The Susan Laughter Meyers Summer Scholarship
PSSC’s first summer scholarship was created in 2013 in cooperation with Virginia Center for the Creative Arts to recognize and encourage fine writing by a South Carolinian poet. This scholarship was awarded in open competition to Susan Laughter Meyers.
In 2015, an annual summer scholarship contest, providing one full tuition to the Hub City Writing in Place conference, was established by PSSC for a PSSC member poet to be selected by a renowned judge. In 2016 and 2017, the second and third PSSC Summer Scholarships were awarded to Celeste McMaster and Melissa Slayton, respectively. Susan Laughter Meyers co-chaired those contests.
In June of 2017, Susan passed away unexpectedly. In honor of her many contributions to poetry in South Carolina, the scholarship was renamed the Susan Laughter Meyers Summer Scholarship. Friends and family of Susan have generously contributed to the funding of this scholarship.
The winner of the 2018 scholarship was McKayla Conahan. Of McKayla’s work and Susan’s many gifts to poetry, judge Alan Michael Parker wrote: "Reading these poems, and thinking about Susan Laughter Meyers (in whose memory the award is being given), I am struck by the constancy of wit and wonder—wicked wit, at times—and again, that notion of "luminescent intelligence." How pleasing to find such smarts in this work, to honor the smarts of Susan, and the compassion with which her astonishments saw the world."
Application for the next Susan Laughter Meyers Summer Scholarship is open to any current PSSC adult member, except previous winners; online submission only, no application fee required. The scholarship awards full tuition to the Hub City Writing in Place conference. The three-day conference, held each year in July at Wofford College in Spartanburg, SC, gives writers an opportunity to study in a workshop setting, generate new work, attend faculty readings, and more. Application Period for The 2019 Susan Meyers Summer Scholarship: October 15 through November 15, 2018.