BA, English, Hiram College
Scott Lax is an award-winning novelist, short story writer, playwright, screenwriter, producer, and journalist. A graduate of Hiram College in English, he teaches writing as Senior Professor of Practice at the Cleveland Institute of Art, where he received the 2025 Dan Tranberg Award for Teaching Excellence.
Other recognitions include the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference Bernard J. O'Keefe Scholarship in Nonfiction; the Sewanee Writers Conference Walter E. Dakin Fellowship in Fiction; six journalism awards; and four 1st-place film festival producer's awards, including Midwest Filmmaker of the Year, from the Cleveland International Film Festival, for the Jay Craven-directed movie, based on Scott's novel, "The Year That Trembled." The Boston Herald called the film, which stared Marin Hinkle, Fred Willard, Martin Mull, Jay R. Ferguson, and Jonathan Brandis, "memorable and touching."
Of his novel, "The Year That Trembled," the Denver Post named it one of the year's "Milestones in Fiction... A powerful coming of age story of a group of friends who are waiting to learn their fate in the Vietnam War-era selective service lottery... Lax captures the mood of the era and tells a strong tale of love, brotherly and otherwise."
Lax adapted the novel into a two-act stage play, "1970," directed by Brian Westerly, which ran for two weeks in the fall of 2023 at the Chagrin Valley Little Theatre. Scott's play was previously produced under the name "The Year That Trembled," directed by Carol Jaffee Pribble, at Cleveland's University School in 2003 and 2013.
Of his novel, "Vengeance Follows," Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Ron Powers wrote, "Mesmerizing and masterful … gets inside the head of a lethal sociopath while maintaining a loving evocation of a quiet Ohio town with a Richard Russo-like respect for the human soul." The Midwest Book Review praised the novel writing, "Scott Lax is master wordsmith of the first order." Lax has since adapted the novel as a feature film screenplay.
Lax has written for many organizations such as Comedy Central, ESPN, and MLB's Cleveland Guardians. He is a professional speaker and presenter for writers' conferences, libraries, and schools.
Scott Lax is the founder and principal of Little Meadow LLC, which consists of Little Meadow Literary, for editorial consultation, memoir co-authoring, and novel-to-screenplay adaptations; and Little Meadow Productions, for film and television.
A professional drummer since age 13, Scott has performed with Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Bo Diddley, among many musicians nationally.
