Ethna McKiernan, Minnesota poet and advocate for the poor, died Sunday morning at her Minneapolis home of complications from brain tumors. Her death was announced at St. Stephen’s Catholic Church in Minneapolis, where she was a longtime member of the community.
McKiernan, who was 70, is the author of five poetry collections. Her latest, “Light Rolling Slowly Backwards: New & Selected Poems,” was launched in August at Celtic Junction Arts Center in St. Paul.
Her previous collections are: “Caravan” (1989), “The One Who Swears You Can’t Start Over” (2002), “Sky Thick With Fireflies” (2011), and “Swimming With Shadows” (2019). The last three were published by Ireland-based Salmon Poetry, one of the most important publishers in the Irish literary world.
Two Larry Levis Post-Graduate Stipends, one in fiction and one in poetry, are given to support graduates of the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers who are completing first books. Each 2021 award will be made to a writer in the amount of $5,000. Judges will be announced with the winning manuscripts.
ON FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5th, at 8PM EDT YOU ARE INVITED TO A READING WHERE YOU CAN HEAR FROM PREVIOUS RECIPIENTS OF THE LEVIS STIPEND.
The Levis Stipends are open only to alumni who have not yet published a full-length collection in the selected genre in a standard edition. A standard edition is defined as 150 or more pages in a print run of 1500 or more copies for fiction, and as 48 or more pages in a print run of 500 or more copies for poetry. Entrants to the competition must hold the MFA degree from Warren Wilson College. All alumni are eligible.
Guidelines
All submissions must be made viaSubmission Manager. An entry fee of $30 is required to process the application.
Include in your application a statement regarding how the award will be used, projected completion date of the book manuscript, and a list of publication credits. Your name should not appear anywhere in this statement.
Include a 40-page fiction manuscript or 20-page poetry manuscript. Document margins should be at least one inch; text should be in an easily readable 12-point typeface. Pages submitted beyond the page count will not be considered. Manuscripts are judged blindly; your name should not appear anywhere on your manuscript. If it does, your application will be disqualified and removed from consideration.
Submit your entry via Submission Manager. Do not use your name in the Submission Manager project title or filename. (Your project title can be either the title of your manuscript or something like “Levis poetry manuscript.”) Your cover letter should appear before the submitted manuscript. Label your attachment “manuscript.” It must be submitted as a .doc or .docx file (.pdfs will likely be too large to attach).
Deadlines
DEADLINE: Submissions will be accepted until January 14, 2022 at 11:59 p.m.
Stipends will be awarded in Winter/Spring 2022. Stipends are fully taxable under United States tax laws, and Friends of Writers must declare the awards to the Internal Revenue Service. Taxes and payments of taxes are solely the responsibility of individual award winners.
Any queries or requests for more information should be addressed to:
Larry Levis (1946-1996) was an award-winning poet who wrote six books of poetry during his lifetime. His collection, Elegy, was published posthumously. A Selected Poemswas published in 2000. The Darkening Trapeze, a collection of last poems, was published in 2016. Levis was a much-beloved member of the faculty at the MFA Program for Writers, cherished as much for his incisive mind as for the care and attention he gave to his students.
https://friendsofwriters.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Post-Fallback-Small.jpg500500friendsofwritersbloghttps://friendsofwriters.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/FOW_logo.jpgfriendsofwritersblog2021-11-02 21:58:282022-02-25 17:20:14Applications for the Larry Levis Stipend are Now Open
Friends of Writers invites proposals from BIPOC and LGBTQ+ alumni of the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers to design and carry out creative short-term projects that support our diversity and inclusion goals.
Fellowship Criteria
These fellowships are intended to support a wide range of projects that address one or more of the following goals:
Building and bridging diverse and inclusive writing communities
Developing the capacity of all writers to participate in diverse writing communities
Creating opportunities for current students and alumni of color/LGBTQ+ alumni to meet, interact, and collaborate
Enhancing the professional development of alumni writers of color and LGBTQ+ alums
Helping connect diverse alums with FOW resources for alums, including the alumni conference and the Levis Stipend
Project Specifications
Write a clear and focused project description. Describe the project’s goals, who it aims to serve, and the project’s deliverable(s) (e.g., activity/product/etc.). [1000 words max.]
Describe how the project’s goals align with FOW goals/mission [300 words max]. In addition to the goals listed above, you can find Friends of Writers Mission statement on our website: http://friendsofwriters.org
Create a personal statement that addresses your rationale for the project and why you are the right person to pursue this project. Include with your application a version of your CV that reflects your capacity to complete this project. [300-word statement max. (total does not include CV)]
Outline the steps/strategies for executing the project. Include a realistic timeline for completion. The timeline should include checkpoints for reporting your progress to an assigned FOW’s liaison[1].
Create a sensible budget for the project. Expenses may include: materials, your time, your babysitter’s time, travel, etc.
The Fellowship stipend is in the amount of three thousand dollars ($3,000.00) which includes all project expenses and materials as well as the honorarium for the awardee[2].
Project must be initiated within three months of receiving the Fellowship, and FOW expects awardees to complete their projects on the timelines they include with their application materials.
A FOW committee will review all proposals, select the winning project(s) and establish checkpoints to monitor progress on the project. They will offer guidance, as needed, while the project is being executed.
First round proposals are due: July 15, 2021
First round winners will be announced: In early fall 2021
A List of Potential Project Ideas/Deliverables
coordinate a symposium that includes a panel of alums (and others?) on a specific author or text
present or coordinate a series of lectures with topics that focus on culturally responsive craft
develop a strategy for increasing participation by BIPOC in the annual alumni conference
a publishing project that showcases alumni
a video or series of videos
a podcast or similar audio project
anything else creative and vibrant that helps us achieve our goals
https://friendsofwriters.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Post-Fallback-Small.jpg500500friendsofwritersbloghttps://friendsofwriters.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/FOW_logo.jpgfriendsofwritersblog2021-06-07 19:03:582022-02-25 17:19:16Request for Proposals for the Friends of Writers Diversity and Inclusion Project Fellowships
Friends of Writers is pleased to announce the 2021 winners of the Larry Levis Post-Graduate Stipend:
Kellam Ayres (poetry ’10 ) for In the Cathedral of My Undoing
Corey Campbell (fiction ’12) for Everybody’s Good
Each winner receives $5000.
Congratulations to Kellam and Corey, and thanks to everyone who submitted their work.
Finalists in poetry were Leah Nieboer (poetry ’18) for Loose Wheel; Aaron Strumwasser (fiction ’19) for The Mandolin; and Jen Ryan Onken (poetry ’20) for Medea at the Laundromat.
Finalists in fiction were Lynnette Curtis (fiction ’19) for Neon City; D.C. Lambert (fiction ’01) for Ceremony of Innocence; and Julie Benesh (fiction ’06) for Revelations.
Submission guidelines will be available and the amount of the 2022 stipend will be announced in late summer or early fall.
COMMENTS FROM OUR JUDGES AND WINNERS
In response to her award, Kellam says:
I am honored to be the recipient of the Levis Stipend. Many thanks go to the terrific faculty members at Warren Wilson, as well as the Wallies I’ve known over the past decade, who have demonstrated the many ways to be a writer in the midst of busy lives. For me, writing poems while balancing a career and raising young children has not come naturally; I flailed for years, always thinking that the time for writing would just magically appear. (Reader, it did not.) But when graduate pals suggested “The Grind” as a way to structure my writing life post-Warren Wilson, it was transformative. And to know that, regardless of how we do our writing, through the highs and lows, there is an inspiring community of graduates finding their way back to their desks again and again. This speaks to the talent, work ethic, and good heartedness of the Warren Wilson community. Thank you to Friends of Writers for this generous award—for the boost of confidence it has given me to finish the manuscript, and for the funds to support this effort, especially during such a trying year.
About In the Cathedral of My Undoing poetry judge Cynthia Cruz says:
Beginning with the first poem, “Haunting,” the poet draws the reader immediately into the collection. “In our village,” they write, “the night sky flashes/with light,”… Once pulled into the text, we encounter, with each line, with each poem, an unraveling, an undoing. And yet, simultaneously, with each poem, with each new experience of each new poem, the reader encounters the concrete, lived, world, each encounter yet one more affirmation of life: a couple fighting, Graceland, an old mill, Tuperware, beauty products, foxes, a garbage truck and a tenement. In succession, we move further down into a darkness littered with the beautiful and mysterious, which is to say: the objects of this world.
In response to her award, Corey says:
I’m so grateful that my manuscript was chosen for the Larry Levis Prize in Fiction this year. Warren Wilson not only gave me the vocabulary of fiction, but it also encouraged a great sense of narrative possibility. I appreciate the reach, rigor, and support of this community, whether in Swannanoa, various far-flung AWPs, or even Houston, Texas where I was lucky to continue studying and workshopping with Warren Wilson faculty. The Levis Prize itself feels like the shot of adrenaline in “Pulp Fiction,” bringing my short story collection back to life. I’ve worked through various iterations of it for years and until recently, had set it aside to work on a Midwestern novel, something I never thought I’d do. I’m grateful that these stories connected with Levis Prize readers and judges, and I will use that encouragement to push forward on the last couple of stories that could make the collection whole. Thank you again for the support.
Fiction judge Susan Steinberg praises the stories in Everybody’s Good as being “vivid and vulnerable… remarkable writings [that] deeply explore what it is to be haunted: by events, by people, and by the pain of needing to shape such hauntings into stories for others.
https://friendsofwriters.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Post-Fallback-Small.jpg500500friendsofwritersbloghttps://friendsofwriters.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/FOW_logo.jpgfriendsofwritersblog2021-03-15 12:56:002022-02-25 17:18:34Announcing the 2021 Winners of the Larry Levis Post-Graduate Stipend
Registration for the 2020 Alumni Virtual Conference is officially closed! Y’all, we were bowled over by how many of you (80+!) signed up and we are very excited for this little literary adventure. If you did register, we’ll be in touch soon with scheduling information and other details.
JUNE COVID-19 GRANTS: Friends of Writers is offering an additional round of seven $500.00 grants in response to COVID-19
As previously noted, we fear that some members of our alumni and faculty community have been seriously disrupted due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. While FOW’s first obligation is to provide scholarships, we are offering a small measure of help in the form of $500 emergency assistance grants. Four grants were made in April and seven in May.
These grants are only available to MFA Program for Creative Writing (Goddard and Warren Wilson) alumni and faculty. If the pandemic has put you in dire financial straits, you can apply for one of the seven $500 June grants simply by emailing [email protected] with your full name and contact information, including your mailing address.
We cannot possibly judge your needs. If you’re in serious need, simply apply—no explanation necessary. Names submitted no later than June 29th will be included in the June cycle. Each person who applies will be assigned a number, and on June 30, seven will be selected via a random number generator. No bias, and no judgment; just the luck of the draw. Names submitted but not selected in April and May will be included in the random draw along with new applicants. Please note: this is a one-time gift per recipient/recipient’s family.
While not the primary intent of this announcement, it does not seem right to post without acknowledging the grief of the current moment. As writers, our work is bound up with attention, articulation, and ideally, empathy, and wherever you are, I hope you are finding connection and resolve.
– If you intend to participate in the conference in any fashion (be in a workshop, offer a class, give a reading), you must register by JUNE 20TH.
– For all those who’d like to attend in an observational role, please register by JUNE 26th.
Payment
In lieu of a fee that would cover your room and board, we are asking that you complete your registration with a donation to Friends of Writers. In the past, alumni have raised funds for the Friends of Writers scholarship program through an auction held at the conference. Instead of an auction, the registration fees collected for this year’s virtual conference will be used as scholarship revenue.
Online payments will be made through PayPal. Making a payment requires an account and so you’ll need to use or create one to make your registration donation. The form allows you to write in how much you’d like to give, and while we ask that you give a minimum of 5.00 dollars, if you are willing and able to give more—10, 20, 50, etc.—it is greatly appreciated goes directly to the support of students attending the program.
All of this information is reiterated on the registration form, but please feel free to email me directly with question or concerns, and I will do my level best to get back to you as soon as possible: [email protected]
JUNE COVID-19 GRANTS: Friends of Writers is offering an additional round of seven $500.00 grants in response to COVID-19
As previously noted, we fear that some members of our alumni and faculty community have been seriously disrupted due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. While FOW’s first obligation is to provide scholarships, we are offering a small measure of help in the form of $500 emergency assistance grants. Four grants were made in April and seven in May.
These grants are only available to MFA Program for Creative Writing (Goddard and Warren Wilson) alumni and faculty. If the pandemic has put you in dire financial straits, you can apply for one of the seven $500 June grants simply by emailing [email protected] with your full name and contact information, including your mailing address.
We cannot possibly judge your needs. If you’re in serious need, simply apply—no explanation necessary. Names submitted no later than June 29th will be included in the June cycle. Each person who applies will be assigned a number, and on June 30, seven will be selected via a random number generator. No bias, and no judgment; just the luck of the draw. Names submitted but not selected in April and May will be included in the random draw along with new applicants. Please note: this is a one-time gift per recipient/recipient’s family.
I am pleased as punch to announce the 1st (and dear god, hopefully only) Annual Warren Wilson/Goddard Digital Alumni Conference, to take place wherever you are, from Friday, July 17th – Sunday, July 19th.
We are knee-deep in planning but are plotting to include as much of the usual fare as possible while also keeping our minds attuned to the possibility of digital fatigue (and time zone differences). The idea is that you would contribute a nominal donation (proceeds to FOW) for an all-access pass to the weekend’s festivities.
More concrete details + registration information and access by early June.
It will not enough, of course, but not enough is still more than nothing, is still a something in the space where we were to revel and reconnect. Negative capability, then, is the order of the day: we will be together apart.
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COVID-19 HIT THE U.S. AND AWP 2020 ATTENDEES FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY PULLED OUT. SO WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT ALL THE FABULOUS NEW BOOKS WE’D PLANNED TO PROMOTE?
After feeling down about having to cancel my own plans to head to AWP, I decided to do something about it. I’ve created a virtual space to host (way) off-site readings for writers with new books who’d planned on doing live readings at AWP. This isn’t something I’ve done before, so it might get a little messy. You can find the channel here, though it won’t start getting populated until late Saturday night, March 7.
How This Will Work
I’ve created a YouTube channel called “Way Off-Site 2020.” I will post videos on this channel from anyone who submits videos that meet my call for submissions by this deadline: Saturday, March 7, 2020 at 9 p.m. EST.
Videos will go live on Way Off-Site 2020 on Sunday, March 8. Where it makes sense (and if I have time), I’ll try to group videos into playlists organized by press.
I (and, hopefully, you) will then MADLY share these videos with others to spread the good word about our books.
How You Can Participate
Create a short video (no more than 5 minutes long) of you reading work from your new book (published between April 2019 – March 2020). It can be recorded on your cellphone, laptop, iPad, whatever. Go casual! The idea is to share a reading from the comfort of your own home. Say who you are and tell us what your book is called. Mention your press. Spend the majority of your time reading from your book.
Upload your video on YouTube. It doesn’t have to be made public. If you have a Google account, you already have a YouTube account and can upload a video with a few clicks. Title your video as follows: “First name Last name – Name of Press.” Send me the link to your video, plus a few pieces of information about yourself, using this Video Submission Form. Only one video per author will be allowed.
Do all this by Saturday, March 7, 2020 at 9 p.m. so we can go live on Sunday!
Terms and Conditions
Did I mention that I was a lawyer? Well, yeah. Please read the following T’s and C’s to make sure this project is the right fit for you before you submit a video:
By submitting my video to be included in Way Off-Site 2020, I affirm that the work I read in this video is my original work; that I have the right to perform that work and have obtained any necessary permissions from my publisher to do so; that nothing I say or do in the video violates YouTube’s terms and conditions or any laws; that the material I read in the video is not defamatory; and that I understand that Annie Kim is not legally responsible for anything that might occur as a result of publishing the video that I submitted.
In turn, I affirm to you that I do not assert any rights of ownership over your video or the material read in your video. All I plan to do is link to your videos on this channel and encourage people to watch your videos and buy your books.
