2012-2013 Fiction, Poetry, & Playwriting Fellowships Announced!

Congratulations to our incoming Fellows! After months of careful reading and some very heated discussions, the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing has chosen the recipients of next year's fellowships.

The winner of the Carl Djerassi Playwriting Fellowship is Elaine Romero of Chicago, IL. You can read more about her here!

Ari A. Banias (MFA: Hunter) will be the Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow. Ari's poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Gulf Coast, Subtropics, The Cincinnati Review, Sycamore Review, FIELD, Salt Hill, Literary Imagination, Arts and Letters, the anthology Collective Brightness, and elsewhere. He has been awarded residencies at Caldera, Headlands Center for the Arts, and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown.

Miriam Cohen (MFA: Sarah Lawrence) will be the Carol Houck Smith Fiction Fellow. Her stories have appeared or are forthcoming in Black Warrior Review, Storyglossia, The Fiddleback, and Moonshot. She was the recipient of the 2010 Black Warrior Fiction Award.

Jaquira Diaz (MFA: U. of South Florida) will be the Carl Djerassi Fiction Fellow. Her stories and creative essays have appeared or are forthcoming in Juked, The Southern Review, Harpur Palate, Slice Magazine, Los Angeles Review, Passages North, and elsewhere.

Sara Gelston (MFA: U. of Illinois) will be the Diane Middlebrook Poetry Fellow. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Hayden's Ferry Review, Indiana Review, Cincinnati Review, Poetry Northwest, The Journal, CutBank, and elsewhere. She is currently the Assistant Poetry Editor for Ninth Letter.

Sarah Hulse (MFA: U. of Oregon) will be the James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow. Her stories have appeared or are forthcoming in Salamander, Witness, and Willow Springs.

Alyssa Knickerbocker is the recipient of the Halls Emerging Artist Fellowship, awarded annually to a graduate of the MFA program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. From 2010-2012 she was the Axton Fellow at the University of Louisville. Her stories have appeared or are forthcoming in American Short Fiction, OH NO, Carolina Quarterly, Bat City Review, Avery Anthology, and elsewhere. Her novella, Your Rightful Home, was released as an e-book in 2011.

Current Fellows

Nicole Cullen is the 2011-2012 Carol Houck Smith Fiction Fellow. She was raised in Salmon, Idaho, and earned an MFA from the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas-Austin in 2011. Her fiction has appeared in Ploughshares and The Dublin Review.

Laura Eve Engel (MFA: University of Houston) is the 2011-2012 Jay C. & Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow. Her work has recently appeared or is forthcoming in The Southern Review, Black Warrior Review, Indiana Review, Pleiades, Salt Hill, Versal and elsewhere. [Spoiler Alert], a chapbook she co-wrote, is forthcoming from Dzanc Books.

Pilar Gomez-Ibañez (MFA: Cornell University) is the 2011-2012 Diane Middlebrook Poetry Fellow. She grew up in Wisconsin, and from 2007-2008 she was a writing fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown.

Mehdi Tavana Okasi (MFA: Purdue University) is the 2011-2012 Carl Djerassi Fiction Fellow. His fiction has appeared in Best New American Voices 2009 edited by Mary Gaitskill, and his fiction and nonfiction is forthcoming in Iowa Review. He is the former editor-in-chief of The Sycamore Review. Mehdi has been the recipient of the Joyce Horton Johnson Fellowship from Key West Literary Seminars, and in 2010 he was the career award winner of the National Society of Arts and Letters.

Jacques J. Rancourt (MFA: University of Wisconsin) is the 2011-2012 Halls Emerging Artist Fellow. His poems have appeared or will appear in New England Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, Colorado Review, and Columbia, among others. Most recently, his work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. He lives in Madison, Wisconsin, where he was a founding editor of the online literary journal Devil's Lake.

Emily Ruskovich (MFA: University of Iowa) is the 2011-2012 James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow. She grew up on Hoo Doo Mountain on the Idaho Panhandle. Her work has appeared in Zoetrope All-Story, Inkwell, and other publications. She also raises rabbits and co-owns a broom company

Martín Zimmerman (MFA: University of Texas-Austin) is the 2011-2012 Carl Djerassi Playwriting Fellow. His plays include White Tie Ball, The Making of a Modern Folk Hero, and Seven Spots on the Sun, and have been produced or developed at The Kennedy Center, The Playwrights' Center, Alliance Theatre, The Theatre @ Boston Court, Chicago Dramatists, Primary Stages, Seven Devils Playwrights Conference, Theatre Row, Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Borderlands Theater, the Source Festival, The Gift, Red Tape, The University of Texas at Austin, and Duke University. Martín is a member of the 2011-2012 Playwrights' Unit at Goodman Theatre, where he is currently under commission, as well as a Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists.

2010-2011

Laurel Bastian (MFA: U. of Wisconsin), Halls Emerging Artist Fellow
Sean Bishop (MFA: U. of Houston), Diane Middlebrook Poetry Fellow
Lydia Fitzpatrick (MFA: U. of Michigan), Carl Djerassi Fiction Fellow
Sarah Gubbins (MFA: Northwestern U.), Carl Djerassi Playwriting Fellow
Rebecca Hazelton (MFA: Notre Dame; PhD: Florida State U.),
          Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
     Fair Copy (Ohio State U. Press, 2012): poems
Andrew Mortazavi (MFA: U. of Arizona), Carol Houck Smith Fiction Fellow
Sterling Schildt (MFA: U. of Iowa), James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow

2009-2010

Lauren Berry (MFA: U. of Houston), Diane Middlebrook Poetry Fellow
     The Lifting Dress (Penguin, 2011): poems
Nathanael Brown (MFA: U. of Wisconsin), Halls Emerging Artist Fellow
Jason England (MFA: U. of Iowa), Carl Djerassi Fiction Fellow
Len Jenkin, Carl Djerassi Distinguished Playwriting Fellow
Chris Mohar (MFA: U. of Washington), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Fiction Fellow
John Murillo (MFA: NYU), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
     Up Jump the Boogie (Cypher Books, 2010): poems
Michael Sheehan (MFA: U. of Arizona), James McCreight Fiction Fellow
Michael Weller, Carl Djerassi Distinguished Playwriting Fellow

2008-2009

Traci Brimhall (MFA: Sarah Lawrence), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
     Rookery (Crab Orchard Press, 2010): poems
Andrew Milward (MFA: U. of Iowa), James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow
Stuart Nadler (MFA: U. of Iowa), Carol Houck Smith Fiction Fellow
     The Book of Life (Reagan Arthur, 2011): stories
Michael Weller, Carl Djerassi Distinguished Playwriting Fellow
Jill Osier (MFA: U. of Alaska), Diane Middlebrook Poetry Fellow
Amanda Rea (MFA: U. of California-Irvine), Carl Djerassi Fiction Fellow
Emma Straub (MFA: U. of Wisconsin), Halls Emerging Artist Fellowship
     Flyover State (Flatmancrooked, 2010): a novella
     Other People We Married (FiveChapters Books, 2011): stories

2007-2008

Danielle Deulen (MFA: George Mason U.), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow.
     Lovely Asunder (U. of Arkansas Press, 2011): poems
     The Riots (U. of Georgia Press, 2011): essays
Kevin A. Gonzalez (MFA: U. of Wisconsin; MFA: U. of Iowa),
          Carol Houck Smith Fiction Fellow
     Cultural Studies (Carnegie Mellon, 2009): poems
Nick Lantz (MFA: U. of Wisconsin), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow.
     We Don't Know We Don't Know (Graywolf Press, 2010): poems
     The Lightning that Strikes the Neighbors' House
          (U. of Wisconsin Press, 2010): poems
Shara Lessley (MFA: U. of Maryland), Diane Middlebrook Poetry Fellow.
     Two-Headed Nightingale (New Issues, 2012): poems
Dan O'Brien, Carl Djerassi Distinguished Playwriting Fellow
Ed Porter (MFA: Warren Wilson), James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow
Tim Scott (MFA: NYU), Carl Djerassi Fiction Fellow.

2006-2007

Danielle Evans (MFA: U. of Iowa), Carol Houck Smith Fiction Fellow
     Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self (Riverhead Books, 2010): stories
Sean Hill (MFA: U. of Houston), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
     Blood Ties & Brown Liquor (U. of Georgia Press, 2008): poems
Jennifer Key (MFA: U. of Virginia), Dianne Middlebrook Poetry Fellow
     The Manifest Destiny of Desire (Comstock Review Press, 2008): poems
Laleh Khadivi (MFA: Mills College), Carl Djerassi Fiction Fellow
     The Age of Orphans (Bloomsbury, 2009): a novel
Derek Mong (MFA: U. of Michigan), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
     Other Romes (Saturnalia Books, 2011): poems
April Wilder (MFA: U. of Montana), James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow

2005-2006

Colleen Abel (MFA: Vermont College), Diane Middlebrook Poetry Fellow
Gabrielle Daniels (MFA: U. of California-Irvine), Carl Djerassi Fiction Fellow
Rebecca Dunham (MFA: George Mason U.), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
     The Miniature Room (Truman State U. Press, 2006): poems
     The Flight Cage (Tupelo Press, 2010): poems
Brandi Reissenweber (MFA: NYU), James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow
Adam Stumacher (MFA: Saint Mary's College), Carol Houck Smith Fiction Fellow
Kate Umans (MFA: U. of Michigan), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
     Flock Book (Dzanc Books, 2012)

2004-2005

Eric Burger (MFA: U. of Arizona), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
Justin Haynes (MFA: Notre Dame), Carl Djerassi Fiction Fellow
John Lee (MFA: U. of Michigan), Carol Houck Smith Fiction Fellow
Ellen Litman (MFA: Syracuse U.), James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow
     The Last Chicken in America (W.W. Norton, 2007): a novel in stories
Kirk Lee Davis (MFA: U. of Michigan), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
Cynthia Marie Hoffman (MFA: George Mason U.), Diane Middlebrook Poetry Fellow
     Sightseer (Persea Press, 2011): poems

2003-2004

Josh Bell (MFA: U. of Iowa), Diane Middlebrook Poetry Fellow
     No Planets Strike (Zoo Press, 2004): poems
Matt Frieidson (MFA: U. of Oregon), Carl Djerassi Fiction Fellow
Frances Hwang (MFA: U. of Montana), James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow
     Transparency (Back Bay, 2007): stories
Nathan S. Jones (MFA: U. of Michigan), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
Jacinda Townsend (MFA: U. of Iowa), Carol Houck Smith Fiction Fellow
     Saint Monkey (W.W. Norton, 2012): novel
Sharmila Voorakkara (MFA: U. of Virginia), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow.
     Fire Wheel (U. of Akron Press, 2005): poems

2002-2003

Ashley Capps (MA: Ohio U.; MFA: U. of Iowa), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
     Mistaking the Sea for Green Fields ( U. of Akron Press, 2006): poems
Miriam Gershow (MFA: U. of Oregon), James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow
     The Local News (Spiegel and Grau, 2009): a novel
Tamara Avila Guirado (MFA: Mills College), Carl Djerassi Fiction Fellow
Lydia Melvin (MFA: Western Michigan U.), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
     South of Here (New Issues Press, 2005): poems
Srikanth Reddy (MFA: U. of Iowa), Diane Middlebrook Poetry Fellow
     Facts for Visitors (U. of California Press, 2004): poems
     Voyager (New California Poetry, 2011): poems
David Zimmerman (MFA: U. of Alabama), Carol Houck Smith Fiction Fellow
     The Sandbox (Soho Press, 2010): a novel

2001-2002

Deborah Bernhardt (MFA: U. of Arizona), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
     Echolalia (Four Way Books, 2006): poems
Susanna Daniel (MFA: U. of Iowa), Carl Djerassi Fiction Fellow
     Stiltsville (HarperCollins, 2010): a novel
Ha-yun Jung (MFA: Emerson College), Carol Houck Smith Fiction Fellow
Erika Meitner (MFA: U. of Virginia), Diane Middlebrook Poetry Fellow
     Inventory at the All Night Drugstore (Anhinga Press, 2010): poems;
     Ideal Cities (HarperCollins, 2010): poems
     Makeshift Instructions for Vigilant Girls (Anhinga Press, 2011): poems
Imad Rahman (MFA: U. of Florida), James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow
     I Dream of Microwaves (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2004): stories
Mitch Raney (MFA: Bowling Green State U.), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow

2000-2001

Ryan G. van Cleave (MFA: Florida State U.), Anastasia Hoffman Poetry Fellow
     Say Hello (Pecan Grove Press, 2001): poems
     Ha Ha Tonka: A Book of Rune (Higganum Hill Books, 2003): poems
     Imagine the Dawn (Turning Point, 2005): poems
     The Magical Breasts of Britney Spears (Red Hen Press, 2006): poems
     Unplugged (HC1, 2010): a memoir
Blas Manuel De Luna (MFA: U. of Washington), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
     Bent to Earth (Carnegie Mellon U. Press, 2005): poems
Aimee Nezhukumatathil (MFA: Ohio State U.), Diane Middlebrook Poetry Fellow
     Miracle Fruit (Tupelo Press, 2003): poems
     At the Drive-In Volcano (Tupelo Press, 2007): poems
     Lucky Fish (Tupelo Press, 2011)
Erica Olsen (MFA: U. of Montana), Carl Djerassi Fiction Fellow
Jennifer Vanderbes (MFA: U. of Iowa), James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow
     Easter Island (Dial Press, 2004): a novel
     Strangers at the Feast (Simon & Schuster, 2010): a novel.
Antoine Wilson (MFA: U. of Iowa), Carol Houck Smith Fiction Fellow
     The Interloper (Handsel Press, 2007): a novel

1999-2000

Quan Barry (MFA: U. of Michigan), Diane Middlebrook Poetry Fellow
     Asylum (U. of Pittsburgh Press, 2001): poems
     Controvertibles (U. of Pittsburgh Press, 2004): poems
     Water Puppets (U. of Pittsburgh Press, 2011): poems
Anthony Doerr (MFA: Bowling Green State U.), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Fiction Fellow
     The Shell Collector (Scribner's, 2003): stories
     About Grace (Scribner's, 2004): a novel
     Four Seasons in Rome: On Twins, Insomnia
          and the World's Biggest Funeral (Scribner's, 2008): nonfiction
     Memory Wall (Scribner's, 2010): stories
Rick Hilles (MFA: Columbia U.), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
     Brother Salvage (U. of Pittsburgh Press, 2006): poems
Holiday Reinhorn (MFA: U. of Iowa), Carl Djerassi Fiction Fellow
     Last Seen (2002): a screenplay
     Big Cats (Free Press, 2005): stories
Lysley Tenorio (MFA: U. of Oregon), James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow
     Monstress (HarperCollins, 2012): stories

1998-1999

Beth Ann Fennelly (MFA: U. of Arkansas), Diane Middlebrook Poetry Fellow
     Tender Hooks (W.W. Norton, 2004): poems
     Great With Child (W.W. Norton, 2007): nonfiction
     Unmentionables (W.W. Norton, 2008): poems
     Open House (Zoo Press, 2009): poems
John McNally (MFA: U. of Iowa), Carl Djerassi Fiction Fellow
     Troublemakers (U. of Iowa Press, 2000): stories
     The Book of Ralph (Free Press, 2004): a novel
     America's Report Card (Free Press, 2006): a novel
     Ghosts of Chicago (Jefferson Press, 2008): stories
     After the Workshop (Counterpoint LLC, 2010): a novel
Judith Claire Mitchell (MFA: U of Iowa), James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow
     The Last Day of the War (Pantheon, 2004): a novel
Stephen Schottenfeld (MFA: U. of Iowa), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Fiction Fellow
Katharine Whitcomb (MFA: Vermont College), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
     Hosannas (Parallel Press): poems
     Saints of South Dakota (Bluestem Press): poems

1997-1998

Allyson Goldin Loomis (MFA: U. of Montana), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Fiction Fellow
Sarah Messer (MFA: U. of Michigan), Diane Middlebrook Poetry Fellow
     The Bandit Letters (New Issues Press, 2001): poems
     The Red House (Viking, 2004): nonfiction
Brad Owens (MFA: Stanford U.), Carl Djerassi Fiction Fellow
Jennifer Tonge (MFA: U. of Utah), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow

1996-1997

Anne Caston (MFA: Warren Wilson), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Fiction Fellow
     Flying Out With the Wounded (NYU Press, 1997): poems
     Judah's Lion (Toad Hall Press, 2009): poems
Joseph Skibell (MFA: U. of Texas-Austin), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Fiction Fellow
     A Blessing on the Moon (Algonquin Books, 1999): a novel
     The English Disease (Algonquin Books, 2003): a novel
     A Curable Romantic (Algonquin Books, 2010): a novel

1995-1996

Jon Loomis (MFA: U. of Virginia), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
     Vanitas Motel (Field Books, 1998): poems
     The Pleasure Principle (Field Books, 2001): poems
     High Season (St. Martin's Minotaur, 2007): novel
     Mating Season (St. Martin's Minotaur, 2009): novel
     Fire Season (St. Martin's Minotaur, 2012): novel
Nancy Reisman (MFA: U. of Massachusetts), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Fiction Fellow
     House Fires (U. of Iowa Press, 1999): stories
     The First Desire (Knopf, 2005): a novel

1994-1995

Joel Brouwer (MFA: Syracuse U.), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
     Exactly What Happened (U. of Purdue Press, 1999): poems
     Centuries (Four Way Books, 2003): poems
     And So (Four Way Books, 2009): poems
Eileen Fitzgerald (MFA: Indiana U.), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Fiction Fellow
     You're So Beautiful (St. Martin's Press, 2002): stories

1993-1994

Aaron Anstett (MFA: U. of Iowa), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
     Sustenance (New Rivers Press, 1997): poems
     No Accident (Backwaters Press, 2005): poems
Rebecca Lee (MFA: U. of Iowa), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Fiction Fellow
     The City is a Rising Tide (Simon & Schuster, 2006): a novel

1992-1993

Sara Corbett (MFA: U. of Iowa), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Fiction Fellow
     Venus to the Hoop (Anchor Books, 1998): non-fiction
Lisa Rhoades (MFA: Columbia U & Louisiana State U.),
          Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
     Strange Gravity (Bright Hill Press, 2004): poems

1991-1992

Charles D'Ambrosio (MFA: U. of Iowa), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Fiction Fellow
     The Point (Little, Brown, 1996): stories
     Orphans (Clear Cut Press, 2005): essays
     The Dead Fish Museum (Knopf, 2006): stories
Karen Kovacik (PhD: Ohio State U.), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
     Beyond the Velvet Curtain (Kent State U. Press, 1999): poems
     Metropolis Burning (Cleveland State U. Press, 2005): poems

1990-1991

Michael Barrett (MFA: U. of Michigan), Jay C and Ruth Halls Fiction Fellow
     It's Saturday (Carnegie-Mellon U. Press, 2004): stories
Max Garland (MFA: U. of Iowa), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
     The Postal Confessions (U. of Massachusetts Press, 1995): poems
     Apparition (U. of Wisconsin Parallel Press, 1999): poems
     Hunger Wide as Heaven (Cleveland State U. Press, 2006): poems

1989-1990

Heather Aronson (MFA: U. of Arizona), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Fiction Fellow
Adele Ne Jame (MFA: U. of Iowa), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
     Field Work (Petronium Press, 1996): poems

1988-1989

Lise Goett (MA: NYU), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
     Waiting for the Paraclete (Beacon Press, 2002): poems
Ann Packer (MFA: U. of Iowa), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Fiction Fellow
     Mendocino (Chronicle Books, 2003): stories
     The Dive From Clausen's Pier (Knopf, 2003): a novel
     Song Without Words (Knopf, 2007): a novel
     Swim Back to Me (Knopf, 2011): stories

1987-1988

Mari Hatta (MFA: U. of Virginia), Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing Poetry Fellow
     Picture Bride, 1995: a screenplay
Marly Swick (MFA: U. of Iowa), Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing Fiction Fellow
     A Hole in the Language (U. of Iowa Press, 1990): stories
     Monogamy (Perennial, 1996): stories
     Paper Wings (Harper Collins, 1997): a novel
     The Evening News (Harper Collins, 2000): a novel
     Summer Before the Summer of Love (Harper Collins, 2004): stories

1986-1987

Juanita Brunk (MFA: George Mason U.),
          Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing Poetry Fellow
     Brief Landing on the Earth's Surface (U. of Wisconsin Press, 1996): poems
Debra Spark (MFA: U. of Iowa), Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing Fiction Fellow
     Coconuts for the Saint (Faber & Faber, 1996): a novel
     The Ghost of Bridgetown (Graywolf Press, 2001): a novel
     Curious Attractions: Essays on Fiction Writing (U. of Michigan Press, 2005)
     Good for the Jews (U. of Michigan Press, 2009): a novel
     The Pretty Girl (Four Way Books, 2012): a novella and stories