Scott Lax

Playwright Novelist Screenwriter Journalist Professor

Click to Stream 1970 by Scott Lax

(The cast, producer, director & playwright of 1970)

About Scott Lax

SCOTT LAX is a playwright and award-winning novelist and journalist. He is a Senior Professor of Practice in Creative Writing at the Cleveland Institute of Art College of Art + Design. Scott graduated from Hiram College in English and studied Shakespeare's History Plays at the University of Cambridge, England. He has presented for dozens of schools, libraries, organizations, and writers' conferences.

 

Scott is a recipient of a 1993 Bread Loaf Writers' Conference Scholarship in Nonfiction, and the 1998 Sewanee Writers Conference Fellowship in Fiction. In 2002, Scott received a Certificate of Congratulations from the City of Cleveland, and in 2016 was inducted into the Chagrin Falls High School Achievement Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 1970.

 

The Denver Post wrote of Scott's first novel, The Year That Trembled, "A powerful coming-of-age story… captures the mood of the era and tells a strong tale of love, brotherly and otherwise," and named it one of 1998's "milestones in fiction." In 2002, Scott and Tyler Davidson produced the feature film version of The Year That Trembled, directed by Jay Craven, for which they were named Midwest Filmmakers of the Year by the 2002 Cleveland International Film Festival, in addition to three other film festival first-place awards.

 

Scott's second novel, Vengeance Follows, was called "A minor masterpiece of suspense and human nature," by the Midwest Book Review. Scott adapted The Year That Trembled first as a high school play, which was produced at University School in 2003 and 2013, directed by Carol Jaffee Pribble. During the pandemic, Scott rewrote the play for community and professional theatres and retitled it 1970, which made its successful World Premiere at the Chagrin Valley Little Theatre, directed by Brian Westerley over two weekends and six shows, including a 250-seat, sold-out final Saturday night performance.

 

A member of the Authors Guild and the Dramatists Guild, Scott is also a professional drummer who has performed with many musicians around the country, including Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Bo Diddley. Scott Lives in the Chagrin Valley in Ohio with his wife and son.

 

– October 2023

Awards & Recognition

FICTION
February 14, 2010 - Scott Lax's short story, "Sales Call," won 2nd Place for MUSE Magazine's 2010 Literary Competition.

1999 - The Year That Trembled, a Novel named Vermont Book of the Year, Runner-Up.

Dec. 1998 - The Year That Trembled, a Novel, named of of 1998’s “Milestones in Fiction by Denver Post.

1998 - Sewanee Writers’ Conference (Univ. of the South), Walter E. Dakin Fellowship in Fiction

NON-FICTION
March, 2011 - In the Ohio Professional Writers 2011 Communications Contest, Scott Lax won First Place for Writing for the Web, Columns or Commentary

May 22, 2010 - In the Ohio Professional Writers 2010 Communications Contest, Scott Lax won Second Place for "Original Columns, General."

May 16, 2009 - In the Ohio Professional Writers 2009 Communication Contest, Scott Lax was awarded:

1. First Place for "Original Columns, General"

2. First Place for "Feature Story, Magazine"

3. Second Place for "Special Series, Print Media."

June 2008: Ohio Excellence in Journalism Award, statewide competition, sponsored by The Cleveland Press Club, Honorable Mention, Best Single Essay, Open Print

1993 - Bread Loaf Writer’ Conference (Middlebury College), Bernard J. O’Keefe Scholarship in

 

Nonfiction

1994, 1995 - Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference, Staff Scholarship

FILM
2002 - Midwest Filmmaker of the Year, Cleveland International Film Festival

2002 - Producer’s Award, Winner, People’s Choice, Cincinnati International Film Festival

2002 - Producer’s Award, Winner, Best Regional Feature, Cincinnati International Film Festival

2002 - Bessie’s People’s Choice Award, Burlington, VT City Arts, Favorite Film

TEACHING
2010 - The Hub City Writers' Workshop of South Carolina awards the second annual Scott Lax Prize in Writing to Bertrice Robinson. The Scott Lax Prize is a full-ride, one-week scholarship to the Wild Acres Writers Workshop in North Carolina. This award was established in 2008 by Hillcrest Publications of Spartanburg, S.C., "in recognition of novelist Scott Lax of Ohio."

 

GENERAL
Oct. 6, 2016 - Inducted into the Chagrin Falls High School Achievement Hall of Fame

2002 - City of Cleveland Certificate of Congratulations for body of work.