Creative Writing Fellowships
2019 Creative Writing Fellowship recipient in Fiction, David Romtvedt, shares his work at the Jackson Hole Writers Conference.
2020 Pattie Layser Greater Yellowstone Creative Writing and Journalism Fellowship
The Wyoming Arts Council, with generous funding from The Pattie and Earle Layser Memorial Fund announces the Pattie Layser Greater Yellowstone Creative Writing and Journalism Fellowship. Open to writers and journalists, 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.
This annual prestigious fellowship of $3,500 will be awarded to a creative writer (poetry, fiction, nonfiction), or those in the field of journalism (writer, photojournalist, videographer, documentary filmmaker, online or print media) who demonstrate serious inquiry and dedication to the Greater Yellowstone region through their work. Established and recognized authors are being sought, but emerging and mid-career writers are also encouraged to apply.
Applications are now being accepted through March 11, 2020. All applications must be submitted through Submittable. Mailed or hard copy submissions will not be accepted.
APPLY HERE
This Year’s Jurors
Celebrated journalist Todd Wilkinson, based in Bozeman, Montana, is known for his stories and analysis about issues shaping the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. His work has appeared in publications ranging from National Geographic to The Guardian, Washington Post. He is the author of books on subjects as diverse as scientific whistleblowers, the life of “eco-capitalist” Ted Turner, and Jackson Hole Grizzly 399, a famous bear in the Greater Yellowstone. Wilkinson is the founder of Mountain Journal (mountainjournal.org ), a public interest journalism site exploring the intersection between humans and nature in Greater Yellowstone and the larger West.
Susan Marsh is based in Jackson, Wyoming. With degrees in geology and landscape architecture and a lifelong interest in creative writing, she has combined her interests into a body of work that explores the relationship of humans to the wild. Her work has appeared in journals that include Orion, North American Review, and Fourth Genre, and in many anthologies.
Her books include the award-winning novel War Creek and non-fiction books A Hunger for High Country, Cache Creek: A Trailside Guide to Jackson Hole’s Backyard Wilderness, and Saving Wyoming’s Hoback, winner of the Wallace Stegner Prize in Environmental Humanities. She writes a column “Back to Nature” for Mountain Journal.
Neltje Blanchan and Frank Nelson Doubleday Memorial Writing Awards
The Frank Nelson Doubleday Award of $1,000 is given for the best poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, or script written by a woman writer. The Neltje Blanchan Memorial Writing Award, $1,000, is given annually for the best poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, or script which is informed by a relationship with the natural world. Both awards are designed to bring attention to writers in Wyoming who have not yet received wide recognition for their work, and to support emerging writers at crucial times in their careers. Applications are now being accepted through March 11, 2020. All applications must be submitted through Submittable. Mailed or hard copy submissions will not be accepted.
APPLY HERE
This Year’s Juror
Eileen Pollack graduated from Yale with a BS in physics and earned an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She is the author of the novels The Professor of Immortality, The Bible of Dirty Jokes, A Perfect Life, and Breaking and Entering, which was named a New York Times Editor’s Choice selection, as well as two collections of short fiction, The Rabbi in the Attic and In the Mouth, which won the Edward Lewis Wallant Award. Eileen’s work of creative nonfiction Woman Walking Ahead: In Search of Catherine Weldon and Sitting Bull was recently made into a movie starring Jessica Chastain and Sam Rockwell. Her investigative memoir The Only Woman in the Room: Why Science Is Still a Boys’ Club was published in 2015; a long excerpt appeared in the New York Times Sunday Magazine and went viral. Her novella “The Bris” was chosen by Stephen King for Best American Short Stories 2007. A former director of the MFA Program at the University of Michigan, she now lives and writes in Manhattan.
WHAT IS A CREATIVE WRITING FELLOWSHIP?
Creative Writing fellowships are awards of merit, based on a writer’s body of work, and honoring Wyoming’s literary artists whose work reflects serious and exceptional writing. One fellowship will be awarded in each category of Poetry, Creative Nonfiction, and Fiction, for a total of three fellowships. Applications are juried by noted authors, literary agents, or writing professionals from outside the state. Jurors may award honorable mentions. Recipients of the Creative Writing fellowships will share their work at a Wyoming literary conference. Submissions are currently not being accepted. Applications for the next round of fellowships will open in spring 2020.
2020 Creative Writing Fellowship Winners
Poetry | Jason Stenar Clark | Laramie, WY
Jason Stenar Clark was born in Canyon County, Idaho in 1979 to Beverly Gault of Iowa and Jim Clark of Laramie, Wyoming. His education includes a Bachelor’s of Arts with High Honors in Politics from Oberlin College and a Master’s of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Wyoming. Before moving to Wyoming in 2007, Jason worked as a legal assistant at a Federal civil rights firm, a lab assistant at a reproductive health clinic, a middle school language arts teacher in the Mississippi Delta, and a busboy in San Francisco. Subsequent to his M.F.A degree, he managed grants at the Wyoming Community Foundation and then provided instruction in Western political philosophy at the University of Colorado, Boulder, teaching everything from Plato to James Madison. His work as a poet appears in a variety of online publications, in ‘zines, and, most recently, he has published opinion essays for the statewide news-magazine, WyoFile.com. He is a member of the LGBTQIA+ community and is a person with disabilities. He believes in equality.
Creative Nonfiction | Chad Hanson | Casper, WY
Fiction | Erin Jones | Laramie, WY
Erin’s writing has won the Frank Nelson Doubleday Award, a Kimmel Harding Nelson residency, and publications in The Normal School and Western Confluence. Her audio work has won three national awards and broadcast on over one hundred NPR member stations.
Erin grew up in Texas, Utah, and Georgia, and has lived in Wyoming since 2013. Her partner in crime is a Hurricane Harvey rescue lab mix named Frankie. She—Erin, not Frankie—is at work on a novel about her ancestors.
Honorable mentions were awarded to Tiyana Knittel of Cody in the poetry category and David Zoby of Casper in the creative nonfiction category.
List of previous Pattie Layser Fellowship Recipients
2019 | Melodie Edwards
Previous Creative Writing Fellowship Recipients
List of Previous Recipients- Liberty Lausterer of Laramie, WY, Lyndi Waters of Kaycee, WY, Poetry, Jason Stenar Clark, Laramie, WY, Creative Nonfiction, Chad Hanson, Casper, WY, Fiction, Erin Jones, Laramie, WY
- Fiscal Year 1987 (awarded 1986)
Tilly Warnock; Laramie, Len Sherwin; Douglas, Kirk Keller; Moran, Mary Alice Gunderson; Casper. Jurors: Mark Harelik, William Kloefkorn and Marilyn Krysl. - FY 88 (awarded 1987)
Sandra Dorr; Story, Mark Jenkins; Laramie, John Nesbitt; Torrington, Tim Sandlin; Jackson. Jurors: Joy Harjo, Nancy Mairs and Bill Ransom. - FY 89 (awarded 1988)
B.J. Buckley, Arvada; David Mouat, Worland; Mark Spragg, Wapiti; Geoff Peterson; Green River. Jurors: Marvin Bell, Terry McMillan and Kim Stafford. - FY 90 (awarded 1989)
Rick Kempa, Rock Springs; Jennifer McMullin, Casper; Barbara Smith, Rock Springs; Dan Whipple, Casper. Jurors: Ray Gonzalez, Diane Wakoski and Jerome Washington. - FY 91 (awarded 1990)
Vicki Lindner, Laramie; Michael Riley, Cody; Geoff O’Gara, Lander (only three winners in FY 91). Jurors: David Lee, Russell Martin and Mary LaChapelle. - FY 92 (awarded 1991)
C.J. Box, Cheyenne; Len Edgerly, Casper; Dainis Hazners, Story; Julia Hoagland, Powell. Jurors: Denise Chavez, Don Snow and Michael Martone. - FY 93 (awarded 1992)
Leslie (Bridewell) McMillan, Rock Springs; Scott Hagel, Cody; Mark Jenkins, Laramie; Page Lambert, Sundance. Jurors: Starkey Flythe, Jr., Linda Hasselstrom and David Milofsky. - FY 94 (awarded 1993)
Tim McGee, Worland; Hannah Hinchman, Dubois; Rodney Mahaffey, Casper; and Lawrence Sullenger, Story. Jurors: Simon Ortiz, Scott Walker and Wanda Coleman. - FY 95 (awarded 1994)
Janell Hanson, Laramie; Craig Johnson, Ucross; Marie J. Carvalho, Rock Springs; Stephanie Buehler, Sheridan. Jurors: Dagoberto Gilb, Gregg Levoy and Robert Greer. - FY 96 (awarded 1995)
C.L. Rawlins, Laramie; Suzanne Tyler, Jackson; Jane Wohl, Sheridan; Ron Franscell, Gillette. Jurors: Peggy Shumaker, Michael Katakis and Melissa Pritchard. - FY 97 (awarded 1996)
Laura Bell, Shell; Bob McKee, Douglas; Diane LeBlanc, Laramie; David Romtvedt, Buffalo. Jurors: Ron Carlson, Elizabeth Woody and E. Ethelbert Miller. - FY 98 (awarded 1997)
Dainis Hazners, Story; Jon Billman, Kemmerer; Julia Hoagland, Powell; Maija Rhee Devine, Laramie. Jurors: Mary Crow; Kevin McIlvoy; and Jewell Parker Rhodes. - FY 99 (awarded 1998)
Carol Deering, Riverton; Christy Stillwell, Laramie; William Hoagland, Powell; Lisa Vice, Thermopolis. Jurors: Agha Shahid Ali, Jonis Agee and Kent Nelson. - FY 00 (awarded 1999)
Mark Spragg, Cody; Alyson Hagy, Laramie; Sam Western, Sheridan; Martha Clark Cummings, Thermopolis. Jurors: Sandra Alcosser, Mark Amerika and Stephanie von Hirschberg. - FY 01 (awarded 2000)
Robert Druchniak, Evanston; Charles Levendosky, Casper; Stefani Farris, Laramie; Geoff Peterson, Green River. Jurors: Lewis Nordan, Judyth Hill and Gary Ferguson. - FY 02 (awarded 2001)
Rodney Gene Mahaffey, Casper; Paisley Rekdal, Laramie; Chavawn Kelley, Laramie; Bo Moore, Green River. Jurors: M.L. Liebler, Bill Tremblay and Sharman Apt Russell. - FY 03 (awarded 2002)
Diane Panozzo, Tie Siding; Ted Kerasote, Jackson; Ann McCutchan, Laramie; Connie Wieneke, Wilson. Jurors: Robert Priest, Lisa D. Chavez and Bob Fox. - FY 04 (poetry – awarded 2003)
W. Dale Nelson, Laramie; Page Lambert, Sundance; and Michael Harkin, Laramie. Judge: Virgil Suarez. - FY 05 (creative nonfiction – awarded 2004)
Heather LaVonne Jensen, Cheyenne; Laura Bell, Cody; and Vicki Lindner, Casper. Judge: Elmaz Abinader - FY 06 (fiction – awarded 2005)
John English, Casper; Alyson Hagy, Laramie; Geneen Marie Haugen, Kelly. Judge: James Sallis - FY 07 (poetry – awarded 2006)
Jane Wohl, Sheridan; Myra L. Peak, Green River; and Jeffe Kennedy, Laramie. Judge: Rosemary Daniell - FY 08 (creative nonfiction – awarded 2007)
John Sutton of Sheridan, John D. Nesbitt of Torrington, Chavawn Kelley of Laramie. Judge: Nick Flynn - FY 09 (fiction – awarded 2008)
Kevin Holdsworth, Green River; Doug Reitinger, Sheridan; and Valerie Pexton, Laramie. Judge: Laura Pritchett. - FY 10 (poetry — awarded 2009)
Sam Renken, Laramie; Lori Van Pelt, Saratoga; and David Zoby, Casper. Judge: Greg Pape. - FY 11 (creative nonfiction – awarded 2010)
Joel Burdess, Casper; Jayme Feary, Jackson; and Pam Galbreath, Laramie. Judge: Lee Gutkind. - FY 12 (fiction – awarded 2011)
Kathy Bjornestad, Sundance; Samuel Western, Sheridan; Stefani Farris, Lander. Judge: Pam Houston. - FY 13 (poetry — awarded 2012)
Claudia Mauro, Jackson; Matt Daly, Jackson; W. Dale Nelson, Laramie. Judge: Brian Turner - FY 14 (creative nonfiction — awarded 2013)
Chad Hanson, Casper; Mary Beth Baptiste, Laramie; Heather Jensen, Cheyenne. Judge: Connie May Fowler - FY 15 (fiction — awarded 2014)
Shawn Klomparens, Jackson; Estella Soto, Laramie. Judge: Meg Pokrass - FY 16 (poetry — awarded 2015)
Carol Deering, Riverton; Constance Brewer, Gillette; Kathleen Smith, Gillette. Judge: Rebecca Foust. - FY17 (awarded FY16)
Stephen S. Lottridge, Jackson (Creative Nonfiction); Connie Wieneke, Wilson (Poetry); Michael Sudmeier, Wilson (Fiction). Judges: Creative Nonfiction – Dave Madden, Fiction – Ted Thompson, Poetry – Laurie Saurborn - FY18 (awarded FY17)Cara Rodriguez, Casper (Poetry); Ben Wener, Cody (Fiction); Carly Fraysier, Clearmont (Creative Nonfiction). Judges: Poetry – Bill Tremblay, Fiction – Kelly Luce, Justin St. Germain (Creative Nonfiction)
- FY19 (awarded FY18): David Romtvedt, Portland (Fiction); Kate O’Hara, Kansas (Creative Nonfiction); Catherine Reeves, Casper Judges: Poetry – Cecily Parks, Creative Nonfiction – Mike Scalise, Fiction – Andrew Altschul
List of Previous Blanchan and Doubleday Award Recipients
Since 1989, 46 talented writers have received Blanchan/Doubleday awards: Jayme Feary, Erin Jones, Geoffrey O’Gara, Betsy Orient Bernfeld, Hannah Hinchman, David Mouat, Sheila Roberts, Scott Hagel, Holly Skinner, C.L. Rawlins, Marcia Saum, Dainis Hazners, Barbara Gilbert, William Hoagland, Diane LeBlanc, Tina Willis, Maija Rhee Devine, Mary Beth Baptiste, Julene Bair, Chavawn Kelley, Geneen Marie Haugen, Janell Hanson, Mark Spragg, Karol Griffin, Stefani Farris, Laura Bell, Darcy Lipp-Acord, Jack Clinton, Tina Welling, Susan Marsh, Myra L. Peak, Marcia Hensley, Jeffe Kennedy, Melodie Edwards, Bo Moore, Barbara Smith, Alisan Peters, Lou O. Madison, Christine B. Nelson, W. Dale Nelson, Nina S. McConigley, Patricia Frolander, Edith Cook, George Vlastos, Christine Fadden, Yvette Ward-Horner, Matt Daly and Marylee White.