Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Officially Announcing: I'm an NEA Fellow in Literature

I can now officially say that I have been selected by the National Endowment for the Arts as a 2009 Fellow in Literature for Poetry.

To put it in context, NEA Literature Fellowships are awarded to published creative writers of exceptional talent in the areas of prose and poetry to advance the goal of encouraging and supporting artistic creativity and preserving our diverse cultural heritage.

The NEA was established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government, and the Endowment is the nation's largest annual funder of the arts.

This year, out of over 1,000 applications received from across the country, only 42 were awarded after being judged by 10 of the country's leading poets. The award for poetry comes only once every 2 years.

The award also comes with $25,000 for me to continue my work to study and advance awareness of Laotian American poetry. This is both a great personal victory and a community victory. 

I thank all of you who helped me and stood by me. And to my fellow writers who may find themselves at points of struggle, let me assure you: It's possible. Reach for it. :)

8 comments:

Oliver de la Paz said...

Congratulations, Bryan! Fabulous news!

***

WV=potskr

I thought it said potsticker

Ivy said...

Congratulations, Bryan! Yay! :-)

Mary Turck said...

Congratulation! I'd like to use your blog photo next week when TC Daily Planet republishes the article from Asian American Press. Is that okay, or do you have another photo you would prefer that we use?
Mary Turck
editor@tcdailyplanet.net

Unknown said...

Congratulations, Bryan! What great news, and well deserved.

Greg W.

Brett said...

Many many congrats, Bryan. Keep us posted on your progress!

Ariah said...

Congratulations! That's quite an accomplishment.

Glad you liked the idea behind InsideNorthside.org
Any chance I could call you sometime this week and tell you more about it and how it could benefit Hawthorne's work?

Let me know,
ariah at ariahfine dot com

Jim C. Hines said...

Wow! Huge congratulations, Bryan! That's awesome news!

Glee said...

Great work, Brother Bryan.
Congratulations!! You really make me proud of your achievements.

Keep up the beautiful work.

Gary Yia L.