Biography
Ray McManus was born in Columbia, SC, and was raised in a rural community just outside of Lexington, SC. Needless to say, he did not fit in. After high school, Ray moved back to Columbia and attended the University of South Carolina (USC) where he received his B.A. in English in 1997, his M.F.A. in poetry in 2001, and his Ph.D. in composition and rhetoric in 2006. While at USC, Ray won numerous awards for academic excellence and teaching in the classroom.Ray is the author of Driving Through the Country before You Are Born. The book won the South Carolina Poetry Book Prize in 2006, sponsored by the South Carolina Poetry Initiative, and was published by USC Press in April 2007. His poems have appeared in Nimrod International Journal, Crazyhorse, Jabberwock, Natural Bridge, Los Angeles Review, and many other journals and anthologies throughout the United States and Canada. Ray is the winner of the 1997 Academy of American Poets award at USC, the 2000 James Dickey award in poetry at USC, and the 2002 Academy of South Carolina Author's fellowship for his poetry.
Not only is Ray a successful poet, he is an award-winning teacher. He teaches poetry writing, composition, literature and business writing at USC. As a teacher, Ray has won several awards including the 2002 Cile Moise Teaching Award for Teaching Excellence, the 2002 Most Exciting Classroom Presence Award, and the 2006 Two Thumbs Up Award from the Office of Student Disability Services. Ray has served as Writer in Residence for the Palmetto Center for the Arts at Richland Northeast High School from 2003-2006, and has been the Director of Creative Writing at Tri-DAC since 2002. Since 2000, Ray has taught poetry writing to South Carolinians of all ages through a program he co-founded called Split P Soup. Split P Soup has served more than 7000 South Carolina teachers and students!
Despite all the conservative viewpoints and humidity that South Carolina has to offer, Ray still calls it home. He lives in Columbia with his amazing wife, Lindsay, and his two beautiful, slightly crazy children, Sean and Morgan.
