The John K. Walsh Residency Fellowship
(formerly the Letras Latinas Residency Fellowship) is a partnership with the
Anderson Center in Red Wing, MN, in which a writer working on a first book is
awarded a one-month artist residency along with a travel stipend. Named after Notre Dame alum (‘61) and
distinguished hispanista, John K. Walsh (1939 – 1990), this program will now also
recognize and highlight the indelible role mentors often play in the lives of
emerging Latino/a writers: Letras Latinas will soon be partnering with a new literary journal to launch an essay series on the mentoring of Latino/a writers.
Recipients of the
John K. Walsh Residency Fellowship
(formerly the Letras Latinas Residency
Fellowship)
have been:
2008:
2009:
2010:
2011:
2012:
2013:
*
Letras Latinas is pleased to announce
the recipient of the 2014 Fellowship:
Luisa Caycedo-Kimura
She writes:
"I’m thrilled to have been chosen to be the 2014 John K. Walsh Residency Fellow. Five years ago, I left my career as an attorney to focus on my writing. It had to be all or nothing. I had no interest in being a hobbyist. In these past few years, wrapped in my writing pursuits, my husband and I shed most of our worldly possessions. We went from a house, to an apartment, to living in a small room. At times the scale backs happened slowly, almost imperceptibly. Other times, they were rapid and harsh. Those few things with which we couldn’t part—my husband’s paintings and instruments, my books and cooking implements—we placed in friends’ basements. It was a time of molting and growth. I worked under the tutelage of some great poets and teachers and became a full-fledged writer. I’ve experienced the joy of sharing my writing and knowledge in front of an audience, as a teacher in the classroom, and on the page.
"I’m thrilled to have been chosen to be the 2014 John K. Walsh Residency Fellow. Five years ago, I left my career as an attorney to focus on my writing. It had to be all or nothing. I had no interest in being a hobbyist. In these past few years, wrapped in my writing pursuits, my husband and I shed most of our worldly possessions. We went from a house, to an apartment, to living in a small room. At times the scale backs happened slowly, almost imperceptibly. Other times, they were rapid and harsh. Those few things with which we couldn’t part—my husband’s paintings and instruments, my books and cooking implements—we placed in friends’ basements. It was a time of molting and growth. I worked under the tutelage of some great poets and teachers and became a full-fledged writer. I’ve experienced the joy of sharing my writing and knowledge in front of an audience, as a teacher in the classroom, and on the page.
2014 has been about rebuilding those
areas we had to ignore. Unfortunately, that leaves me little time to write. I
have a draft manuscript, Assumption, that yearns for attention. It
contains many poems that touch on difficult subjects that are dear to me––loss,
abuse, domestic violence, depression, and love—mainly as seen through the eyes
of an immigrant daughter. As a John K. Walsh Residency Fellow, I look forward to having the
opportunity to spend an uninterrupted month working on
this manuscript, as well as meeting the artists, musicians, and writers
with whom I’ll be spending July."
*
Luisa Caycedo-Kimura is a graduate of Boston University’s MFA program and a recipient of the Robert Pinsky Global
Fellowship in Poetry. She was born in Colombia and grew up in New York City. A
former attorney, she left the legal profession to pursue her passion for
writing. Luisa has received various awards for her poetry and was nominated for
the 2012 Pushcart Prize. Her poems appear or are forthcoming in Jelly Bucket,
Connecticut Review, Louisiana Literature, PALABRA, San Pedro
River Review, Ellipsis... Literature and Art, Crack the Spine,
Sunken Garden Poetry 1992-2011, and elsewhere. Her poems have also been
included in the writing curricula at colleges
and universities.
No comments:
Post a Comment