Philip Belcher has published poems in a variety of poetry journals, including Plainsong, Thorny Locust, and Mobius. In 2005, he won the Porter Fleming Writing Competition Prize in Poetry. He was also selected as the 2006 South Carolina Poetry Fellow Alternate by the South Carolina Arts Commission. Most recently, Philip’s chapbook, The Flies and Their Lovely Names, was selected by the South Carolina Poetry Initiative at USC for publication.

Philip is a member of the Academy of American Poets and for several years has been a member of the Spoets, a Spartanburg-based poetry group that meets regularly for readings and critique. He is among the Spartanburg writers whose work is featured in Hub City’s 2005 collaboration with Spartanburg Regional Medical Center, which brought poetry to the walls of the new Emergency Center building. 

Since March 2000, Philip has served as President of the Mary Black Foundation, a private foundation serving Spartanburg County, South Carolina.  Formerly the Associate Director of the Health Care Division of The Duke Endowment in Charlotte, N.C., Philip is a graduate of Furman University, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and the Duke University School of Law.  Prior to joining The Duke Endowment in 1998, he was a partner in the law firm of Parker, Poe, Adams & Bernstein in Charlotte, N.C.