The South Carolina Academy of Authors will honor writers Dorothea Benton Frank, William Ioor, Bret Lott, and Marjory Heath Wentworth on April 11 at 6:00 p.m. at The Citadel’s Riverview Room in Charleston, S.C.
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. The reception and induction ceremony includes recognition of the writers and their induction in the South Carolina Academy of Authors literary hall of fame. Tickets, $35 a person, are still available. For more information please visit scacademyofauthors.org/news.html.
Dorothea Benton Frank is a New York Times best-selling author, public speaker, and nonprofit fundraiser. She was born and reared on Sullivan's Island, South Carolina. She is the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from The College of Charleston and a Doctorate of Fine Arts from Bloomfield College. Her first novel, Sullivan’s Island (Berkley Publishing, 2000), debuted on the New York Times list at number nine. The novel has over one million copies in print and can be found in ten foreign languages.
William Ioor was a farmer, physician, and South Carolina’s first dramatist. He was born in 1780 near Dorchester, where he would later open his first medical practice. Beginning in 1800, he served as a representative of St. George in the General Assembly and, inspired by his political involvement, wrote the plays on which his reputation rests: Independence and The Battle of Eutaw Springs.
Bret Lott is the bestselling author of fourteen books, most recently the nonfiction collection Letters and Life: On Being a Writer, On Being a Christian (Crossway 2013) and the novel Dead Low Tide (Random House 2012). Other books include the story collection The Difference Between Women and Men; the nonfiction book Before We Get Started: A Practical Memoir of the Writer’s Life; and the novels Jewel, an Oprah Book Club pick, and A Song I Knew by Heart. His work has also appeared in The Yale Review, The New York Times, The Georgia Review, and in dozens of anthologies.
Marjory Heath Wentworth teaches for The College of Charleston, The Art Institute of Charleston, and Charleston County Schools Engaging Creative Minds Program. She worked in the field of human rights; founded and guided the “Expressions of Healing” program at Roper St. Francis Cancer Center; worked as a publicist for books, television, and film; and conducts creative writing workshops for children and adults. Poet Laureate of South Carolina, Marjory Wentworth cofounded the Lowcountry Initiative for the Literary Arts (LILA). She serves on a variety of boards, including the Poetry Society of South Carolina.
The South Carolina Academy of Authors was founded at Anderson University in 1986. 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.
Those wishing to support the Academy, a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization, may make a donation online at the SCAA website. Checks to the S.C. Academy of Authors may be mailed to The SC Academy of Authors, c/o Jill Hendrix, Treasurer, 123 Brandywine Lane, Spartanburg, S.C. 29301.
