"A master wordsmith of the first order."
– The Midwest Book Review
About Scott Lax
(scroll below bio for more photos)
SCOTT LAX is an award-winning novelist, journalist, and filmmaker, as well as a screenwriter and produced playwright. He works full time as a Senior Professor of Practice in Creative Writing at the Cleveland Institute of Art College of Art + Design, where he is in his ninth year of teaching. Scott graduated from Hiram College in English. While at Hiram Scott studied Shakespeare's History Plays at the University of Cambridge, England.
He has presented for dozens of schools, libraries, and organizations. He has also taught fiction as a faculty member at Hiram College, where he taught fiction, as well as the Western Reserve Writers Conference in Ohio, at the Wildacres Writers Workshop in North Carolina, at the South Carolina Writers Conference, and others.
Scott is a recipient of the 1993 Bread Loaf Writers' Conference Bernard J. O'Keefe Scholarship in Nonfiction, and the 1998 Sewanee Writers Conference Walter E. Dakin Fellowship in Fiction. He received a Certificate of Congratulations from the City of Cleveland for his body of work in 2001, 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," alongside such authors as Philip Roth, Alice Walker, Stephen King, Barbara Kingsolver, and Tim O'Brien. 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. He has adapted that novel as a screenplay and is in development of the feature film version.
Scott adapted The Year That Trembled first as a high school play, which was produced at University School in 2003 and 2013. 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.
Aside from his creative work, Scott has written for clients as diverse as ESPN, Comedy Central, Oracle, and the Cleveland Guardians MLB baseball team.
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.
– August 2024
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.