Residencies, Grants, and Fellowships for Writers: Nailing the Application

Image Detail: Khalif Tahir Thompson (Fellow in Painting '21); "Lorraine Hansberry: To Be Young Gifted & Black;" 2021; oil, latex paint, handmade paper, papyrus, graphite, magazine, newsprint on canvas; 72in x 72in

Are you a writer seeking more support for your practice? There’s plenty of resources out there that can help you establish a sustainable writing life, but it all starts with making a compelling case for yourself.

The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) invites you to join us remotely for “Residencies, Grants, and Fellowships for Writers: Nailing the Application.” Writer Kyle Carrero Lopez will moderate a conversation with writers Jonathan Escoffery, Maggie Millner, and Jemimah Wei, followed by a Q&A.

By the end of this session, you’ll have gained specific, actionable insights from accomplished literary artists who’ve earned competitive opportunities to focus on and expand their craft. We’ll discuss successes, trial and error processes, and tips for optimizing your chances.

This is an online Zoom conversation. Those who register will receive the Zoom link to participate soon after registration.

Event Breakdown

What: Residencies, Grants, and Fellowships for Writers: Nailing the Application

When: Thursday, August 10 from 6:00-7:30 PM ET

Where: Online via Zoom

Audience: All Literary Artists

Presenter: Kyle Carrero Lopez

Panelists: Jonathan Escoffery, Maggie Millner, and Jemimah Wei

Cost: Pay What You Wish 

Register: Register here

Questions: Email learning@nyfa.org

Moderator

Kyle Carrero Lopez was born to Cuban parents in northern New Jersey and is the author of MUSCLE MEMORY, the chapbook winner of the 2020 [PANK] Books Contest (sample poems here). Among other subjects, his work centers power, social life, and Afro-Cuban histories. He’s represented by—but not related to—Ashley Lopez of Waxman Literary. He co-founded LEGACY, a Brooklyn-based production collective by and for Black queer artists. His writing has been highlighted in Best New Poets, Best of the Net, W Magazine, The Atlantic, and episodes of Poetry Unbound and The Slowdown. Kyle is the recipient of fellowships from the CubaOne Foundation and NYU, where he was a Goldwater Writing Workshop Fellow, a Provost’s Global Research Initiative Fellow at NYU Berlin, and earned his M.F.A. in Poetry. He’s also a Cave Canem workshop alum and a 2022 Tin House Scholar.

Panelists

Jonathan Escoffery is the author of the linked story collection, If I Survive You, a New York Times Editor’s Choice, an IndieNext Pick, and an International Bestseller. If I Survive You was nominated for more than a dozen book prizes, including the National Book Award, the PEN/Faulkner Award, and the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize. Jonathan is the winner of The Paris Review’s Plimpton Prize for Fiction, the American Society of Magazine Editors’ ASME Award for Fiction, and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Paris Review, Oprah Daily, Electric Literature, Zyzzyva, American Short Fiction, and elsewhere. Jonathan has taught creative writing at Stanford University, Warren Wilson, Randolph College, the University of Minnesota, the Center for Fiction, Tin House, The Work Room, and at GrubStreet in Boston, where, as former staff, he founded the Boston Writers of Color Group, which currently has more than 2,000 members. He has received fellowships and honors from Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico, Aspen Words, Kimbilio Fiction, the Anderson Center, the University of Southern California’s Ph.D. in Creative Writing and Literature Program, and elsewhere. He was a 2021-2023 Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University.

Maggie Millner is the author of Couplets. Her poems have appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, POETRY, Kenyon Review, The Nation, and elsewhere. She was the 2020–'21 Olive B. O'Connor Fellow in Poetry at Colgate University, the 2019–'20 Stadler Fellow at Bucknell University, and the 2016–'18 Jan Gabrial Fellow at NYU, where she received her MFA. The recipient of fellowships from the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, Poets & Writers, the Sewanee Writers' Conference, and the Fine Arts Work Center, among other honors, Maggie works as a Lecturer at Yale and a Senior Editor at The Yale Review.

Jemimah Wei is a Singaporean writer based in the Bay Area, where she is a 2022-4 Stegner Fellow. A recipient of awards and fellowships from Columbia University, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Sewanee Writers’ Conference, Singapore’s National Arts Council, and Writers in Paradise, she has been named one of Narrative’s “30 below 30” writers, recognised by the Best of the Net Anthologies, and is a Francine Ringold Award for New Writers honouree. Her fiction has won the William Van Dyke Short Story Prize, been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and is published in Guernica, Narrative, and Nimrod, amongst others. A host for various broadcast and digital channels, she has written and produced short films and travel guides for Laneige, Airbnb, and Nikon. Say hi at @jemmawei on socials or jemmawei.com.