Emerging Writer Fellowship Program

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Regine Jackson Named Recipient of the 2022 Straw Dog Writers Guild Emerging Writer Fellowship

Regine Jackson 2022 Fellow

Straw Dog Writers Guild has announced that Regine Jackson of Springfield MA is the recipient of the 2022 Emerging Writer Fellowship.

Jackson will receive a $3000 grant to be used for writing-related expenses, access to mentors who can offer assistance with writing needs identified by the Fellow, a professional author website, valued at $1,500, sponsored by Valley of Writers, membership to Straw Dog Writers Guild for two years, and other benefits.

Reacting to the news of her nomination, Jackson said; “I am elated to be chosen as the recipient for the 2022 Emerging Writer Fellowship. From a very young age, my love for reading blossomed into a passion for writing – mainly in the horror, fantasy, and science-fiction genres. I rarely, if ever read novels with protagonists who looked like myself and I’m looking forward to taking part in the fellowship to improve upon my writing and talk with like-minded people in the Straw Dog Writers Guild.”

She spoke about some of her plans for her fellowship year and beyond; “I’m grateful for this opportunity to learn from more experienced writers, and to become a part of a community that takes pride in honing their craft! With the knowledge I’ll strive to acquire from this opportunity, I hope to one day publish my literary pieces, varying from short stories to full-length novels.”

The Emerging Writer Fellowship was designed to support women of color and gender-expansive writers of color based in Western Massachusetts at the early stages of their careers. It aims to help emerging writers negotiate barriers that may prevent them from accessing mentorship and pursuing publication of their work.

Jackson will start her fellowship in May 2022.

Straw Dog Writers Guild Releases the 2022 Shortlist for its Emerging Writer Fellowship

The selection panel for the Straw Dog Writers Guild Emerging Writer Fellowship has announced the 2022-23 shortlist of three writers. They are Vida James, Regine Jackson, and Syki Barbee. One writer will be named the 2022-23 Fellow in March.

The Fellow will receive a $3000 grant from Straw Dog Writers Guild to be used for writing-related expenses, access to mentors who can offer assistance with writing needs identified by the Fellow, a professional author website, valued at $1,500, sponsored by Valley of Writers, membership to Straw Dog Writers Guild for two years, and other benefits.

Syki Barbee of Springfield MA is a first-generation college graduate with a Bachelor’s Degree in English and specializations in Professional Writing and Technical Communication & Creative Writing from UMass, Amherst. She is passionate about the centralization of BIPOC characters and characters from other underrepresented communities in literature.

Born and raised in Springfield, MA, Regine Jackson loved reading as a child. Her mother worked as a clerk and page at different libraries in the city and would always bring books home – from manga to Diana Wynne Jones. Regine grew up wanting to write characters in those worlds; characters who looked like her and who she could relate to.

Vida James is a Nuyorican social worker from Brooklyn, NY. She is a Delaney Fellow in the UMass Amherst MFA Program for Poets & Writers. She is the winner of the 2021 St. Botolph Club Foundation Emerging Artists Award and a 2021 Cara Parravani Memorial Award in Fiction. Her writing has been supported by Tin House, Bread Loaf, and VONA/Voices. She has work appearing in Story, New England Review, Epiphany, and elsewhere.

The Emerging Writer Fellowship was designed to support women of color and gender expansive writers of color based in Western Massachusetts at the early stages of their career. The Fellowship was created to help emerging writers negotiate barriers that may prevent them from accessing mentorship and pursuing publication of their work. In 2022-23, the second cycle of the Emerging Writers Fellowship Program, the genre is fiction.

This year, the selection panel was made up of writers Kaija Langley, Aqueela Culbreath-Britt, and Fungai Tichawangana. Speaking on behalf of the panel, Tichawangana said that a number of the writing samples submitted by the applicants made intriguing reading. “We received some great writing samples and it made the selection process enjoyable. There was quite a leaning towards speculative fiction, which resonates with trends we are seeing in publishing.”

The finalist will be named at the beginning of March.


Applications have closed for the 2022-2023 Straw Dog Writers Guild Emerging Writer Fellowship, in Fiction. The selection committee is currently reviewing the applications and writing samples.

We’re delighted to introduce the members of the selection committee.

 Fungai Tichawangana
Fungai Tichawangana

Fungai Tichawangana is the founder and managing editor of Valley of Writers, a platform which shares resources, opportunities, and ideas with writers. In 2015, he was awarded a Nieman Journalism Fellowship and a Berkman-Klein Fellowship for Journalism Innovation at Harvard based on work he had done documenting arts and culture in Zimbabwe. He is passionate about the intersection of technology and the arts and is constantly working on ways to light one up with the other. He is based in Amherst MA.

 Kaija Langley
Kaija Langley

Kaija Langley was born and raised in Northern N.J. and currently resides in Cambridge, MA. Her debut picture book, When Langston Dances, received starred reviews from Kirkus and Publisher’s Weekly and has been nominated for a 53rd NAACP Image Award in the Outstanding Literary Work for Children category. When she isn’t raising money for local non-profits, she reads and writes picture books and novels for young readers. Her debut middle grade novel in verse, The Order of Things, is forthcoming from Nancy Paulsen Books in May 2023.

 Aqueela C. Britt
Aqueela C. Britt

Aqueela C. Britt published her first novel, London Reign, under the pseudonym, A.C. Britt in 2007. She writes raw, matter-of-fact stories about LGBTQ identified black and brown kids trying to live their best lives. She obtained her MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University (2018) and has penned several works of short and long fiction, poetry and essays. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Social Work from Columbia College, South Carolina and a Master of Social Work from Simmons University (formerly Simmons College). Aqueela C. Britt is the Director of Field Education and Associate Professor of Practice for the Simmons University Bachelor of Social Work program.

Emerging Writer Fellowship graphic

About the Emerging Writer Fellowship Program

The Emerging Writer Fellowship is a program of Straw Dog Writers Guild designed to support women of color and gender expansive writers of color based in Western Massachusetts at the early stages of their career. The Fellowship was created to help emerging writers negotiate barriers that may prevent them from accessing mentorship and pursuing publication of their work. In 2022-23, the second cycle of the Emerging Writers Fellowship Program, the genre will be FICTION.

Program Benefits

  • $3000 grant from SDWG to be used for writing-related expenses.
  • Membership in SDWG during the membership year and the following year.
  • Access to mentors who can offer assistance with craft, revision, publishing, promotion, or other writing needs identified by the Fellow.
  • Chance to promote self/work through SDWG mailing list and social media.
  • Professional website designed by Valley of Writers and hosted for three years.
  • Opportunity to help shape the artistic vision of SDWG as we grow.
  • The Fellow will have opportunities to read her work at Guild events.
  • The Fellow will have the opportunity to teach or co-teach a SDWG workshop or program.

Responsibilities

  • The Fellow will be expected to communicate regularly with SDWG about the progress of work.
  • The Fellow will address, in person or virtually, the SDWG annual meeting.
  • The Fellow will write one blog for the SDWG newsletter
  • At the end of the fellowship, the Fellow will give feedback about the experience.

Applicant Criteria

  • The applicant will be 18 or older, self-identify as a woman or gender expansive person of color, and not yet have published a book (or have one under contract).
  • The applicant will have a demonstrated passion for writing fiction.
  • The applicant should live in Berkshire, Franklin, Hampshire, or Hampden County.

Program Timeline

  • Applications must be completed, and writing sample submitted between November 1 and December 30, 2021.
  • Finalists will be asked to participate in an interview.
  • The selection committee decision will be announced by March 1, 2022.
  • The fellowship term will run May 2022 – May 2023.

If you have questions, contact Ellen Meeropol at ellenmeeropol@gmail.com. 

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Amina Jordan-Mendez, Poet Performer (2020 Fellow)

Writing poetry since childhood and called to perform by community, family, and their ancestors, Amina Nia “illypsis” Jordan-Mendez lives for passion & healing. Born and raised in a predominantly white college town of western MA, Amina grew up a rebel: Black, fat, queer and existing. Inviting the challenge, she chose to live out loud—swim with her hair out, throw her weight around, question and confront. Now a focused poet performer, their hands are busy rooting themselves in intergenerational healing of their lineage, embracing the pain, hostility, pleasure and pride of blossoming into a poet she can look up to. Amina Nia “illypsis” Jordan-Mendez is tender, grateful, angry, loving and growing. They are currently attending workshops as they come and fitting art within their busy schedule of work and self-care, addressing mental health and traumas. Born to a first-generation Panamanian mother, and an “army brat” southern Black American father, she is exploring and defining ‘home’ in her body, in her life and in this world. 

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