Wyoming Arts Council

Now Accepting Applications for the 2024 Pattie Layser Greater Yellowstone Creative Writing and Journalism Fellowship

Featured News, Fellowships | January 16, 2024

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The Wyoming Arts Council is now accepting applications for the 2024 Pattie Layser Greater Yellowstone Creative Writing and Journalism Fellowship.

This annual prestigious fellowship of $3,500 is a national call open to creative writers (poetry, fiction, nonfiction) and journalists (writer, photojournalist, videographer, documentary filmmaker, online or print media) who demonstrate serious inquiry and dedication to the Greater Yellowstone region through their work. This fellowship seeks to intersect science, education, current events, and conservation to effectively communicate the Greater Yellowstone’s natural history and singular importance to society through creative and exceptional writing and subject communication. 

Applications are accepted online via Submittable. The application deadline is March 15, 2024. Established and recognized authors are being sought, but emerging and mid-career writers are also encouraged to apply. Wyoming state residency is not required. 

The fellowship recipient will be expected to create or complete a relevant publishable or produced work and may be requested or encouraged to make public presentations. In addition to the financial award, the fellowship recipient may elect to also receive a one week housing residency at one of several prearranged different locations within the Greater Yellowstone region. Such residency will be based on availability and will be negotiated with the fellowship recipient. 

This Fellowship is made possible with generous funding from The Pattie and Earle Layser Memorial Fund. In late 2021, The Pattie and Earle Layser Memorial Fund endowed this fellowship with the Wyoming Arts Council, ensuring funding this opportunity for years to come.

2024 Jurors: Bebe Crouse and Kelsey K. Sather

Bebe Crouse will serve as a juror for the second year in a row. Crouse spent more than 25 years as a working journalist before taking her position as Associate Director of Communications for The Nature Conservancy. Bebe spent a decade as Environment and Western Editor for NPR. She has reported and produced award-winning radio and television news stories and documentaries for national media networks including NPR, CBS, NBC, Wall Street Journal, BBC, and PBS. Her work has taken her across the United States, Europe, Mexico, Cuba, Kenya and Central America. She also spent time as a mountain and river guide and an environmental planner in Oregon and California. Her experience combined with her education in Environmental Science positions her well for her job with The Nature Conservancy where she continues to write about the things she values. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, hiking and floating in kayak or raft.

Kelsey K. Sather will join Bebe as juror this year. Sather was born and raised in Bozeman, Montana. She’s the author of “Birth of the Anima,” and is a finalist for the National Indie Excellence Award. Her stories, both real and imagined, explore the complexities of human-nature relations. She attended the University of Utah on fellowship and graduated with an MA in Environmental Humanities. After teaching at the college level, Kelsey co-founded a writers’ collective, where she facilitated creative writing workshops for all ages. She’s worked with hundreds of writers on projects ranging from bestselling nonfiction to short stories and school papers. Today, she continues teaching at outdoor writing retreats while working on the second book in her eco-fantasy series, “Ancient Language of the Earth.” She is also an avid rock climber and coaches the Bozeman Climbing Team. At the core of her vocation as an author and teacher is the hopeful intention to help people live with deeper connections to self, nature, and each other.

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For more information on this fellowship, visit wyoarts.state.wy.us/wac-grant/creative-writing-fellowships

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A complete list of eligibility requirements and additional information can be found on Submittable.  For more information, contact Kimberly Mittelstadt at kimberly.mittelstadt@wyo.gov or 307-274-6673.

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