In Summer 2007, the SC Center for the Book initiated a Speaker at the Center lunchtime series.  The SCCFTB will host at least one speaker per quarter to give a self-contained, one hour talk on the area of his or her academic expertise, latest publication, or other book-related topic of interest to the general population.  The program is free and open to the public and attendees should feel free to bring a bag lunch. 

• June 2007:  Auhor BJ Welborn on the topic of her book, Traveling Literary America. This program was sponsored in part by The Humanities Council SC, a state program of the National Endowment for the Humanities; inspiring, engaging, and enriching South Carolinians with programs on literature, history, culture and heritage. 
  
• September 2007: Furman Professor Dr. Margaret J. Oakes on The Letters of Queen Elizabeth I: The Humility of Power.  This program was sponsored in part by The Humanities Council SC, a state program of the National Endowment for the Humanities; inspiring, engaging, and enriching South Carolinians with programs on literature, history, culture and heritage.  
• December 2007: Dr. Robert K. Ackerman, author of Wade Hampton III (University of South Carolina Press, 2007). Providing the most balanced and comprehensive portrayal of Wade Hampton III to date, Robert K. Ackerman's biography explores the remarkable abilities and tragic failings of the planter-statesman who would come to personify the Civil War and Reconstruction in South Carolina.
• January 2008: Dr. Andrew Billingsley, author of Yearning to Breathe Free: Robert Smalls of South Carolina and His Families (University of South Carolina Press, 2007).  On May 13, 1862, the enslaved African American Robert Smalls commandeered a Confederate warship, the Planter, from Charleston harbor and piloted the vessel to cheering seamen of the Union blockade, thus securing his place in the annals of Civil War heroics. Slave, pilot, businessman, statesman, U.S. congressman, Smalls played many roles en route to becoming an American icon, but none of his accomplishments was a solo effort. Billingsley offers the first biography of Smalls to assess the influence of his families—black and white, past and present—on his life and enduring legend. 
• February 2008: Dr. Stephanie Mitchem, professor at USC and member of The Humanities Council SC Speakers  Bureau, spoke on A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines.  This program was offered in conjunction with Benedict College’s Big Read program.
• March 2008: Sheila Morris spoke about her memoir, Deep in the Heart: A Memoir of Love and Longing

• April 2008: National Poetry Month Celebration with Ray McManus, Ed Madden and Susan Meyers, all poets and winners of the South Carolina Poetry Book Prize sponsored by USC Press and the South Carolina Poetry Initiative.
• May 2008: Judge Bert Goolsby spoke about his books, including Harpers Joy
• June-August 2008: Presidents, Politics and Power: American Presidents Who Shaped The 20th Century (A six installment video series): Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan
• August 2008: University of South Carolina Press Authors Alex Hawkins and Bob Fulton, authors of Cooking with Cocky II and My Life, My Career
• September 2008: University of South Carolina Press Author Benjamin Franklin V, author of Jazz and Blues Musicians of South Carolina