Oregon Literary Fellowships
Literary Arts is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2018 Oregon Literary Fellowships to writers and to publishers. Literary Arts received 401 applications from writers and 12 applications from publishers for the 2018 fellowships. Out-of-state judges spent several months evaluating these applications, using literary excellence as the primary criterion. Literary Arts awarded two fellowships this year that were funded by the Oregon Arts Commission, and awarded two new fellowships in fiction: the Laurell Swails and Donald Monroe Memorial Fellowship. Also, thank you to the Oregon Community Foundation for their generous grant to help support these 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.
Since 1987, Literary Arts has honored over 600 Oregon writers and publishers, and distributed more than $900,000 in fellowships and award monies through the Oregon Book Awards & Fellowships program.
2018 Oregon Literary Fellowships for Writers
NONFICTION
Jacob Aiello, Oregon Arts Commission Fellowship
Elizabeth Enslin
Susan Shepard
Brian Trapp
Reema Zaman, Writer of Color Fellowship
POETRY
manuel arturo abreu
Danielle Cadena Deulen
Matthew Minicucci, C. Hamilton Bailey Fellowship
Milo R. Muise
Jake Vermaas, Oregon Arts Commission Fellowship
FICTION
Omar El Akkad
Takashi L. Kendrick, Laurell Swails and Donald Monroe Memorial Fellowship
Mika Tanner, Laurell Swails and Donald Monroe Memorial Fellowship
Alberto Yáñez, Leslie Bradshaw Fellowship
Adair V
YOUNG READERS
Cindy Baldwin, Walt Morey Fellowship
Erica A. Briggs, Edna L. Homes Fellowship in Young Readers
DRAMA
Naomi Ulsted, Women Writers Fellowship
2018 Oregon Literary Fellowships for Publishers
Clackamas Literary Review
Pacifica: Poetry International
The Judges for the 2018 Oregon Literary Fellowships
Fellowships to writers of nonfiction, fiction, and poetry were judged by a panel consisting of Brian Blanchfield, author of three books of poetry and prose, most recently Proxies, published by Nightboat Books in 2016, and by Picador UK in 2017; Kiese Laymon, author of the novel, Long Division and a collection of essays, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America; Lillian-Yvonne Bertram, author of But a Storm is Blowing From Paradise. The judge for young readers literature was Nova Ren Suma, author of The Walls Around Us, Imaginary Girls, and Fade Out. The judge for drama was A. Rey Pamatmat. Erika Goldman, Publisher and Editorial Director of Bellevue Literary Press was the judge in publishing.
Praise for 2018 Oregon Literary Fellowship Recipients:
“I was recently asked in other contexts to reflect on the most impressive literature I’d read all year, and several of these applicant manuscripts sprang first to mind. Oregon should be proud.”
—Brian Blanchfield, Oregon Literary Fellowship Judge
“These writers were as ambitious as they were soulful. They were curious and audacious. That’s tough to pull off regardless of the age of the writer. But to see it in so many emerging writers was actually inspirational.”
—Kiese Laymon, Oregon Literary Fellowship Judge
