2023-2024 Residents Announced!

 

We made it to our eighth year! Mineral School, the “little residency that could” located in a former elementary school in a logging and fishing lake town near Mt. Rainier, is proud to announce artists invited to join the Class of 2023-2024. In a competitive process that drew 218 applicants from throughout the United States and Canada, our jury of Northwest and further-flung writers and visual artists reviewed submissions blindly. They selected a total of 26 writers and artists to join two writers rescheduled due to the pandemic, for a total of 28 creative folks who will come to live and work for one to two weeks at a time in Mineral, advancing their craft in writing and visual art.

During the coming year, we’re excited to resume what we understand is the only residency in the Northwest (if not U.S.) for writers who create in Spanish as a first language, via a partnership with Seattle Escribe. This year we’ll offer two sessions for poets and writers working in Spanish, one of which is supported by the Sustainable Arts Foundation and is for artists who are raising children 18 and under, and the other of which supports Spanish-language poets and writers generally.

Among our five English-language sessions, we’re offering a shorter one-week session for parent artists through support from the Sustainable Arts Foundation. We’re also once again collaborating with Tahoma Literary Review to offer a fellowship for a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and/or Person of Color) poet or writer, which comes with the opportunity for TLR literary publication. And we continue to offer friend-raised and family-raised fellowships to honor artists past by nurturing artists forward: The Mona Lisa Roberts Visual Artist Fellowship supports an LGBTQ+ visual artist, while The Erin Donovan Fellowship supports a woman writer over 40 needing time and support to push through projects at mid-life. We also continue to offer June Dodge Fellowships for writers from the Cascadia region who have a can-do spirit. 

Mineral School Residents (English-language program)

Frank Abe (Seattle, WA; Prose) – Frank Abe is co-author of a graphic novel about Japanese-American resistance to wartime incarceration, We Hereby Refuse (Chin Music Press), and winner of an American Book Award for work on John Okada: The Life & Rediscovered Work of the Author of No-Bo Boy (UW Press). He is co-editing an anthology for Penguin Classics, The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration.  

Bella Bravo (Seattle, WA; June Dodge Fellowship in Prose) – Bella Bravo graduated in 2022 with an MFA in fiction from University of Wisconsin, Madison, and has recently moved to Seattle. A writer who has won research awards to further fiction and journalism awards for coverage of the Tubbs Fire, one of Bravo’s interests is depicting experiences of families who have fled war and unrest and exploring how they hold together despite persistent, destructive forces around them. 

Oliver Brickman (Seattle, WA; Poetry) — Oliver Brickman is a writer and performer invested in liberatory futures and reckoning with ghosts. Winner of a Split This Rock Poetry Prize, Brickman has received support from Lambda Literary Foundation, Yiddish Book Center, 4Culture, and Artist Trust. They are currently working on poems and a memoir about collective organizing against the 2017 Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Peter Burzyński (Milwaukee, WI; Poetry) — Peter Burzyński speaks and translates Polish. In Fall 2023 he will travel to the Slovak Republic as a Fulbright Scholar. His work has appeared in The Brooklyn Rail, Georgia Review, jubilat, and his poetry collection, Infinite Zero, will be published by Writ Large Press in 2024.

Rona Fernandez (Oakland, CA; Prose) — Rona Fernandez has published work in The Rumpus, Philippine News, Apparition Lit, The Masters Review, and is in or soon to appear in anthologies including What God is Honored Here: Writings on Miscarriage and Infant Loss by and for Native Women and Women of Color and Fighting for the Future: Cyberpunk and Solarpunk Tales. In 2019, she participated in the inaugural cohort of San Francisco Writers Grotto’s Rooted & Written program for writers of color.

Bruno George (Seattle, WA; Prose) — Bruno George has published short fiction in Conjunctions, Chicago Review, Denver Quarterly, and elsewhere, and was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship for fiction. A lifelong student who holds an MFA (Brown) and PhD, George remains engaged in ongoing study of literature, psychology, gender, and settler colonialism, which inform a current writing project.

Virginia Hand (Skagit Valley, WA; Mona Lisa Roberts Visual Artist Fellowship) — Virginia Hand is a former graphic designer and landscaper returning to her fine arts roots through watercolor painting and printmaking. 

Debbi Kenote (Brooklyn, NY; Visual Art) — Debbi Kenote is a Washingtonian who earned an MFA in visual art from Brooklyn College and is interested in the intersections of painting, sculpture, and installation. She has exhibited at galleries including Kate Werbe, Hollis Taggart, Duran|Mashaal Gallery, Cob Gallery, Fir Gallery, and Page Bond Gallery.

Stephanie Kuehnert (‘15; Seattle, WA; SAF Fellowship in Prose) — Stephanie Kuehbert has published two young adult novels, numerous essays for teen girls and women, and is the author of a forthcoming memoir called Pieces of A Girl (Dutton Young Readers/Penguin Random House) due out in Spring 2024.

Ari Laurel (Seattle, WA; June Dodge Fellowship in Prose) – Ari Laurel is a fiction writer whose work addresses decolonial futures, climate, and the Pacific Northwest. A 2022 Hugo House Fellow, work has appeared in Ninth Letter, Passages North, Blue Mesa review, The Conium Review, The Toast, Duende, and elsewhere. 

Vivian Li (British Columbia; June Dodge Fellowship in Poetry) — Vivian Li is a writer, musician, editor, and interdisciplinary artist whose work engages with themes of Chinese-Canadian identity, mental health, and social justice. Her writing is forthcoming or published in League of Canadian Poets Anthology: In the Storm/Struggle, The New Quarterly, The Massachusetts Review, F&SF, The Fiddlehead, and CV2, and elsewhere. The creator of the short musical dramedy “In Silence, We Sing,” her debut chapbook, Someday I Promise, I’ll Love You, was published by 845 Press. 

Susan Lieu (Seattle, WA; SAF Fellowship in Prose) – Susan Lieu is a playwright, performer, author, and daughter of Vietnamese refugee nail salon workers. Lieu wrote and performed the solo show “140 LBS: How Beauty Killed My Mother.” Her work has been featured at The Moth Mainstage, On The Boards, Consortium of Asian American Theatre Artists, Bumbershoot, Wing Luke Museum, Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, and elsewhere. Her memoir, The Manicurist’s Daughter, is forthcoming in February 2024 from Celadon Books (Macmillan).

Joanna Luloff (Denver, CO; Prose) – Joanna Luloff is the author of the story collection The Beach at Galle Road and the novel Remind Me Again What Happened, both published by Algonquin Books. Her stories and essays have appeared in journals including The Missouri Review, The Massachusetts Review, The Bennington Review, The Cincinnati Review, and Western Humanities Review. She teaches creative writing and literature at the University of Colorado Denver and edits prose for Copper Nickel. 

Nancy Mburu (Seattle, WA; Tahoma Literary Review Fellowship in Prose) – An author and performing poet, Nancy Mburu’s work amplifies the stories of East African immigrants in an authentic way that also encompasses their complex relationship with culture, tradition, language, gender dynamics, and race among Black diasporans. She holds a BA in Creative writing from University of Washington, and is both a 2022-2023 Hugo House Fellow and 2023 Jack Straw Fellow.

Dhana Musil (British Columbia, Prose) – Dhana Musil’s stories and essays have been published in various anthologies and literary journals including The Puritan, The Tahoma Literary Review, and Grain Magazine. She is a graduate of The Writers Studio at Simon Fraser University.

Kari Pilgrim (Brooklyn, NY; Erin Donovan Fellowship in Prose) — Kari Pilgrim is working on her first novel, titled Everybody, Smile. Her stories have been published in The Literary Review, Del Sol Review, and Brooklyn Review. An associate professor of cultural studies at Empire State College, she teaches creative writing and literature, often with an ecological focus. She has received the Graywolf Prize for a novel excerpt, and while earning her MFA a MacArthur Scholarship in Fiction.

Sara Post (Olympic Peninsula, WA; June Dodge Fellowship in Prose) – Sara Post works, writes, and organizes at the intersection of healthcare systems and collective liberation. Her work has appeared or will soon appear in online and print journals, and with healthcare writers friends she will publish a collaborative book.

Claire Thompson (Eastern Washington; Prose) – A long-time seasonal trail worker, Claire Thompson manages projects for the Washington Trails Association. In her writing and research, she explores the history of human-land relations through the lenses of labor and recreation, and themes of disturbance, both ecological and cultural. Claire has been published in Terrain, High Country News, Parabola, Camas, The Missoula Independent, and elsewhere.

Charity Yoro (Hillsboro, Oregon; SAF Fellowship in Poetry) – Charity Yoro is a steward of words and beings. Her writing has appeared inThe New York Times, The Rumpus, Poets.org, Tupelo Press Quarterly, and elsewhere. Born, raised, and educated on the east side of O‘ahu, she currently lives in Oregon with her wild, loving family.

Shuxuan Zhou (Seattle, WA; SAF Fellowship in Prose) – Shuzuan Zhou has published multiple short stories and personal essays about workers, women, and queer lives in Chinese, and is at work on bilingual essays about first-generation Chinese experiences with caregiving — including parenting and caregiving professions.

Seattle Escribe/Mineral School Spanish-Language Residency

September 2023 (supported by Sustainable Arts Foundation, Escribe, and Mineral School)

José Juan Gómez-Becerra (Kentucky; Poetry) — José Juan Gómez-Becerra is a tenured professor and directs the Spanish and Latino Studies program at Eastern Kentucky University, where he researches Chicano literary and cultural production in Spanish and Spanish in the US. His work looks at the symbolism of the barrio as an icon in Chicano literature and drama. He contributes to numerous journals and books, and is at work on a manuscript titled Peeling the Chicano Onion: A Search for the Core. 

Kadiri J. Vaquer Fernández (California; Poetry) is a Puerto Rican poet and translator. Her poetry collections include Andamiaje (Ediciones Callejón, 2012) and Ritos de pasaje (La Secta de los Perros, 2019). Her work has been published in The Puerto Rico Review, 80 Grados, Cantera, Claridad, Furman 217, In My Secret Life, and elsewhere. She holds a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies with a concentration in Creative Writing from the University of Puerto Rico, an MFA in Creative Writing in Spanish from NYU, and a PhD in Spanish and Portuguese from Vanderbilt University.  She has taught creative writing to children, youth, and adults in Puerto Rico, New York, Texas, and California. 

Lara López de Jesús (New York; Poetry/Prose) — Lara López de Jesús writes poetry as well as prose, and is currently at work on two novels for young readers. She holds a Master’s Degree in Latin American Studies from UNAM (Mexico) and a Doctorate in Hispanic Studies from the University of Puerto Rico. She wrote the book El camino de las diez lunas (Editorial Raices, 2021) and awaits publication of Migrantia, a collection of short stories. She is also editing a poetry collection, Nudo y horizonte.

Viviana Gonzales (Poetry) – Viviana Gonzales is a Bolivian-Mexican poet and playwright, who also promotes reading among youth. She won the National Prize for Literature in Poetry (Bolivia, 2019) for her poetry collection Hay un árbol de piedra en mi memoria. Her second collection of poetry is titled Canto de un pájaro de fuego (Buenos Aires Poetry, 2020). She has published in different national and international magazines, as well as in anthologies.

Karen Sevilla (Puerto Rico; Poetry) — Karen Sevilla is a poet, essayist, moderator of literary workshops, and a translator. She is the author of the poetry collections El mal de los azares (Sótano Editores, 2010) and Parque Prospecto (Libros AC, 2014) and a graduate of NYU and the University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras.

March 2024 (Supported by Seattle Escribe & Mineral School)

Luis Avila (Arizona; Fiction) — Luis Avila is a fiction writer, playwright, director, theater actor, and widely-published journalist. At 15, while living in Mexico, he founded a magazine that published literature and political commentary; he also launched a magazine with other young people launched Nosotros..y tú?, the first bilingual magazine of Arizona’s university and community colleges system. He is a guest instructor at the Creative Writing Center at Arizona State University’s Virginia Piper Center, where he developed the first classes for Spanish speakers in the university’s history. 

Carlos Vazquez Cruz (Kalamazoo, Michigan; Fiction, Poetry) — Carlos Vazquez Cruz has published multiple collections of poetry, short stories, and longer-form works which have been recognized with awards and grants by NYU, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Flamboyan Foundation, and PEN Club of Puerto Rico. Cruz holds a BA in Secondary Education in Spanish from the University of Puerto Rico, an MFA in Creative Writing from NYU, and a PhD in Romance Languages from UNC-Chapel Hill. He is currently a Professor of Spanish at Kalamazoo College.

Dalia Maxum (Seattle, WA; Poetry, Prose) — Dalia Maxum was born and raised in Oaxaca, Mexico, and studied international relations and law in Mexico City. She has found community in the Seattle Central Library Club and Seattle Escribe, where she has served as a board member. 

Sayra Torres (Las Vegas, NV; Fiction) — Sayra Torres is a fiction writer from Mexico who has lived in Las Vegas for 18 years, participating in Comala Literary Group and working with the organization Literarte to promote Spanish-language reading and writing in the city. An educator, she is at work on stories and a novel. 

About Mineral School

Mineral School is a nonprofit fiscally sponsored by Shunpike and has received support from Amazon Literary Partners, ArtsFund/Paul Allen Foundation, The Sustainable Arts Foundation, and numerous individuals. We have partnered or will soon partner on programs with organizations including Fire Mountain Arts Council, Hugo House, Humanities Washington, Lewis County Dignity Guild, Mineral Lake Lions Club, Rainier Independent Film Festival, Seattle Arts & Lectures, Seattle Escribe, and the Seattle Public Library.