We are thrilled to welcome this year’s scholarship winners to MCWC 2022! We received a record number of scholarship applications and the following writers were selected out of a highly competitive field. We asked them to tell us a little about their current project and/or what they hope to get out of their conference experience. If you would like to join these writers at MCWC, be sure to register for the workshop of your choice by June 30.
Scholarships strengthen the MCWC community by bringing in talented individuals who may not be able to attend otherwise. These opportunities would not be possible without the support of our generous donors. We cannot thank them enough!
ALBERTINA THOLAKELE DUBE SCHOLARSHIP FOR YOUNG WRITERS
We were delighted to award this scholarship to 12 young writers.
Clockwise, from top left: Kathryn Hargett-Hsu, Julie Ae Kim, Alice Ehlers, Kaitlin Harness, Sidney Regelbrugge, huiying b. chan, Veasna Has and Ryan Artes
Kathryn Hargett-Hsu is an MFA candidate in poetry at Washington University in St. Louis. Born and raised in Alabama, she is the recipient of fellowships from Kundiman, Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, the Bucknell Seminar for Undergraduate Poets, Belgrade Art Studio, and UAB. Most recently, she received the Barksdale-Maynard Prize in Poetry and was a finalist for the 2021 Betty L. Yu and Jin C. Yu Creative Writing Prize. Find her in TaiwaneseAmerican.org, Muzzle Magazine, Cherry Tree, Best New Poets, The Adroit Journal, Rust + Moth, and elsewhere.
Kathryn says: "I'm working on my first poetry collection, CROCODILE, which centers the Asian American woman body and metamorphosis. At the conference, I hope to investigate ecopoetics and draw inspiration from the beautiful Mendocino Coast. I'm excited to join the MCWC community and to learn from everyone this summer!"
Julie Ae Kim is an organizer and writer from Queens, NY. She is an incoming MFA student in Creative nonfiction at Ohio State University. She is the co-founder of the Asian American Feminist Collective and the co-editor of the Black and Asian Feminist Solidarities Project at The Margins. Currently, she is working on a memoir on sexuality, desire and Asian America.
Alice Ehlers is a writer and published author born and raised in Mendocino County. She is currently a sophomore at the Mendocino Community High School, where she has the freedom to pursue her aspirations of building a life out of her writing.
Alice writes: “Recently, I've been trying my hand at writing short fiction. I am also really excited to workshop a couple of my poems, as well as meet other young and ambitious writers!“
Kaitlin Harness is a senior at Developing Virtue Girls' School at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, where she is currently studying AP English Literature and Composition after realizing a deep interest having taken AP English Language the previous year.
Kaitlin writes: “Having started my study of literature and poetry, I am very excited to learn from experienced writers and gain more depth in my own writing. I look forward to meeting everyone and reaching new poetic heights in such a creative environment.”
huiying b. chan is a visionary poet, cultural worker, and educator from Brooklyn, NY on Lenape Land. huiying’s writing explores what is forged in diaspora, and charts how we heal from societal wounds. huiying’s work is published in Best New Poets 2021, The Offing, and The Margins. He has received fellowships from Asian American Writers’ Workshop, Kundiman, VONA/Voices, DreamYard, and elsewhere. As a Chancellor’s Graduate Fellow at Rutgers University-Newark, huiying is working on a manuscript that explores matriarchal legacies and self-remembrance. For more, visit huiyingbchan.com.
huiying writes, “At the conference, I plan to work on ‘Speak to Me in Toisanese,’ a hybrid poetry and prose memoir project that uses Toisanese words as an organizing principle to tell the stories of matriarchs and elders in my family across generations. In its storytelling, it is a project that preserves the culture of a language decreasing in speakers with each generation.”
Veasna Has is a writer and nonprofit administrator based in Queens, New York, by way of Long Beach, California. She was a 2020 Kundiman Mentorship Lab Fellow in creative nonfiction and is most interested in storytelling through written, cinematic, and dance mediums. Her writing has been featured in 433 Mag and the Asian American Feminist Collective's First Times collection. Her work explores themes of family and cultural identity, rooted in her Cambodian American upbringing and an ongoing effort to define what that means.
Veasna writes: "I'm looking forward to meeting and connecting with other writers after a bit of a hiatus from producing work, and to enjoying a creative recharge by the sea, on my home coast."
Ryan Artes is an adoptee, activist, novelist, and poet. He self-published his debut poetry chapbook, After Midnight, in May 2021. He hosts two monthly events for adoptees only, a generative writing workshop and an open mic. Ryan is simultaneously creating and pursuing his DIY MFA.
Ryan writes: “I will continue to develop my third poetry manuscript, which offers a model of healing for queer Indian adoptees. After a lifetime of seeking such a model, I have realized one does not exist. I aim to begin filling this void by sharing my narrative.”
Sidney Regelbrugge is a Junior at Point Arena High School.
Sidney writes: “Currently, I am the Mendocino County Youth Poet Laureate and will be in to February 2023. With my writing in my current Laureate position, I will be publishing a collective book of poetry, as well as having countless county-wide readings. I hope to expand my writing into a different genre of literature. I am also quite looking forward to being around all sorts of writers.”
Jessica Zhou (she/they) is a writer, researcher, and artist rooting in San Francisco. She'd love to talk to you about digital diaspora, each of our cyborgnesses, and finding one another online. Her writing has been supported by Kundiman, Kearny Street Workshop, Southern Exposure, and Friends with Benefits.
Jessica writes: “I’m so excited to dedicate time and attention to hanging out and learning with fellow writers! My speculative non/fiction collection involves nonlinear narratives of dreams and memories, so I'm looking forward to honing in on writing that can be truth-telling and myth-making all the same in Jean Chen Ho's short fiction workshop, and in the rest of the incredible faculty's afternoon seminars.”
Frej Barty is an aspiring filmmaker, cinematographer, and storyteller. Always looking for new opportunities to learn filmmaking, he plans on making movies that inspire. He interviewed Jamie Heinemann of the MythBusters. He is also a roller skating champ, Dungeons and Dragons lover, and nerd.
Frej writes: “For this conference I plan on working on the script for a film. There is not point to all of the wonders of cinematography without a good story to tell. I am super exited to see what the conference can do to the script, and how the film will turn out. The goal isn’t to make the best film ever, but to develop skills for me and others who will work on the project.”
Lizeth Granados is currently enrolled at the Mendocino Community High School.
Lizeth says: “I write a quiet lot of poetry when I have very intense emotions. Whether it be feeling sad, nostalgic or happy. I plan to work on poetry, and I hope to get better at it as well as learn new ways of creating it. I’m very excited to meet everyone and hear about their poetry.”
Phannarai Inkun is a writer and a student going into their Sophomore year. Originally born in Thailand, they have been writing for years because of their love for storytelling. They have written in many different genres such as romance, fanfiction, post-apocalyptic, and fantasy. They would love to try their hand at more.
Phannarai writes: “I hope to get more writing experience out of this workshop. My love of storytelling stems from the fact that it creates strong communities and lasting connections between readers.”
From left: Phannarai Inkun, Lizeth Granados, Frej Barty and Jessica Zhou
TERESA CONNELLY FIRST TASTE SCHOLARSHIP
This scholarship has been awarded to two writers who are attending the conference for the first time.
Ebony Haight (left) and Tom Gammarino (right).
Ebony Haight is a 2022 Periplus fellow and graduate of The University of Oregon writing program, with work appearing in KQED, Good Company Magazine, and This Long Thread: Women of Color on Craft, Community, and Connection. You can find her on the web at ebonyhaight.substack.com.
She’s currently working on a speculative memoir about transracial adoption and will use her time at the conference to workshop and refine this project.
Tom Gammarino’s most recent novel is King of the Worlds. Recent shorter works have appeared in The Tahoma Literary Review, Bamboo Ridge, The Writer, Entropy, SFS Stories, and Hawai'i Pacific Review, among others. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School and a PhD in English from the University of Hawai'i, and he teaches Science Fiction, Magical Realism, and Jazz Literature to high school kids in Honolulu.
Tom writes: “I have been teaching and writing science fiction for many years, though all of my schooling was focused on literary fiction (which I also love). I'm looking forward to working with Ayize Jama-Everett, unapologetically, on genre stuff.”
Anne G. Locascio Scholarship
This scholarship was awarded to two writers whose work has grappled with intergenerational trauma, family history, and/or homelessness.
Ida Soon-ok Hart (left) and Danny Thanh Nguyen (right).
Ida Soon-ok Hart is a Korean War baby currently living in Los Angeles. She is a retired educator writing her memoir. She was a Writer’s Digest competition winner in 2017, 2018 and 2019, and has been published in 3 anthologies for women of color and will be included in Nonwhite and Woman to be released in September 2022. She volunteers sponsoring women in recovery from alcoholism and addiction. She can be contacted by email: Idahart1@gmail.com
Ida writes: “During the 2022 Mendocino Writers Conference, I will be workshopping excerpts from my memoir The Camel Hump Mountains of Sangok Dong, the part focusing on my year of teaching English in Seoul while searching for my mother. Also, maybe, a new short story I’m currently writing, “This One Was Born in Zion” (Psalms 87:6 – The Lord will write in the register of the peoples: ‘This one was born in Zion.’) upon finding out the Korean Registry had removed my name from their books.”
Danny Thanh Nguyen (they/she/he equally) has published stories and essays in GQ, them. magazine, The Offing, The Journal, Gulf Coast, and elsewhere. In the last year, they have been awarded fellowships and grants from San Francisco Arts Commission, Caldera Arts, Djerassi Resident Artists Program, and Ucross Foundation. Her column on kink and leather culture appears in the international social network platform Recon. Find him on social media @engrishlessons.
Danny writes: “Because I've been solely focused on completing my queer kinkster memoir/essay collection, I'm excited to shift gears at MCWC reconnecting with fiction by returning to my Southeast Asian folklore-inspired magical realism story collection, which I haven't touched in over two years.”
Nella Larsen Memorial Scholarship
Maryam Ghadiri is a researcher, a life-coach and a storyteller. As a researcher, she studies and writes about how children interact with nature and learn science. As a life coach, she works with mission driven individuals who want to have a bigger impact and transform their life by finding their voice and redefining their personal stories. Her love for writing and storytelling grew after her immigration to the United States about 10 years ago, when she found her healing in the process of writing about her childhood memories, documenting her experiences and feelings in a new academic system and exploring her identity in a new land that now she calls “home”.
Currently, she is in a journey of writing her memoir called Alien from Iran in which she shares the story about her identity as a first generation Iranian immigrant and how it was formed and transformed during her time in a land far away from the place she was born and raised. In this conference, she is excited and grateful to meet amazing writers, co-create a creative space and learn from everyone and enjoy every moment.
Marion Deeds Scholarship
Keish Kim (she/her/hers) is a first-generation transnational feminist writer. Keish’s writing focuses on (dis)ability and citizenship, and she studies literary and cultural texts by queer and undocumented im/migrant artists. In her spare time, you can find her in the ceramic studio, in front of the oven, or going on bike rides. She is also a co-host of A Revolutionary Love Letter podcast (https://linktr.ee/migrantloveletters).
Keish writes: “I am excited to be in a community with writers across genres & forms. I am looking forward to workshopping my writing in Jean Chen Ho's Short Fiction workshop.”
Thank You To Healthcare Workers Scholarship
Natalie Rose Gove is a writer, poet, and performer who works in acupuncture, caregiving, and waits tables for the brunch crowd. A former public school teacher and mentor, she is currently working towards receiving her MFA from Queens University Charlotte, where she is studying three genres in their Latin American Track. She will be attending a writing residency this July in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is currently working on sifting through piles of papers under the bed and planning her move this summer to New Orleans.
Natalie writes: “I am revising pieces from a collection of short nonfiction that focus on trauma in the roots and landscapes of memory from childhood until now. I am excited to work with Anastacia-Reneé on cutting into these words and creating a hybrid work that will become a healing memoir.”
Frances Andrews
Sarah Wang is has written for the London Review of Books, American Short Fiction, BOMB, The New Republic, n+1, and Harper’s Bazaar. She is a 2021-2022 PEN America Writing for Justice Fellow, a Tin House Scholar, the winner of a Nelson Algren prize for fiction, and a former fellow at the Center for Fiction, the Asian American Writers’ Workshop Witness Program, and Kundiman’s Mentorship Program. See more of her writing at wangsarah.com and follow her on Twitter @sarah_wwang.
Octavia Butler Scholarship for Speculative Fiction
Jasmine Sawers is a Kundiman fellow and Indiana University MFA alum whose fiction appears in such journals as AAWW's The Margins, Foglifter, SmokeLong Quarterly, and more. Their work has won the Ploughshares Emerging Writers' Contest and the NANO Prize, and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Best Small Fictions. Their debut collection, The Anchored World, is forthcoming through Rose Metal Press in fall of 2022. They serve as an associate fiction editor for Fairy Tale Review. Originally from Buffalo, Sawers now lives outside St. Louis. Learn more at jasminesawers.com and @sawers on Twitter.
Jasmine writes: “As I prepare to write a very queer, very magical, and very Thai American novel, I am eager to learn more about the craft of worldbuilding in speculative fiction, which hasn't been a focus in my writing education thus far. I'm also looking forward to being in community with everyone at the conference and visiting California for the first time.”
Ginny Rorby Scholarship for MG/YA Fiction
Described by one professor as “the Great Iconoclast,” Logan Silva was born and bred in Mendocino County. Amazing teachers and writers passed their love of the written word to Logan, and he tries to pass that love on to his students in middle school, high school, junior college, and university. Historical studies have taken Logan to Cal, Stanford, Dartmouth, and Yale, but he never lost his love of storytelling.
Logan writes: “I plan on using the conference to soak up as much craft as I can from an amazing field of experts and fellow writers. I’m moving from education writing and curriculum to the young adult fiction genre and hope that the conference will help me bridge that gap.”
James I Garner Scholarship
Raquel Baker earned a PhD in English Literary Studies from The University of Iowa. She specializes in Postcolonial Studies and 20th- and 21st-century African literatures in English. She received an MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Postcolonial and Transnational Literatures at California State University Channel Islands, where she teaches creative writing, literature, and Africana Studies courses.
Raquel says: “I am currently working on a cyberpunk flash fiction collection and look forward to engaging the tools, community, and space to move the project forward.”
Norma Watkins Scholarship
Jordan Alam is a queer Bangladeshi-American writer, performer, and therapist based out of Seattle. Their short stories and articles have been published in The Atlantic, SeattleMet, Autostraddle, CultureStrike Magazine, Entropy, and The Rumpus among others. They have performed on stage and facilitated workshops on embodied writing nationwide, most recently at Kundiman, Hugo House, and Town Hall Seattle. Their debut novel is a story of family secrets told from the points of view of four Bangladeshi American women in the aftermath of their mother's unexpected death.
At the conference, they'll be doing something completely different—embarking on an early draft of their memoir about transnational adoption and uncovering one's own history in fragments. Learn more about their work at their website: www.jordanalam.com.
Doug Fortier Memorial Scholarship for Speculative Fiction
In April 2022, our community lost our friend Doug Fortier, a long-time Conference participant and advocate for writing on the Mendocino Coast. In memory of Doug, a group of writers fundraised the Doug Fortier Memorial Scholarship for Speculative Fiction.
From Queens, NY, Muriel Leung is the author of Imagine Us, The Swarm (Nightboat Books), Bone Confetti (Noemi Press), and Images Seen to Images Felt (Antenna) in collaboration with artist Kristine Thompson. She is a recipient of fellowships to Kundiman, VONA/Voices Workshop and the Community of Writers, and currently serves as the Poetry Co-Editor of Apogee Journal. She received her PhD in Creative Writing and Literature from University of Southern California where she was an Andrew W. Mellon Humanities in a Digital World fellow.
Muriel writes: “I am excited to work on a linked speculative short story collection set in New York City during the sudden appearance of weekly acid rainstorms. In the midst of this ongoing disaster is a queer love story between two Asian American women, navigating the world of ghosts, heartbreak, lost opportunities, and the space between life and afterlife. I look forward to developing this collection further with the support of a writing community at MCWC.”
Top row (from left to right): Maryam Ghadiri, keish kim, Natalie Rose Gove
Middle row (from left to right): Sarah Wang, Jasmine Sawers, Logan Silva
Bottom row (from left to right): Raquel Baker, Jordan Alam, Muriel Leung
If you would like to join the scholarship winners at this year’s conference, you can register now at mcwc.org. If you would like to support our scholarship program, please consider donating to MCWC at mcwc.org/donate.