Since 1990, Fishtrap has awarded more than 140 Fellowships to new and emerging writers, many of whom have gone on to publish and succeed in full-time careers as writers and teachers. A Fishtrap Fellowship includes full registration to the Summer Fishtrap Gathering of Writers, lodging, meals, and a featured reading during the week. Fishtrap is able to provide Fellowships through the generous support from individuals and foundations.
We are pleased to announce the 2019 Summer Fishtrap Fellowship recipients
Sakae Manning – Altadena, California
Jaclyn Moyer – Corvallis, Oregon
Valorie Ruiz – San Diego, California
Sakae Manning’s storytelling strives to give voice to women who defy cultural, racial, and gender norms. Her work typically blends race and identity, creating alliances and solidarity amongst women of color. A Mills College graduate, Manning’s poem, “December Baby,” was published in the College Literary Journal. Other writing credits include “Okasan/Mother,” published in Making Waves: An Anthology of Asian-American Women Writers and “Sammy’s Shitkickers” published in The Salt River Review. She is currently working on a novel, Kimono Blues.
Jaclyn Moyer grew up in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada in northeastern California. Her essays have appeared in Orion, The Ninth Letter, The Normal School, High Country News, Salon, December, Hippocampus Magazine, and other publications. She was a 2017 Sozopol Literary Seminars Fellow, and a finalist for the 2016 PEN/Fusion Emerging Writers Prize. She lives with her partner and two young children in Corvallis, Oregon.
Valorie K. Ruiz is a Xicana writer fascinated by language and the magic it evokes. She lives in San Diego and is assistant flash fiction editor for Homology Lit. Her first manuscript “In Stories We Thunder” was a finalist for the 2018 Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize, the Berkshire Prize by Tupelo Press, and is currently out for consideration. Her writing has been accepted by The Florida Review, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Cosmonauts Avenue, and Tinderbox Poetry among others.
2019 Fellowship Judge – Rich Wandschneider
In 1976, Rich Wandschneider opened The Bookloft bookstore in Enterprise, Oregon and in 1988, with help from historian Alvin Josephy and Kim Stafford at Lewis & Clark College, he founded Fishtrap to promote “Clear thinking and good writing in and about the West.” Rich served as Fishtrap’s executive director until 2008. He now directs the Josephy Library of Western History and Culture in Joseph, Oregon. Rich has written for the Oregonian, High Country News, Portland Magazine, and High Desert Journal as well as contributing a regular column to the Wallowa County Chieftain.
Help us grow and maintain a rich, dynamic community of talented writers by becoming a part of this important program. If you would like to help fund one of our Fishtrap Fellows, please contact us.