Incoming Fellows
Elijah Bean (MFA: Columbia University) is the 2023-2024 Ronald Wallace Poetry Fellow. He is a poet and graphic designer from Huntsville, Alabama, whose poems have appeared in the Boston Review and Callaloo. He holds a Masters of Architecture from Parsons School of Design, and he interchangeably backbones his creative process and teaching strategies with literature, visual art, and ethnography.
Sadia Hassan (MFA: University of Mississippi) is the 2023-2024 Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow. She is a southern-raised Somali writer whose work has appeared in Hayden’s Ferry Review, Poetry Northwest, BRINK, Georgia Review, and the Academy of American Poets, among others. Her chapbook Enumeration was selected by Kwame Dawes and Chris Abani as part of the New Generation African Poets series. Hassan is currently working on a debut collection of poetry.
Gothataone Moeng (MFA: University of Mississippi) is the 2023-2024 Carol Houck Smith Fiction Fellow. She is the author of the story collection Call and Response (Viking). She was a 2022-2023 Fiction Fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown and a 2018-2020 Stegner Fellow in Fiction at Stanford University. Her writing has also received fellowships and support from Tin House, where she was a 2019 Summer Workshop scholar, and from A Public Space, where she was a 2016 Emerging Writer Fellow. Her writing has appeared in Ploughshares, the Virginia Quarterly Review, American Short Fiction, One Story, A Public Space and the Oxford American, amongst others. She was born in Serowe, Botswana.
Mandy Moe Pwint Tu (MFA: University of Wisconsin-Madison) is the 2023-2024 Hoffman-Halls Emerging Artist Fellow in Poetry. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Longleaf Review, Guernica, Beloit Poetry Journal, among others, and has been supported by the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. She is the author of two poetry chapbooks, Monsoon Daughter (Thirty West Publishing House, 2022) and Unsprung (Newfound, 2023). She is from Yangon, Myanmar.
Ada Zhang (MFA: Iowa Writers’ Workshop) is the 2023-2024 James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow. Her short stories have appeared in A Public Space, McSweeney’s, Alaska Quarterly Review, and elsewhere. In 2023, she was selected as a National Book Foundation “5 Under 35” Honoree. Her first book The Sorrows of Others comes out May 9, 2023 from A Public Space Books.
Current Fellows
Steven Espada Dawson (MFA: Purdue University) will be the 2022-2023 Jay C. and Ruth Halls Fellow in Poetry. He is the son of a Mexican immigrant and a 2021 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellow. His poems appear or are forthcoming in the Adroit Journal, Guernica, Ninth Letter, POETRY, Split Lip, and Waxwing.
Yalitza Ferreras (MFA: University of Michigan) will be the 2022-2023 Carol Houck Smith Fiction Fellow. She received a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award and is a recent Steinbeck Fellow at San Jose State University. Winner of the 2020 Bellevue Literary Review prize in fiction, her stories have also appeared in Best American Short Stories, Kenyon Review, The Southern Review, Aster(ix) Journal, Colorado Review and elsewhere.
Chessy Normile (MFA: Michener Center for Writers, UT Austin) will be the 2022-2023 Ronald Wallace Poetry Fellow. Her first book, Great Exodus, Great Wall, Great Party, was selected by Li-Young Lee for the 2020 APR/Honickman First Book Prize. She edits a zine series called Girl Blood Info.
Amanda Rizkalla (MFA: University of Wisconsin) will be the 2022-2023 Hoffman-Halls Emerging Artist Fellow in Fiction. Her work is published in No Tokens Journal, The Esthetic Apostle, and the fiction anthology of Allegory Ridge. A graduate of Stanford University, she has been awarded the Bocock/Guerard Fiction Prize, the William Woo Award for Opinions Writing, and the Kemper Knapp graduate fellowship.
Taymour Soomro (PhD: University of East Anglia) will be the 2022-2023 James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow. He is a Pakistani writer whose debut novel Other Names for Love is forthcoming from FSG in 2022, and whose short fiction has appeared in The New Yorker and The Southern Review. He has published a textbook on law with Oxford University Press, and he is the co-editor of the anthology Letters to a Writer of Colour: Fourteen Authors on Craft, Race and Culture, forthcoming from Random House in 2023.
Former Fellows
2021-2022
Adrienne Chung (MFA: U. of Wisconsin), Hoffman-Halls Emerging Artist Fellow in Poetry
K. Iver (PhD: Florida State U. / MA: Mississippi State U.), Ronald Wallace Poetry Fellow
Itiola Jones (MFA: U. of Wisconsin), Hoffman-Halls Emerging Artist Fellow in Poetry
Claire Luchette (MFA: U. of Oregon), James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow
Shaina Phenix (MFA: Virginia Tech), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
Alberto Reyes Morgan (MFA: Warren Wilson College), Carol Houck Smith Fiction Fellow
2020-2021
Emma Binder (MFA: U. of Wisconsin), Hoffman-Halls Emerging Artist Fellow
Jari Bradley (MFA: U. of Pittsburgh), First Wave Poetry Fellow
Sasha Debevec-McKenney (MFA: NYU), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
Victoria C. Flanagan (MFA: Virginia Commonwealth U), Ronald Wallace Poetry Fellow
Sandra Hong (MFA: Brooklyn College), James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow
Taylor Koekkoek (MFA: Johns Hopkins U), Carol Houck Smith Fiction Fellow
2019-2020
Claire Agnes (MFA: NYU), James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow
Cassandra J. Bruner (MFA: Eastern Washington U), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
Sean Hammer (MFA: Hunter College), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Fiction Fellow
Clemonce Heard (MFA: Oklahoma State U), Ronald Wallace Poetry Fellow
Wes Holtermann (MFA: U. of Wisconsin), Hoffman-Halls Emerging Artist Fellow
Gabriel Louis (MFA: Washington U), Carol Houck Smith Fiction Fellow
Natasha Oladokun (MFA: Hollins U), First Wave Poetry Fellow
Xandria Phillips (MFA: Virginia Tech), First Wave Poetry Fellow
2018-2019
Aria Aber (MFA, NYU), Ronald Wallace Poetry Fellow
Chekwube O. Danladi (MFA: U. of Illinois), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
Natasha Oladokun (MFA: Hollins U), First Wave Poetry Fellow
Emily Shetler (MFA: U. of Wisconsin), Hoffman-Halls Emerging Artist Fellow
Lucy Tan (MFA: U. of Wisconsin), James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow
Mary Terrier (MFA: Johns Hopkins U.), Carl Djerassi Fellow
Kate Wisel (MFA: Columbia College Chicago), Carol Houck Smith Fiction Fellow
2017-2018
Oliver Baez Bendorf (MFA, MLIS: U. of Wisconsin), Halls Emerging Artist Fellow
Leila Chatti (MFA: North Carolina State U.), Ronald Wallace Poetry Fellow
Tia Clark (MFA: Indiana U.), Carol Houck Smith Fiction Fellow
Tiana Clark (MFA: Vanderbilt U.), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
Marta Evans (MFA: Washington University in St. Louis), James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow
2016-2017
Derrick Austin (MFA: U. of Michigan), Ronald Wallace Poetry Fellow
Jamel Brinkley (MFA: Iowa Writers Workshop), Carol Houck Smith Fiction Fellow
Natalie Eilbert (MFA: Columbia U.), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
Sarah Fuchs (MFA: NYU Low-Residency in Paris), Carl Djerassi Fiction Fellow
Marcela Fuentes (PhD: Georgia State / MFA: Iowa Writers Workshop), James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow
Barrett Swanson (MFA: U. of Wisconsin), Halls Emerging Artist Fellow
2015-2016
Jordan Jacks (MFA: Washington U.), James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow
Josh Kalscheur (MFA: U. of Wisconsin), Halls Emerging Artist Fellow
Karyna McGlynn (PhD: U. of Houston / MFA: U. of Michigan), Diane Middlebrook Poetry Fellow
Mika Taylor (MFA: U. of Arizona), Carol Houck-Smith Fiction Fellow
Mark Wagenaar (PhD: U of North Texas / MFA: U of Virginia), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
2014-2015
Brian Booker (MFA: Iowa Writers’ Workshop), James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow
Ben Hoffman (MFA: U. of North Carolina–Wilmington), Carol Houck Smith Fiction Fellow
Lauren Russell (MFA: U. of Pittsburgh), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
Walter B. Thompson (MFA: U. of of Wisconsin), Halls Emerging Artist Fellow
Meg Wade (MFA: U. of Arizona), Diane Middlebrook Poetry Fellow
2013-2014
Jesse Damiani (MFA: U. of Wisconsin), Halls Emerging Artist Fellow
Patricia Grace King (MFA: Warren Wilson), Carol Houck Smith Fiction Fellow
Jennifer Luebbers (MFA: Indiana U.), Diane Middlebrook Poetry Fellow
Bonnie Metzgar (MFA: U. of Iowa), Carl Djerassi Playwriting Fellow
Matthew Modica (MFA: Emerson College), Carl Djerassi Fiction Fellow
D. J. Thielke (MFA: Vanderbilt U.), James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow
Timothy Daniel Welch (MFA: San Dieago State U., PhD: Florida State U.), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
2012-2013
Ari Banias (MFA: Hunter), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
Miriam Cohen (MFA: Sarah Lawrence), Carol Houck Smith Fiction Fellow
Jaquira Diaz (MFA: U. of South Florida, Carl Djerassi Fiction Fellow
Sara Gelston (MFA: U. of Illinois), Diane Middlebrook Poetry Fellow
Sarah Hulse (MFA: U. of Oregon), James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow
Alyssa Knickerbocker (MFA: U. of Wisconsin), Halls Emerging Artist Fellow
Elaine Romero (MFA: U. of Arizona), Carl Djerassi Playwriting Fellow
2011-2012
Nicole Cullen (MFA: U. Texas-Austin), Carol Houck Smith Fiction Fellow
Laura Eve Engel (MFA: U. of Houston), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
Pilar Gomez-Ibanez (MFA: Cornell U.), Carl Djerassi Fiction Fellow
Mehdi Tavana Okasi (MFA: Purdue U.), Carl Djerassi Fiction Fellow
Jacques J. Rancourt (MFA: U. of Wisconsin), Halls Emerging Artist Fellow
Emily Ruskovich (MFA: U. of Iowa), James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow
Martin Zimmerman (MFA: U. of Texas-Austin), Carl Djerassi Playwriting Fellow
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
Andrew Mortazavi (MFA: U. of Arizona), Carol Houck Smith Fiction Fellow
Sterling HolyWhiteMountain (MFA: U. of Iowa), James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow
2009-2010
Lauren Berry (MFA: U. of Houston), Diane Middlebrook Poetry Fellow
Nate 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
Michael Sheehan (MFA: U. of Arizona), James McCreight Fiction Fellow
2008-2009
Traci Brimhall (MFA: Sarah Lawrence), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
Andrew Milward (MFA: U. of Iowa), James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow
Stuart Nadler (MFA: U. of Iowa), Carol Houck Smith Fiction Fellow
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
2007-2008
Danielle Deulen (MFA: George Mason U.), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow.
Kevin A. Gonzalez (MFA: U. of Wisconsin; MFA: U. of Iowa),
Carol Houck Smith Fiction Fellow
Nick Lantz (MFA: U. of Wisconsin), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow.
Shara Lessley (MFA: U. of Maryland), Diane Middlebrook Poetry Fellow.
Dan O’Brien, Carl Djerassi Distinguished Playwriting Fellow
Edward 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
Sean Hill (MFA: U. of Houston), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
Jennifer Key (MFA: U. of Virginia), Dianne Middlebrook Poetry Fellow
Laleh Khadivi (MFA: Mills College), Carl Djerassi Fiction Fellow
Derek Mong (MFA: U. of Michigan), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
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
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
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
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
2003-2004
Josh Bell (MFA: U. of Iowa), Diane Middlebrook Poetry Fellow
Matt Frieidson (MFA: U. of Oregon), Carl Djerassi Fiction Fellow
Frances Hwang (MFA: U. of Montana), James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow
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
Sharmila Voorakkara (MFA: U. of Virginia), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
2002-2003
Ashley Capps (MA: Ohio U.; MFA: U. of Iowa), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
Miriam Gershow (MFA: U. of Oregon), James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow
Tamara Avila Guirado (MFA: Mills College), Carl Djerassi Fiction Fellow
Lydia Melvin (MFA: Western Michigan U.), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
Srikanth Reddy (MFA: U. of Iowa), Diane Middlebrook Poetry Fellow
David Zimmerman (MFA: U. of Alabama), Carol Houck Smith Fiction Fellow
2001-2002
Deborah Bernhardt (MFA: U. of Arizona), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
Susanna Daniel (MFA: U. of Iowa), Carl Djerassi Fiction Fellow
Ha-yun Jung (MFA: Emerson College), Carol Houck Smith Fiction Fellow
Erika Meitner (MFA: U. of Virginia), Diane Middlebrook Poetry Fellow
Imad Rahman (MFA: U. of Florida), James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow
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
Blas Manuel De Luna (MFA: U. of Washington), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
Aimee Nezhukumatathil (MFA: Ohio State U.), Diane Middlebrook Poetry Fellow
Erica Olsen (MFA: U. of Montana), Carl Djerassi Fiction Fellow
Jennifer Vanderbes (MFA: U. of Iowa), James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow
Antoine Wilson (MFA: U. of Iowa), Carol Houck Smith Fiction Fellow
1999-2000
Quan Barry (MFA: U. of Michigan), Diane Middlebrook Poetry Fellow
Anthony Doerr (MFA: Bowling Green State U.), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Fiction Fellow
Rick Hilles (MFA: Columbia U.), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
Holiday Reinhorn (MFA: U. of Iowa), Carl Djerassi Fiction Fellow
Lysley Tenorio (MFA: U. of Oregon), James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow
1998-1999
Beth Ann Fennelly (MFA: U. of Arkansas), Diane Middlebrook Poetry Fellow
John McNally (MFA: U. of Iowa), Carl Djerassi Fiction Fellow
Judith Claire Mitchell (MFA: U of Iowa), James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow
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
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
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
Joseph Skibell (MFA: U. of Texas-Austin), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Fiction Fellow
1995-1996
Jon Loomis (MFA: U. of Virginia), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
Nancy Reisman (MFA: U. of Massachusetts), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Fiction Fellow
1994-1995
Joel Brouwer (MFA: Syracuse U.), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
Eileen Fitzgerald (MFA: Indiana U.), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Fiction Fellow
1993-1994
Aaron Anstett (MFA: U. of Iowa), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
Rebecca Lee (MFA: U. of Iowa), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Fiction Fellow
1992-1993
Sara Corbett (MFA: U. of Iowa), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Fiction Fellow
Lisa Rhoades (MFA: Columbia U & Louisiana State U.),
Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
1991-1992
Charles D’Ambrosio (MFA: U. of Iowa), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Fiction Fellow
Karen Kovacik (PhD: Ohio State U.), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
1990-1991
Michael Barrett (MFA: U. of Michigan), Jay C and Ruth Halls Fiction Fellow
Max Garland (MFA: U. of Iowa), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
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
1988-1989
Lise Goett (MA: NYU), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow
Ann Packer (MFA: U. of Iowa), Jay C. and Ruth Halls Fiction Fellow
1987-1988
Mari Hatta (MFA: U. of Virginia), Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing Poetry Fellow
Marly Swick (MFA: U. of Iowa), Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing Fiction Fellow
1986-1987
Juanita Brunk (MFA: George Mason U.),
Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing Poetry Fellow
Debra Spark (MFA: U. of Iowa), Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing Fiction Fellow
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