The SC Academy of Authors (SCAA) announces its annual fellowship competitions in poetry and fiction. Winning authors in each category will receive $1,000 and be invited to the SCAA induction ceremony in Charleston in April 2015. The winning entries will be published in “Fall Lines,” an annual literary journal published by Muddy Ford Press in Columbia.
The entry deadline is December 1, 2014. Applicants must be full-time South Carolina residents. Previous winners are eligible after three years. Entries must be neither published nor accepted for publication at the time of submission, though simultaneous submissions are allowed.
Submissions in either category must be typed on 8.5" x 11" paper; the author’s name must not appear on the manuscript. Authors should mail two hard copies of their entries with a separate cover sheet specifying their name, contact information and submission title(s), plus a $15 application fee payable to SCAA to the addresses below. Entry fees help support the SCAA in its mission to preserve and promote South Carolina’s literary legacy.
Entries for the fiction fellowship must be original short stories or excerpts from longer works not exceeding 15 pages. There are no restrictions on content. Applicants may submit only one story or excerpt. Submissions and application fees should be sent to Jon Tuttle, Department of English, Francis Marion University, PO Box 100547, Florence, SC 29502. For more information about the fiction fellowship, contact Jon Tuttle at Jtuttle@fmarion.edu.
The fiction fellowship is now in its fourth year. Previous winners are Nancy Brock of Columbia (2014), Thomas McConnell of Spartanburg (2013), and Craig Brandhurst of Columbia (2012). This year’s fiction fellowship judge is Ann Hood, author of 11 novels, most recently “The Italian Wife” (2014) and “The Obituary Writer” (2013). Her best-selling memoir, “Comfort” (2008), was named one of the top 10 non-fiction books by Entertainment Weekly and was a New York Times Editor’s Choice. She is the recipient of the Paul Bowles Prize for Short Fiction, two Pushcart Prizes and a Best American Spiritual Writing Award, and is a faculty member in the MFA program at The New School in New York City.
Entries for the Carrie Nickens Poetry Fellowship, now in its sixth year, must be original manuscripts of 6-10 pages with no more than one poem per page. There are no restrictions on form or content. Submissions and application fees should be sent to Libby Bernardin, 407 Meeting St., Georgetown, SC 29440. For more information about the Nickens Poetry Fellowship, contact Bernardin at libbypoet@gmail.com.
Recent winners of the Nickens Poetry Fellowship include Jo Angela Edwins of Florence (2014), Susan Laughter Meyers of Givhans (2013), and Kit Loney of Charleston (2012). This year’s poetry fellowship judge is Traci Brimhall, author of “Our Lady of the Ruins,” winner of the 2011 Barnard Women Poets Prize, and “Rookery,” winner of the 2009 Crab Orchard Series in Poetry First Book Award. Her poems have appeared in The New Yorker, Poetry, Slate, The Believer, Kenyon Review, The New Republic, Ploughshares, and Best American Poetry 2013 & 2014. She is an assistant professor of creative writing at Kansas State University.
The South Carolina Academy of Authors was founded at Anderson College in 1986. Its purpose, besides sponsoring fellowships in fiction and poetry, 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. For more information about the South Carolina Academy of Authors, please visit www.scacademyofauthors.org.
