Oregon Literary Fellowships

Oregon Literary Fellowships are intended to help Oregon writers initiate, develop, or complete literary projects. Fellowships are also awarded to support Oregon’s independent publishers, small presses, and literary magazines.

Literary Arts is please to announce the recipients of the 2020 Oregon Literary Fellowships. Generous gifts from our community have increased the value of the Brian Booth Writers’ Fund Endowment which, in turn, have allowed us to further support exceptional Oregon writers.

This year, Literary Arts awarded two Oregon Literary Career Fellowships of $10,000 each, and thirteen fellowships of $3,500, for a total of $65,500.

We received 357 applications from writers and 17 applications from publishers for the 2020 fellowships. Out-of-state judges spent several months evaluating these applications, using literary excellence as the primary criterion. Literary Arts awarded three fellowships this year that were funded by the Oregon Arts Commission. 

Since 1987, Literary Arts has honored over 650 Oregon writers and publishers, and distributed more than $930,000 in fellowships and award monies through the Oregon Book Awards & Fellowships program.

OREGON LITERARY CAREER FELLOWSHIPS
Fellowship amount: $10,000

Beth Alvarado of Bend (nonfiction), Oregon Literary Career Fellowship
Dao Strom of Portland (poetry), Writer of Color Oregon Literary Career Fellowship

OREGON LITERARY FELLOWSHIPS
Fellowship amount: $3,500

FICTION
Cynthia L. Brown of Portland, Laurell Swails and Donald Monroe Memorial Fellowship
Marjorie Celona of Eugene, Oregon Arts Commission Fellowship
Taylor Koekkoek of Portland, Laurell Swails and Donald Monroe Memorial Fellowship
Gabriel Urza of Hood River, Oregon Arts Commission Fellowship
Olufunke Grace Bankole of Portland, Writer of Color Fellowship

NONFICTION
Garet Lahvis of Portland, Oregon Arts Commission Fellowship

POETRY
Jamie Cooper of Portland, Walt Morey Fellowship
Alicia Jo Rabins of Portland, C. Hamilton Bailey Fellowship
Eliza Rotterman of Portland, Women Writers Fellowship

YOUNG READERS
Kelly Garrett of Portland, Edna L. Holmes Fellowship in Young Readers

DRAMA
Rachael Carnes of Eugene, Leslie Bradshaw Fellowship

OREGON LITERARY FELLOWSHIPS FOR PUBLISHERS
Fonograf Editions of Portland
Octopus Books of Portland

2020 Oregon Literary Fellowship Judges
Fellowships to writers of nonfiction, fiction, and poetry were judged by a panel consisting of:

Patricia Park, Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at American University, Fulbright scholar in Creative Arts, and author of the novel, RE JANE.

Aatif Rashid,essayist and author of the novel Portrait of Sebastian Khan.

Kerri Webster, Whiting recipient and author of two poetry collections including Grand & Arsenal (University of Iowa Press).

The judge for young readers literature was Kevin Emerson, author of 16 middle grade and YA novels including Last Day on Mars. The judge for drama was Stephanie Bubnis, Interim Managing Director of the Fordham Theatre Program. Kristina Marie Darling, Editor-in-Chief of Tupelo Press and Tupelo Quarterly, was the judge in publishing.

Applications for the 2021 Oregon Literary Fellowships will be available in April 2021.