Summer Fellowships

Each year, Fishtrap, Inc. awards up to five Fellowships for Summer Fishtrap, held every July at Wallowa Lake, Oregon. Awards are made on the basis of writing submission only, and are not limited to or made because of the genre. In a given year, awards might all go to poets, or to fiction writers, or to non-fiction writers; in fact they go out in different combinations each year, based on the judge's selection of best writing. Fellowships cover the cost of a workshop, registration for the Gathering, and food and lodging for the week. Previous Fellows include fiction writers Kathleen Tyau and Geronimo Tagatac, poets Charles Goodrich and Marilyn Johnston, and non-fiction writer Ellie Waterston.

Fishtrap announces the 2008 Fellows!

There were 295 Fellowship applications this year. All submissions were read by at least two readers–Fishtrap Board Members and former Board Members. The final judges were Susan Armitage of Washington State University, and Bob Greene, proprietor of Bookpeople in Moscow, Idaho.

Judith Groudine Finkel left the practice of law to write a legal thriller, Texas Justice, and her memoir, The Three Stooges Gene, excerpts of which have appeared in the Houston Chronicle. Her short stories have been published in the Birmingham Arts Journal, the Cuiver River Anthology, the Heartland Review, and the Sin Fronteras Journal. She lives in Houston.

Lorraine Healy is an Argentinean born and raised poet, now living on Whidbey Island, Washington. She has an MFA in poetry from New England College, New Hampshire, and a post MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University, Los Angeles. She has been published in The Seattle Review, Kimera, Puerto del Sol, The Rio Grande Review, Concrete Wolf, and Calyx, among others. Lorraine has published two chapbooks and was a 2004 Pushcart nominee.

Beverly Akerman spent over two decades in molecular genetics research, and realized that "she was learning more and more about less and less. Unchecked [I’d] eventually know everything about nothing." She turned to fiction. In 2007, her work appeared in The Nashwaak Review, Red Wheelbarrow. Rio Grande Review, and Fog City Review. She has twice been a finalist in The Writers’ Union of Canada’s Short Prose Competition. A freelance medical writer in addition to her work in fiction, Beverly lives and writes in Montreal, Canada.

Anna Ross holds a BA from Mount Holyoke College and an MFA from Columbia University. Her poetry has appeared in AGNI, The New Republic, The Paris Review, Salamander, and Southwest Review, among other journals, and her translations have appeared in Poetry Wales and Rattapallax. Her chapbook, Hawk Weather, was recently named the winner of the 2008 New Women’s Voices Chapbook Prize from Finishing Line Press. She is a contributing editor for Guernica: A Magazine of Art and Politics, and teaches poetry and writing near her home in Dorchester, Massachusetts.

Jennifer D. Munro grew up in Hawaii as a fourth generation islander and now lives in Seattle. Her stories and essays have appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies, including North American Review, Boulevard, Zyzzyva, Massachusetts Review, Best of Best American Erotica 2008, Literary Mama, Secrets & Confidences: The Complicated Truth About Women’s Friendships, and The Bigger the Better the Tighter the Sweater: 21 Funny Women on Beauty and Body Image.

Call for Summer Fellowships

Each year, Fishtrap, Inc. awards up to five Fellowships for the Summer Fishtrap Workshops & Gathering. Awards are made on the basis of writing submission only, and are not limited to any one genre. Fellowships cover the cost of a workshop, registration for the Gathering, and food and lodging for the week. A small travel stipend is also included.

It is the goal of Fishtrap's Fellowship program to recognize and encourage emerging writers. Previous Fellows include novelists Kathleen Tyau and Michael FitzGerald, poets Charles Goodrich and Marilyn Johnston, short fiction writer Kelly Magee, and non-fiction writer Ellie Waterston.

WE ARE NOT ACCEPTING FELLOWSHIP APPLICATIONS AT THIS TIME.

2007 Fishtrap Fellows

We are happy to announce the 2007 Fishtrap Fellows! There were 280 applications -- the most ever -- from across the nation. Each application was read by two current or former Fishtrap Board members. Final judges were Jack Shoemaker and Jane Vandenburgh.

Heather Brittain Bergstrom’s fiction has been published in The Chicago Tribune, The Greensboro Review, and in the anthology, Falling Backwards: Stories of Fathers and Daughters. Heather was born and raised in eastern Washington, but currently lives in California, where she completed her MFA in 2005.

Wendy Call currently serves as writer-in-residence at Richard Hugo House in Seattle. Excerpts from her narrative nonfiction book in progress, No Word for Welcome, have won awards from Artist Trust, Bread Loaf Writers Conference, and Hedgebrook. She is co-editor of Telling True Stories: A Nonfiction Writers’ Guide from the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University (Plume/ Penguin 2007). Wendy lives and works in Seattle.

Henrietta Goodman’s first book, Take What You Want, was the winner of the Beatrice Hawley Award and will be published this spring from Alice James Books. Her poems have appeared in Mid-American Review, Runes: A Review of Poetry, Willow Springs, and Northwest Review among others. Henrietta earned her MFA at the University of Montana, where she is now a teacher and coordinator in the University Writing Center.

Jennifer Perrine’s first collection of poems, The Body Is No Machine, has just been published by New Issues Press. Her poems have appeared in Bellingham Review, Green Mountains Review, Nimrod, RATTLE, and River Styx among others. Jennifer currently teaches English at Drake University in Iowa.

Natalie Serber received an MFA from Warren Wilson College in 2005. Her work has appeared in Inkwell Magazine, The Bellingham Review, Fourth Genre, Gulf Coast, and Clackamas Literary Review. She was short listed for Best American Short Stories of 2005, and is recipient of the Tobias Wolff and John Steinbeck awards for fiction. Natalie currently lives in Portland, Oregon.

Thank everyone who applied for a Fellowship this year, and congrats to the 2007 Fellows!

Over 90 fine writers have been selected as Fishtrap Fellows since 1990. Now, Fishtrap would like to help libraries, arts and culture organizations, schools, and community groups connect with Fishtrap Fellows for readings, workshops, classes, lectures, and more. You can view or download a Fishtrap Fellows Directory (in PDF format) and find a poet, novelist, storyteller, or other writer to present to or work with your audience.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Call Fishtrap 541-426-3623, or email rich@fishtrap.org.

For information on previous Fishtrap Fellows, see our history page.

NOTICE OF NON-DISCRIMINATION Fishtrap, Inc. prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, or age within its organization and during the conduct of any of its programs.