The 2009 Oregon Literary Fellowships Announced!

Literary Arts is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2009 Oregon Literary Fellowships to writers and to publishers. The judges named eight writers and two publishers to receive grants of $2,500 each.

Since 1987, Literary Arts has honored over 500 different Oregon writers and publishers, and distributed more than $550,000 in fellowships and award monies. Applications are considered from any writer or publisher who is a resident of Oregon; in 2009, Literary Arts received over 300 applications. Out-of-state judges spend several months evaluating the applications, using literary excellence as a primary criterion.

Oregon Poetry Community Fellowship
Literary Arts is also pleased to announce that a former Oregon Literary Fellowship recipient has endowed a fellowship to recognize the poetry community. Beginning in 2010, Literary Arts plans to award the new Oregon Poetry Community Fellowship every other year.

Fellowships to Writers
Fellowships to writers were judged by a panel consisting of Lauren Grodstein, fiction writer and author of two novels and a story collection; Joanna Klink, author of the poetry collections They Are Sleeping (University of Georgia, 2000) and Circadian (Penguin, 2007); and Philip Gerard, author of six non-fiction books and editor of Writing Creative Nonfiction (2001). The judge for young readers literature was Laura Williams McCaffrey and the judge in drama was Kyle Bass.

Poetry
Jae Choi, The C Hamilton Bailey Fellowship

Fiction
Emily Chenoweth of Portland
Margaret Malone of Portland, Friends of the Lake Oswego Library William Stafford Fellowship

Literary Nonfiction
Michael Copperman of Eugene, The Walt Morey Fellowship
Aaron Ragan-Fore of Eugene, The Leslie Bradshaw Fellowship

Drama
Kimberly Fanshier of Salem

Young Readers Literature
Carmen Bernier-Grand of Portland, The Edna L. Holmes Fellowship in Young Readers Literature

Women Writers Fellowship
The Women Writers Fellowship is a limited, special fund, endowed by the Ralph L. Smith Foundation and administered by Literary Arts, for women writers living in Oregon. Of special interest to the grant makers are perspectives that are traditionally not well represented, including those exploring experiences of ethnicity, class, physical disability or sexual orientation.
Jessica Johnson of Portland (in poetry)

Fellowships to Publishers Presses and magazines demonstrating a commitment to literary publishing receive these fellowships. Publishers fellowships were judged by Rebecca Wolff, the founding editor and publisher of Fence magazine and Fence Books.
Gertrude Press of Portland
Bear Deluxe of Portland

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