From Lifelong Love to Laureate: Joanna Schuman Named Clemson’s First Poet Laureate
Joanna Schuman has been appointed the City of Clemson’s first Poet Laureate, a distinguished role representing the city through literary arts for a three-year term, reflecting her lifelong passion for words, books, and poetry which began at age seven and continued with her inclusion in national high school anthologies.
Clemson Poet Laureate Joanna Schuman with Mayor Robert Halfacre
After she married Dr. Stanley Schuman and raised eight children, she founded and directed the Sursum Corda spiritual direction program for nineteen years, and served four years as president of the Poetry Society of South Carolina (PSSC), the country’s oldest poetry society, notably receiving The John Edward Johnson Prize in 2023 for her poem “Rosary,” written in memory of her late husband, while also enjoying her membership in the OLLI Writer’s Workshop.