Featured News | January 18, 2023
The Wyoming Arts Council is now accepting applications for the 2023 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 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, 2023. 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-to-two-week housing residency at one of several prearranged different locations within the Greater Yellowstone region. The such residency will be based on availability and will be negotiated with the fellowship recipient.
Susan Tweit will serve as a juror for the second year in a row. A plant ecologist by training, Susan began her career studying grizzly bear habitat—collecting and dissecting bear poop—mapping historic wildfires, and researching big sagebrush.
She turned to writing after realizing that she loved the stories behind the data more than collecting those data. Tweit has written thirteen books on the nature of life and our place in it, along with hundreds of magazine articles, newspaper columns, and essays. Her latest book, “Bless the Birds: Living With Love in a Time of Dying,” won the Sarton Award for memoir and was a finalist for the Colorado Book Awards. Tweit has taught writing workshops around the country, coached writers, served as a juror for a variety of fellowships and awards, and reviewed manuscripts for publishers and agents. She feels fortunate to have been awarded fellowships and residencies at inspiring places, including The Mesa Refuge on the cliff above Tomales Bay in Point Reyes Station, California; a historic casita just off Canyon Road in Santa Fe thanks to Women’s International Study Center; and Carpenter Ranch in northwest Colorado with Colorado Art Ranch. Tweit’s work is driven by terraphilia, and her passion for healing and re-storying this earth, and we who share the planet.
Bebe Crouse joins Susan as a juror this year. 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 kayaks or rafts.
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 for this opportunity for years to come.
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.
The Wyoming Arts Council believes that experiencing the arts should be accessible for all, including people with mental and/or physical disabilities, older adults, military/veterans, people living in institutions and those who lack access to the arts due to geographic isolation, cultural difference and economic hardship.
