On Thursday April 24, 2008 from noon to 1:00 p.m., the South Carolina Center for the Book located at the South Carolina State Library will host Susan Meyers, Ray McManus and Ed Madden, winners of the South Carolina Poetry Book Prize.  A major poet selects one poet per year to receive this award, which began in 2006 and is sponsored by the South Carolina Poetry Initiative and the University of South Carolina Press. 

As part of Benedict College's National Endowment for the Arts' (NEA) "The Big Read"  program on Ernest J. Gaines winning novel, A Lesson Before Dying, students between the ages of 12 and 22 are invited to participate in a Citywide Essay and Visual Arts Contest.  Follow the links below to the Benedict website for applications and guidelines. 
Click here for the Book Cover Design Contest Application

Click here for the Essay Contest on A Lesson Before Dying Application 

Columbia, SC – The SC Center for the Book Awards Program (formerly the Palmetto Book Award Program) honors excellence in writing, teaching, and advocacy of the literary arts.  This year, the Center seeks nominations in these three categories:

1.    Writing: SC writer of any genre whose work has been published in the last year (2007)

2.    Teaching: SC teacher of the literary or language arts (at any level or type of school)

3.    Advocacy: SC person or organization that works to promote the literary arts and to foster a creative atmosphere in the state

                World renowned fantasy author and Charleston native James Oliver Rigney Jr, best known to the book world as Robert Jordan, will be inducted into the South Carolina Academy of Authors in a ceremony at Rigney’s alma mater, The Citadel at 7:00 PM on March 8, 2008.  Induction into the Academy is among the state’s most prestigious literary honors.  Previous members include James Dickey, Pat Conroy, Josephine Humphreys and John Jakes, among others.  Rigney will be the forty-seventh inductee.