The South Carolina Academy of Authors Inducts Four New Writers into the SC Literary Hall of Fame

On Saturday, March 21st, The Board of Governors of the SC Academy of Authors, in partnership with USC Aiken, presented the 2026 Induction Ceremony honoring the newest members of the SC Literary Hall of Fame at USCA’s Etherredge Center in Aiken.

The event included a lovely, sold-out dinner for the attendees, followed by an intimate induction ceremony at which individual members of the SCAA Board of Governors had the honor of speaking about the new members before the inductees warmly addressed the audience themselves.

The newest members of the SCAA’s SC Literary Hall of Fame are Claudia Smith Brinson, Dr. Dianne Johnson-Feelings, Augustus Jenkins Farmer, and J. Drew Lanham.

SCAA Board of Governor’s member Betsy Teter inducts J. Drew Lanham into the Academy’s SC Literary Hall of Fame

A native of Edgefield, SC, J. Drew Lanham is a poet, memoirist, naturalist, playwright, professor, and a recipient of the 2022 MacArthur Fellowship “genius” grant. He is the author of The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature (2016), Sparrow Envy: A Field Guide to Birds and Lesser Beasts (2021), and Joy is the Justice We Give Ourselves (2024). He is the Poet Laureate of Edgefield County and a Distinguished Professor of Wildlife Ecology and Master Teacher at Clemson University.

SCAA Board of Governors member Tom Mack Inducts Jenks Farmer into the Academy’s SC Literary Hall of Fame

Augustus “Jenks” Farmer has created two of the largest botanical gardens in SC, building and elevating the Riverbanks Botanical Gardens in Columbia to national acclaim. He is the author of Deep-Rooted Wisdom: Skills and Stories from Generations of Gardeners (2014), Funky Little Flower Farm  (2019), Crinum: Unearthing the History and Culture of the Biggest Bulbs in the World (2022), Garden Disrupters: The Rebel Misfits Who Turned Southern Horticulture on Its Head (2023), and Secrets of Southern Gardening (2025).

SCAA Board of Governors member Aida Rogers (right) inducts Dianne Johnson-Feelings into the Academy’s SC Literary Hall of Fame

Dr. Dianne Johnson-Feelings (Dinah Johnson) is a professor of English at the University of SC and has written ten books for children, all celebrating African American culture and community. She earned her undergraduate degree in English and creative writing from Princeton University and master's and doctoral degrees from Yale University, in Afro-American Studies and American Studies, respectively. Johnson's first published book was called Telling Tales: The Pedagogy and Promise of African American Literature for Youth (1990) was deemed “a much needed resource for children's literature" and was considered for several years as "the only book-length critical study of early black children's literature." She also edited The Best of The Brownies' Book, an anthology published in 1996 with texts from The Brownies Book a 1920s magazine aimed at African-American children which is considered "a major contribution to the field of children's literature."

SCAA Board of Governors member Cindi Boiter (left) inducts Claudia Smith Brinson into the Academy’s SC Literary Hall of Fame

Claudia Smith Brinson worked as a journalist for more than 30 years and was a national columnist for Knight-Ridder. Her reporting at The State newspaper won more than three dozen awards and she was the first person to win Knight-Ridder’s Award of Excellence in Journalism twice. She was a member of the newspaper team whose Hurricane Hugo coverage was a Pulitzer finalist and her short story “Einstein’s Daughter” received the O. Henry Award. She is the author of Stories of Struggle: The Clash Over Civil Rights in South Carolina (2020) and Injustice in Focus: The Civil Rights Photography of Cecil Williams (2024).

The SCAA selects new inductees whose works have been judged culturally important. Each inductee, whether living or deceased, has added to South Carolina’s literary legacy by illuminating some aspect of South Carolina culture and gaining a reputation that transcends the borders of our state. Including this year’s induction, the SCAA, founded in 1986, will have officially inducted more than 100 authors into its literary hall of fame.

The SCAA Board of Governors “believes in the extraordinary creativity of the human spirit and the value of multicultural diversity displayed in the work of all South Carolina writers. It is deeply committed to creating and sustaining practices that promote equity, diversity, and inclusion and strives to support these beliefs and holds itself accountable to these intentions.”

In addition to hosting this literary hall of fame, the SCAA also sponsors annual fellowships and student prizes in poetry and prose through support from the Penelope Coker Hall/Eliza Wilson Ingle Fund of Central Carolina Community Foundation. The SCAA is also grateful to the South Carolina Arts Commission for their sponsorship and support.

For more information about the South Carolina Academy of Authors visit the website.

New SC Literary Hall of Fame Inductees Drew Lanham and Dinah Johnson relax during a closing brunch at the home of Tom Mack and Michael Budd

(Full Disclosure: Cindi Boiter is a member of the Jasper Project’s board of directors and the author of this piece)

(Photo Credit - Tom Mack and event attendees)

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First Novel Prize -- A Guest Blog by Betsy Teter, Hub City Press, Spartanburg

With the deadline of the third South Carolina First Novel Prize now just two months away, it’s a great time to reflect on this literary experiment in our state and update the readers of Jasper about this initiative—the only one of its kind in the United States.

A decade ago Sara June Goldstein of the SC Arts Commission and I began to talk about how cool it would be to have a First Novel Prize in our state. We wanted to help launch emerging writers into the larger literary world and solidify South Carolina’s reputation as a state with unusually good opportunities for writers. Every time we ran into each other, one of us said, “We gotta find funding for that prize!”

We found our funding partner in 2007 when David Goble became South Carolina State Librarian and agreed to underwrite the prize. The first contest, which took place in 2008, drew more than 100 entries. The stacks of novels came to the SC Arts Commission office and were winnowed down by the MFA students at UNC Wilmington to a group of six finalists. We sent those manuscripts to novelist (and SC native) Percival Everett in Los Angeles, who selected a manuscript by Brian Ray, a Columbia writer who had just completed his MFA at the University of South Carolina. Brian’s book, Through the Pale Door, was released in 2009 and received many favorable reviews, including Atlanta magazine and Booklist. Brian did an extensive book tour, we sold out the hardback printing, and the book continues to be available as a paperback. It also received a gold medal as the best novel by an independent press in the Southeast.

The 2010 contest drew fewer entries (about 50), but the group of finalists was amazingly strong. Novelist Bret Lott chose Mercy Creek by Matt Matthews of Greenville. This coming-of-age book was a hit with readers and reviewers (Publishers Weekly called it “a first rate effort displaying skill, sensitivity and grace.”). The book has sold out two hardback editions and was released in paperback in January. Matt has been invited to the Virginia Festival of the Book, and has toured book stores and libraries across the state.

I tell you all this to let you know that winning the First Novel Prize is a big deal. There’s a $1,000 advance on royalties and Hub City Press works incredibly hard to get national notice and sales of the winning book. You get featured at the South Carolina Book Festival and in newspapers all over the state. And even if you don’t win, you might be published. This spring we are publishing one of the runner-up novels in the 2010 contest, The Iguana Tree by Michel Stone.

Unfortunately, because of budget cuts, the State Library was unable to continue to be our major funding partner this year. But the staff at the SC Arts Commission and at Hub City Press decided this project was too important to South Carolina and its writers to let go. While we continue to seek a stable funding partner, we are proceeding in 2012 with confidence, knowing that sales of the last two books have been strong. We know that one of those novels that will arrive at the SC Arts Commission office by the March 19 deadline not only will be a winner for the author, it will be a winner for Hub City Press, for the Arts Commission, and the entire state of South Carolina.

Details are here: http://www.southcarolinaarts.com/firstnovel/index.shtml

What have you got to lose?