Lanier Library is pleased to present South Carolina’s First Novel Prize-winning author Brock Adams for a reading from his novel, Ember, on Thursday, October 26, 7 p.m. at the library on Chestnut Street.

“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.

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.

“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.”

This event is free and open to all.  The library is located at 72 Chestnut Street, Tryon.

Competition Judge Bridgett M. Davis states “This evocative, near-future story imagines our misuse of Earth as resulting in a wan and failing sun, making it both timeless and contemporary.  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.”

– submitted by Clare O’Sheel