Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing
The Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing is a post-graduate program for emerging writers offered by the Creative Writing Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Each year, it awards "internationally-competitive" nine-month fellowships to writers of fiction and poetry who have yet to publish a second book.[1] Notable pastfFellows include Anthony Doerr, Ann Packer and Quan Barry.[2]
The Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing offers two fellowships in fiction and three fellowships in poetry. These include the James C. McCreight Fiction Fellowship, the Carol Houck Smith Fiction Fellowship, the Ruth Halls Poetry Fellowship, the Ronald Wallace Poetry Fellowship, and the First Wave Poetry Fellowship. Additionally, it offers the Halls Emerging Artist Fellowship to a second-year candidate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's MFA program in creative writing, in order to fund a third year of study. Fellows receive a cash prize of a minimum of $38,000 as well as health insurance. Fellows are required to live in the Madison, Wisconsin area for the duration of their fellowships, teach one creative writing workshop each semester, assist in judging the English department’s writing contests and fellowships, and give a public reading.[3][4]
History
The Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing was founded in 1985 by the poet Ronald Wallace, who taught at the University of Wisconsin's English department from 1972 to 2015[5]. WICW was created "to provide time, space, and an intellectual community for writers working on a first book of poetry or fiction." In 2012, the Institute expanded its fellowship eligibility requirements to include writers who have published only one book-length work of creative writing.[6] From 2008 to 2014, it offered the Carl Djerassi Distinguished Playwriting Fellowship in addition to fiction and poetry fellowships.[7]
Fellows
Fellowship applications are judged anonymously until finalists are chosen. However, "It is the work and the work alone that really matters," says Jesse Lee Kercheval, in a conversation with the Association of Writers and Writing Programs[8].
Year | Fellows |
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1986–1987 |
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1987–1988 |
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1988–1989 |
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1989–1990 |
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1990–1991 |
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1991–1992 | |
1992–1993 |
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1993–1994 |
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1994–1995 |
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1995–1996 | |
1996–1997 |
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1997–1998 |
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1998–1999 |
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1999–2000 | |
2000–2001 |
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2001–2002 |
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2002–2003 |
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2003–2004 |
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2004–2005 |
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2005–2006 |
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2006–2007 |
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2007–2008 |
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2008–2009 |
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2009–2010 |
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2010–2011 |
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2011–2012 |
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2012–2013 |
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2013–2014 |
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2014–2015 |
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2015–2016 |
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2016–2017 |
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2017–2018 |
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2018–2019 | |
2019–2020 |
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2020–2021 |
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References
- "WI Institute for Creative Writing Fellowships". WI Institute for Creative Writing. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
- "WI Institute for Creative Writing Fellows". WI Institute for Creative Writing. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
- "WI Institute for Creative Writing Fellowships". WI Institute for Creative Writing. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
- "Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing Fellowships". Poets & Writers. 2019-12-05. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
- Popke, Michael (2015-11-12). "The indispensable poet". Isthmus | Madison, Wisconsin. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
- "WI Institute for Creative Writing Fellowships". WI Institute for Creative Writing. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
- "WI Institute for Creative Writing Fellows". WI Institute for Creative Writing. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
- "AWP: The Writer's Notebook". www.awpwriter.org. Retrieved 2020-06-04.
- "WI Institute for Creative Writing Fellows". WI Institute for Creative Writing. Retrieved 2020-06-03.