literary Festival

Charleston County Public Library hosts Kiran Singh Sirah for “Telling Stories That Matter”

International speaker offers ideas to help residents address issues of social justice, race relations Kiran Singh Sirah To explore the role of storytelling as a tool for conflict prevention, community development and social change, the Charleston County Public Library will host Kiran Singh Sirah for “Telling Stories that Matter: Cultivating Community through Story,” a public presentation at the Main Library, 68 Calhoun St., Charleston, S.C., at 6 p.m. on Feb. 5. Through examples of social justice, race relations and community cooperation, Sirah will explain how personal relations developed through storytelling can help residents better discuss and work through these difficult conversations. Sirah's visit to Charleston also will include a three-hour workshop with juniors and seniors at Burke High School during the afternoon of Feb. 5. The workshop will give students the opportunity to work under Sirah's direction to craft and tell their own stories that can be shared March 12 at the Charleston Tells Storytelling Festival. Whether to entertain, educate, heal, or resolve conflict, stories are the most fundamental way that people connect. The power of storytelling is unquestionable, and recognizing stories as creative expression helps to better understand the anxieties, dreams and aspirations that link humanity with community building. This program is part of a CCPL series that explores race, identity and civic engagement in response to recent tragic events in the Charleston area, most notably the mass shooting at the Emanuel AME Church in June 2015, which tragically took the lives of nine Charleston residents, including long-time CCPL staff member, Cynthia Graham Hurd. This series is intended to promote healing, dialogue and collaboration in Charleston. Program partners include the College of Charleston, The Women’s Resource Center, and the City of Charleston Housing Authority. Sirah is president of the International Storytelling Center in Jonesborough, Tenn., a UNESCO advisory member, a Rotary Peace Fellow, storyteller and slam poet. A proven peace builder and advocate for the arts, Sirah has spoken about the power of story at the United Nations Headquarters, where he delivered the keynote address at Rotary International U.N. Day in 2012. As a Rotary Peace Fellow, he has worked with homeless populations, marginalized high school students, gang members and conflict-wracked communities from Northern Ireland, Colombia, Palestine and Israel. Through his international background and perspective, Sirah explains that sharing stories is “more than a human right, it’s an act of love that can change the world.” This presentation is funded by the International Storytelling Center, The Humanities CouncilSC, the South Carolina Arts Commission, the Charleston Friends of the Library, and Charleston Tells Storytelling Festival, a production of the Charleston County Public Library.  For more information, contact the Charleston County Public Library, (843) 805-6930.

First Novel Prize submission process is now online!

First Novel Prize submissions due March 15 Submitting your manuscript for the 2016 South Carolina First Novel Prize is now an easy (we promise) online process. The application is streamlined and requires only two document uploads: your manuscript and your resume. The competition recognizes one of South Carolina’s exceptional writers by providing a book contract with Hub City Press. Eligible applicants are writers who have not published a novel. A submitted manuscript must be an original work, and self-published books are ineligible, including e-books. Bridgett DavisApplicants’ works are reviewed anonymously by panelists who make selections based on artistic merit. Six to eight novels will be judged by nationally recognized novelist Bridgett M. Davis (pictured right). Davis’ second novel, Into The Go-Slow, was selected as a best book of 2014 by Salon, The San Francisco Chronicle, BookRiot, Bustle and The Root. Her debut novel, Shifting Through Neutral, published by Amistad/Harper Collins in 2004, was a finalist for the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Legacy Award and was featured in national media, including NPR’s News & Notes. Davis is a professor at Baruch College, CUNY, where she teaches creative writing and journalism, and is Director of the Sidney Harman Writer-in-Residence Program. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, son and daughter. The winning author will receive a book contract with Hub City Press, an award-winning independent press in Spartanburg, S.C. Upon successful execution of the contract with Hub City, the winner will receive a $1,000 advance against royalties. Hub City will publish at least 2,000 copies of the book, which includes a book for every public library branch in the state. James McTeer’s 2014 winning novel, Minnow, received starred reviews in Library Journal and Kirkus Reviews and favorable reviews in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Los Angeles Review of Books. The book is now in its second printing. The South Carolina First Novel Prize is funded by the South Carolina Arts Commission, Hub City Press and the Phifer-Johnson Foundation of Spartanburg, S.C. The Humanities CouncilSC and the South Carolina State Library are founding partners. Submission deadline is March 15, 2016. Find complete eligibility requirements and application guidelines online. Images, left to right: First Novel winners Through the Pale Door by Brian Ray (2008), Mercy Creek by Matt Matthews (2010), In the Garden of Stone by Susan Tekulve (2012), and Minnow (2014) by James McTeer.

Unpublished novelists! Submit your manuscript for the First Novel Prize!

Submissions due by March 15, 2016. Polish that manuscript and submit it to the 2016 South Carolina First Novel Prize! The competition recognizes one of South Carolina’s exceptional writers by providing a book contract with Hub City Press. Eligible applicants are writers who have not published a novel. A submitted manuscript must be an original work, and self-published books are ineligible, including e-books. Bridgett DavisApplicants’ works are reviewed anonymously by panelists who make selections based on artistic merit. Six to eight novels will be judged by nationally recognized novelist Bridgett M. Davis (pictured right). Davis’ second novel, Into The Go-Slow, was selected as a best book of 2014 by Salon, The San Francisco Chronicle, BookRiot, Bustle and The Root. Her debut novel, Shifting Through Neutral, published by Amistad/Harper Collins in 2004, was a finalist for the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Legacy Award and was featured in national media, including NPR’s News & Notes. Davis is a professor at Baruch College, CUNY, where she teaches creative writing and journalism, and is Director of the Sidney Harman Writer-in-Residence Program. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, son and daughter. The winning author will receive a book contract with Hub City Press, an award-winning independent press in Spartanburg, S.C. Upon successful execution of the contract with Hub City, the winner will receive a $1,000 advance against royalties. Hub City will publish at least 2,000 copies of the book, which includes a book for every public library branch in the state. James McTeer's 2014 winning novel, Minnow, received starred reviews in Library Journal and Kirkus Reviews and favorable reviews in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Los Angeles Review of Books. The book is now in its second printing. The South Carolina First Novel Prize is funded by the South Carolina Arts Commission, Hub City Press and the Phifer-Johnson Foundation of Spartanburg, S.C. The Humanities CouncilSC and the South Carolina State Library are founding partners. Submission deadline is March 15, 2016. Find complete eligibility requirements and application guidelines online.

The Humanities CouncilSC offers new Fast Track Literary Grants

The Humanities CouncilSC  has launched a new grant category available to South Carolina nonprofit organizations and public institutions. The Fast Track Literary Grant is intended to support new or existing public literary programs such as (but not limited to) writers series, festivals, conferences, workshops, or writer’s residencies at schools. Applications will be accepted quarterly, and the first deadline is November 16, 2015, for programs that begin after January 1, 2016. The Fast Track Literary Grant, one of The Humanities CouncilSC’s new literary initiatives announced in July 2015, has a streamlined, two-page application form and will consider requests up to $3,000 for the pilot year. The application is available online: http://schumanities.org/grants/howtoapply/. For more information, contact T.J. Wallace at 803-771-2477, tjwallace@schumanities.org. The Fast Track Literary Grant also receives support from the South Carolina Arts Commission. The mission of The Humanities CouncilSC is to enrich the cultural and intellectual lives of all South Carolinians. Established in 1973, this 501(c) 3 organization is governed by a volunteer 23-member Board of Directors comprised of community leaders from throughout the state.  It presents and/or supports literary initiatives, lectures, exhibits, festivals, publications, oral history projects, videos and other humanities-based experiences that directly or indirectly reach more than 250,000 citizens annually.

Clemson University celebrates 50th anniversary of the NEA and NEH

From Clemson University Article by Jeannie Davis

Clemson University celebrates NEA 50thCLEMSON — Clemson University Tuesday joined a nationwide celebration of the 50th anniversary of the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities with a luncheon honoring Clemson faculty — past and present — who have received grant support from either agency. Clemson President James P. Clements said, “It is hard to believe these two agencies are only 50 years old because I can’t imagine our country without them.” Guest speakers included Randy Akers, director of the S.C. Humanities Council, and Ken May, executive director of the S.C. Arts Commission, who spoke about the respective roles of the arts and the humanities in higher education. Clemson Mayor J.C. Cook read a proclamation thanking the two agencies for “making a difference in promoting appreciation for the arts and humanities.” Cook’s statement acknowledged the arts and humanities for embodying “much of the accumulated wisdom, creativity, intellect and imagination of humankind.” “The humanities and arts are the beating heart of a great university,” said Richard Goodstein, dean of the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities. “Every Clemson University student is touched by these disciplines in meaningful ways, not only in the classroom but also through cultural offerings, such as the Clemson Literary Festival and performances and exhibitions at the Lee Gallery and the Brooks Center for the Performing Arts. “In recent years, employers have made it very clear that they value graduates who are thoroughly educated in the humanities, who can think critically. They are looking for graduates who are creative, who can navigate the constantly evolving landscape of thought and communication. At Clemson, we recognize that we are not just training workers, but educating citizens.” Clemson’s disciplines in the arts include visual and performing arts. The humanities disciplines comprise communication studies, English, history, languages, philosophy and religion. Programs that engage faculty from more than one discipline are increasingly in demand, and in recent years new undergraduate degree programs have been offered in Pan African studies, women’s leadership and world cinema. An interdisciplinary doctoral program in rhetorics, communication, and information design is now in its 11thyear. The event was sponsored by the Office of the President; the Office of the Provost; and the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities.

SC Book Festival canceled for 2016; new statewide literary initiatives in the works

From The State Article by Mindy Lucas, photo by Tim Dominick

One of the biggest literary draws and book events of the region is being canceled in favor of new statewide programming, organizers say. The almost 20-year-old S.C. Book Festival held in the spring will give way to new, literary offerings that will be available “...in every corner of the state” officials with the Humanities Council of South Carolina said Thursday morning. Widely considered one of the Southeast’s premiere literary events, due in no small part to its variety of offerings, the book festival usually brings about 6,000 visitors to the Midlands each year. Festival director T.J. Wallace, who also works for The Humanities Council, said she could understand why those in the literary community — including some of the 60 to 70 volunteers who regularly help with the event each year — might be disappointed. “This decision was not made lightly,” she said. “Many have put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into it. It has been a wonderful event, but we’re excited about this new opportunity.” Wallace denied that the board of director’s decision to discontinue the Columbia-based event had anything to do with funding or the expense of hosting the free event, which on average ranged from $180,000 to $210,000, saying only that the decision had to do with the organization’s core mission “to enrich the cultural and intellectual lives of all South Carolinians.” “As the state program for the National Endowment for the Humanities, the council is mandated for the state, not just the Midlands,” she said. Executive director Randy Akers said the festival “will evolve” into a new set of literary initiatives that will be available year-round and “reach a wide and diverse audience in every corner of South Carolina.” “South Carolina has a rich literary heritage that The Humanities Council S.C. wants to celebrate and share, and these new programs will expand and diversify literary opportunities in South Carolina,” he said. The new initiatives, Akers said, will include a literary speakers bureau featuring authors and writing instructors who can travel across the state for public programs; a fast-track literary grant opportunity for statewide organizations for writers series, festivals, conferences, workshops, or artist residencies; and a literary track at the annual South Carolina Humanities Festival, which is hosted in a different town each year. Attendance had also fallen off somewhat from previous years. Last year’s festival drew close to 6,500 people while this year’s festival only drew about 5,000. While Wallace said the council had received inquiries as to whether the festival could be moved around the state to different regions, ultimately the board decided to design new initiatives that could roll out as early as this fall, that would have a wider reach and even serve rural and under-served communities. “We certainly hope that the new literary programs we’re planning would bring things to say Dillon... or Gaffney or those communities that don’t allow us to reach for literary programming.” Wallace said the council hopes the new programming will have an even greater impact across the state. “Instead of spending 9 to 12 months planning for three days, we’re hoping that now we’ll be planning literary events monthly, weekly and all around the state.” Still, many in the literary community were surprised and disappointed to hear the news of the festival’s discontinuation. University of South Carolina English Department professor Elise Blackwell said she was “deeply sorry” to hear the book festival was being canceled. Blackwell, an author and host of USC’s own popular author series, “The Open Book” said that the book festival “helped put Columbia on the national literary map.” “It was an event I valued even more as a reader than as a writer. (It) was also a wonderful resource for local students of all ages. My hope is that it will be restored.”

Book-related exhibitors invited to apply for the South Carolina Book Festival

Are you a publisher, bookseller, literary organization, community nonprofit, or book-related exhibitor? Consider applying to be an exhibitor at the SCBook Festival scheduled for May 15 - 17, 2015, at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center in Columbia, S.C. The festival annually attracts more than 6,500 participants for this two-day event, and more than 70 percent of attendees indicate that they come with the intention of buying books. The SCBook Festival is the largest annual literary event in South Carolina. Space for exhibitors is limited, so register early. The deadline for Early Bird Registration is March 15, 2015. All other application forms and payments in full must be received by April 15, 2015, for inclusion in publicity and printed materials. The official exhibitor guidelines and registration forms are available on the festival's website. About the SCBook Festival The 19th Annual SCBook Festival takes place May 15 - 17, 2015, at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center in downtown Columbia. Saturday, May 16 and Sunday, May 17 are FREE and open to the public. Special events take place throughout the weekend. The SCBook Festival features more than 90 authors in solo and panel presentations, more than 100 exhibitors selling books and book-related merchandise, book signings, special ticketed events, and much more. For more information about the 2015 SCBook Festival, visit the website, www.scbookfestival.org. Via: SCBook Festival

The arts are key components in Burning of Columbia commemoration

burningofcolumbiaAlthough often overshadowed in the popular imagination by the burning of Atlanta, Ga., the burning of Columbia, S.C. on the evening of February 17, 1865, was a major event in American history and a defining moment in the history of the state, city and the Civil War. Through a multi-disciplinary coalition of organizations and agencies, Columbia is launching a two-month-long initiative to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the burning through lectures, tours, films, exhibits, literature, public discussions and visual and performing arts. “Sherman’s march through South Carolina, which culminated with the burning of Columbia on February 17, 1865, was the most traumatic event in the history of much of the state, and for 150 years it has shaped how South Carolinians viewed the past and their place in it,” said Eric Emerson, director of the South Carolina Department of Archives & History. “This commemoration provides us with an opportunity to look at history through a different lens and to seek out the voices of those whose stories have been left untold for one and a half centuries.” “This commemoration is an opportunity for all of us not only to mark this important moment in our history but also to take stock in how far we’ve come as a city and as a people,” said Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin. “Columbia has literally risen from ashes over the past 150 years to become a model progressive city of the new South, and we want everyone to come out and help us celebrate.” Columbia, the site of the original Secession Convention and capital of the first seceding state, was seen by the Union army as a special political target to encourage the surrender of the remaining Confederate forces. Columbia surrendered to the Union Army under the command of General William Tecumseh Sherman on February 17, 1865, and while the soldiers’ arrival signaled the imminent emancipation of enslaved African Americans in the city, the city suffered widespread destruction. The legacy of this physical loss is a pillar of the city’s common folklore and memories of the Civil War, and it remains hotly debated today. With funding from the South Carolina Arts Commission and The Humanities CouncilSC, commemoration organizers are receiving direction from a group of historians representing the South Carolina Department of Archives & History, South Carolina African American Heritage Foundation, University of South Carolina, Richland Library, Historic Columbia, South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum, and the South Carolina State Museum. "This commemoration presents a special opportunity for Columbia's cultural organizations to collaborate and create a wide-ranging, diverse series of events that explore our City's identity," said One Columbia for Arts & History Executive Director Lee Snelgrove. "It's wonderful that academics and artists, historians and visionaries have come together to explore the complexity of Columbia and its past through artistic expression." Tuesday, February 17, 2015—the 150th anniversary of the burning of Columbia—will offer a full day of events. The University of South Carolina’s History Center, Institute for Southern Studies and Graduate School will present a symposium from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Columbia Museum of Art featuring prominent scholars who will shed fresh light on the meaning of the events 150 years ago. The symposium will also include a presentation on foodways of the 1860s, accompanied by a period-appropriate meal. At 4 p.m. that day, the S.C. Department of Archives & History will unveil an historical marker to commemorate the burning at the corner of Main and Gervais streets, and at 5 p.m., the official commemoration ceremony will begin in Boyd Plaza on the 1500 block of Main Street. The ceremony will feature music from the Benedict College Concert Choir and the Sandlapper Singers, presentations by community leaders and historians, and the world premieres of two performance art pieces created for this commemoration. Following the ceremony, attendees are encouraged to explore exhibits, performances, tours, music, readings and more at venues along Columbia’s Main Street. More details about all commemoration events, as well as an overview of the history and significance of Columbia’s burning, are available on a new website, BurningofColumbia.com. “We hope to encourage open dialogue with this project,” said Historic Columbia Executive Director Robin Waites. “The legacy of the burning is one of rebirth and reinvention. By reflecting on it, we can see how far we’ve come as a city and recognize how far we have still to go.” About Columbia Commemorates: Columbia Commemorates is a multi-disciplinary coalition comprised of Midlands and statewide organizations formed to plan and implement a citywide commemoration of this pivotal event.  Through lectures; tours; film; visual, literary and performing arts; exhibits; public discussion; and large public gatherings, Columbia Commemorates will explore the events of February 17, 1865, as well as the immediate and long-term ramifications of the burning of South Carolina’s capital city. For more information about the commemoration and a calendar of events, please visit BurningofColumbia.com and follow on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @BurningofCola. Image: Photographer George N. Barnard captured the desolation of Columbia, South Carolina’s Richardson (Main) Street shortly after the city’s burning in February 1865. Image courtesy National Archives and Records Administration.

South Carolina Book Festival takes place May 16-18

The South Carolina Arts Commission is again happy to sponsor the SCBook Festival, organized by The Humanities CouncilSC.  One of the largest literary events in South Carolina, the festival features presentations by renowned national and local authors, book signings, an Antiquarian Book Fair, exhibitors, book sales and appraisals, children’s events, and more. The festival takes place at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center. And even better: it is free and open to the public! On Saturday and Sunday, more than 80 regional and national authors, poets, and presenters will appear, including poet Nikki Giovanni and authors Pat Conroy, Cassandra King, Mary Alice Monroe, Ron Rash and George Singleton. More than 100 exhibitors will participate, including local, regional and national book dealers, antiquarians, publishers, independent presses, writer’s collectives, individual writers and nonprofit organizations. Saturday hours are 9 a.m. until 5 p.m., and Sunday hours are noon until 4:30 p.m. The SCBook Festival and the University of South Carolina Press will present a special opening keynote address featuring award-winning author Christopher Buckley on Friday, May 16, 2014 at 5:30 p.m. The event will take place at the University of South Carolina Law School Auditorium in Columbia and is free and open to the public. Buckley is a political satirist and author of the novels Thank You for Smoking, Boomsday, and Supreme Courtship, among many others. His most recent book is But Enough About You, a collection of wide-ranging and witty essays. Five Writing Workshop classes are being offered on Friday, May 16, and three are being offered on Sunday, May 18. The Friday Writing Workshop classes are ticketed and require registration. Registration is $30 per person. The Sunday workshops are free and open to the public, and seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. To register for the Friday classes, and to view the complete schedule and the list of authors and exhibitors, visit the SCBook Festival website. Via: South Carolina Book Festival

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