Fellowships awarded by R.I. Foundation to three local writers

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island writers Julie Danho O’Connell, Sussy Santana and Susannah Strong have been awarded $25,000 fellowships by the Rhode Island Foundation.
Provided through the Robert and Margaret MacColl Johnson Fellowship Fund, the fellowships are considered to be one of the largest no-strings-attached awards available to writers in the United States.
Each year, rotating among composers, writers and visual artists on a three-year cycle, the funding program awards $25,000 to enable artists to dedicate time to the creative process, focus on personal or professional development, expand their body of work and explore new directions. Since 2005, the foundation has awarded $825,000 to 33 composers, writers and visual artists.
“Our fellowships provide significant financial support that enables these artists to further their work,” said Daniel Kertzner, senior philanthropic advisor for funding partnerships. “They provide Rhode Island artists with the precious commodities of time and money so they can spend more time developing their craft. They echo the value the MacColl Johnsons placed on the role of artists in the community.”
The recipients were chosen from nearly 200 applicants by a panel of four out-of-state jurors who are recognized practicing writers and editors. Applications were reviewed based on the quality of the work, artistic development and creative contribution to the field of writing, as well as the potential of the fellowship to advance the career of emerging to mid-career writers.
Danho, of North Providence, has received several fellowships in poetry from the R.I. State Council on the Arts and has published a chapbook, “Six Portraits.” Danho plans to use her fellowship to take time off from her work for Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island to write, do research, attend conferences and organize poetry readings.
“The best poems insist that we make a leap into the unknown. I write poetry to discover and experience these leaps for myself and, hopefully, to enter the conversation begun by the poets who inspire me,” she said.
Santana, of Providence, serves on the board of directors at AS220 and has performed at the Villa Victoria Center for the Arts in Boston, Trinity Rep, United Palace and Dartmouth College. A native of the Dominican Republic, her first book of poetry is “Pelo Bueno y otros poemas (Good Hair and other poems).” Santana plans to use her fellowship to rent studio time and to concentrate on finishing a collection of poems exploring themes of womanhood and the creative self as well as her first work of fiction.
“Immigration inspires me because it comes with the possibility of imagining yourself in a different place, it takes you out of context. It merges heartbreak and hope, I find that truly fascinating,” she said.
Strong, of Exeter, an assistant professor of art at Salve Regina University, plans to reduce her course load at Salve Regina in order to spend more time working on her graphic novel, “Moth,” as well as producing a body of shorter works.
“As an emerging graphic novelist, I desire to craft rich and complex relationships between words and images in the service of telling stories. I write and draw both graphic novels and comics, finding them uniquely powerful mediums through which to explore and express my voice,” she said.
Three finalists, who received no cash award: are Tina Egnoski of Barrington; Kimberly Fusco of Foster and David O’Connell of North Providence.
Guidelines and applications for the 2016 fellowships, which will be awarded to visual artists, will be available on the foundation’s website after July 1. For information and application details, visit www.rifoundation.org/maccolljohnson.

No posts to display