USC Upstate instructor named winner of SC First Novel Prize
July 19, 2016
The South Carolina Arts Commission and Hub City Press of Spartanburg announce Brock Adams of Spartanburg as the winner of the 2016 South Carolina First Novel Competition. Adams’ novel, Ember, will be published by Hub City Press in September 2017.
Adams will receive a $1,000 book advance from Hub City Press.
In Ember, the sun is dying, civilization is collapsing, and Lisa’s marriage to Guy is falling apart. It’s a story of love and survival as they struggle to find their way through the frozen world beneath the ember.
“This evocative, near-future story imagines our misuse of Earth as resulting in a wan and failing sun, making it both timeless and contemporary,” said competition judge Bridgett M. Davis. “Against a haunting, apocalyptic Southern landscape, and with a panoply of rich characterizations, this beautiful novel is a cautionary tale about the power-hungry who rise from the ashes of a lost and dying world. With page-turning twists, the writer makes us care deeply about the small band of survivors making their way against violence and fear and the unknown—toward a brave new world. Ember begins with a small, glowing flame of intrigue and originality, then grows into a fireball of dazzling plot and prose, bursting into a literary tour de force.”
Adams is a senior instructor of English and creative writing at the University of South Carolina Upstate, where he also directs the Writing Center. He has published stories in Sewanee Review, Best American Mystery Stories, Barrelhouse, Acapella Zoo, and elsewhere. His book of stories, Gulf, was published by Pocol Press in 2010. He has an MFA in creative writing from the University of Central Florida.
“Ember is a rollicking read, and we look forward to being its publisher,” said Betsy Teter, director of Hub City Press, which has published the four previous winners of the biennial competition.
“The First Novel Prize is South Carolina’s premiere competition to discover new novelists in our state and launch their literary careers,” said Sara June Goldstein, literary arts director at the South Carolina Arts Commission. “It is the only first novel competition sponsored by a state arts commission, and it presents a unique way to appreciate the depth and breadth of the work of our remarkable writers, and then get the best of that fine writing into the hands of readers.”
The competition judge, Bridgett M. Davis, is author of the novels Into the Go-Slow (The Feminist Press, 2014) and Shifting through Neutral (Amistad/HarperCollins, 2004), which was a finalist for the 2005 Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright LEGACY Award. She is a professor at Baruch College CUNY and lives in Brooklyn. She is an essayist, filmmaker, and curator.
Other finalists in this year’s First Novel competition were Michael Bruton of Charleston, Rush Leaming of Columbia, Thomas McConnell of Spartanburg, and Erika Pertell of Spartanburg.
Other previous First Novel winners are Brian Ray, formerly of Columbia, author of Through the Pale Door (2008), selected by Percival Everett; Matt Matthews of Greenville, author of Mercy Creek (2010), selected by Bret Lott; Susan Tekulve of Spartanburg, author of In the Garden of Stone (2012), selected by Josephine Humphreys; and James McTeer of Lexington, author of Minnow (2014), selected by Ben Fountain.
The South Carolina First Novel Prize is funded by the South Carolina Arts Commission, Hub City Press and the Phifer/Johnson Foundation of Spartanburg. South Carolina State Library and South Carolina Humanities are founding partners.
For more information, visit or call www.SouthCarolinaArts.com/firstnovel, (803) 734-8696; or www.hubcity.org. (864) 577-9349.
Hub City Press
Hub City Press, founded in 1995, has published more than 65 books by regional authors, won 13 national and regional IPPY awards from Independent Publisher magazine, is a recipient of the Elizabeth O’Neill Verner Governor’s Award for the Arts, and has partnered with the S.C. Arts Commission on five previous book projects. For more information, visit www.hubcity.org or call (864) 577-9349.
About the South Carolina Arts Commission
The South Carolina Arts Commission is the state agency charged with creating a thriving arts environment that benefits all South Carolinians, regardless of their location or circumstances. Created by the South Carolina General Assembly in 1967, the Arts Commission works to increase public participation in the arts by providing services, grants and leadership initiatives in three areas: arts education, community arts development and artist development. Headquartered in Columbia, S.C., the Arts Commission is funded by the state of South Carolina, by the federal government through the National Endowment for the Arts, and other sources. For more information, visit www.SouthCarolinaArts.com or call (803) 734-8696.
