In April 2022, our community lost our friend Doug Fortier, a long-time Conference participant and advocate for writing on the Mendocino Coast. Two scholarships to this year’s conference have been created in his memory.
The WMC Doug Fortier Scholarship
Doug played a central role in the Writers of the Mendocino Coast, the local chapter of the state-wide organization, the California Writers' Club. In honor of Doug’s love for MCWC and the Coast’s writing community, WMC sponsored a scholarship for one of its members to attend the conference. It has been awarded to the poet Karin C. Uphoff.
Karin is author of Botanical Body Care; Herbs and Natural Healing for your Whole Body (2007), and writes a monthly column, Words on Wellness for Lighthouse Peddler Newspaper. She has published poetry in Noyo River Review (2015) plus Writers of the Mendocino Coast anthologies Hooked (2018), Erosion (2021) and Borders (2022).
Karin writes: “Although my career in healthcare continues to require I write informational non-fiction, the language of my heart is poetry. I am creating a chapbook and eager for guidance and the exchange of feedback from the diversity of voices that MCWC offers.”
The Doug Fortier Memorial Scholarship for Speculative Fiction
In memory of Doug, a group of writers fundraised the Doug Fortier Memorial Scholarship for Speculative Fiction. It was awarded to Muriel Leung.
Murel 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.”
Thank you to generous donors who funded the Doug Fortier Memorial Scholarship for Speculative Fiction:
Jane Armbruster
Cassia Brill
Debbie DeVoe
Jamie Ericson
Chris Hall
Leata Holloway
Shirin Leos
Alicia London
Cameron Lund
Amy Lutz
Marjorie Miles
Lisa Manterfield
Cady Owens
Ginny Rorby
Jenn Siebert
Carole Stivers
Dana Wagner
Mike Winn
Congratulations to both scholarship winners! We hope you’ll join them at the conference from August 4-6; registration closes on June 30.
Remembering Doug
We are collecting remembrances of Doug Fortier to be published in the MCWC literary magazine Noyo Review. Please send your remembrance—in any writing or visual format—to noyoreview@gmail.com by July 1.