PLAINFIELD, Vt. — Goddard College is pleased to announce a new scholarship that will provide emerging writers with a pathway to earning a terminal degree in creative writing.
The Goddard/PEN Center USA Scholarship is the result of a partnership between Goddard’s MFA in Creative Writing Program and PEN Center USA, one of the largest literary organizations in the United States.
“We selected PEN Center USA as our partner for this scholarship because PEN’s mission of championing free speech and the rights of writers is profoundly aligned with Goddard’s progressive educational mission,” said Elena Georgiou, acting director of the Goddard MFA in Creative Writing Program.
“The Emerging Voices Fellowship aims to provide access to writers who truly need it. I am thrilled at this opportunity,” said Libby Flores, the fellowship’s program manager at PEN Center USA.
PEN Center USA is a branch of PEN International, the world’s leading international literary and human rights organization. Emerging Voices is a literary fellowship that aims to provide new writers, who lack access, with the tools they will need to launch a professional writing career. The eight-month fellowship includes a professional mentorship, classes at UCLA Extension Writers’ Program, master classes, voice instruction classes, public readings, and a stipend.
Beginning in fall of 2016, the College will award one $10,000 Goddard/PEN Center USA Scholarship to an MFA applicant in Creative Writing who is a past PEN Center USA Emerging Voices Fellow. The first award is made possible by a generous $10,000 gift from faculty and friends of Goddard College.
“Several Goddard faculty members are PEN members and have been impressed by PEN Center USA’s Emerging Voices Fellowship as a unique and exemplary program of mentorship for highly talented and diverse writers from underserved backgrounds,” Georgiou said. “We conceived the Goddard/PEN Center USA Emerging Voices Scholarship to recognize the extraordinary talent that the Emerging Voices Fellows have already demonstrated and as a means of reducing the financial barrier that prevents some fellows from continuing their education.”
PEN Center USA Emerging Voices Fellows who do not hold a bachelor’s degree and who otherwise do not meet the criteria for admission to the MFA program may apply for admission into the BFA in Creative Writing Program at Goddard College.
All PEN Center USA Emerging Voices Fellows who are admitted to the BFA in Creative Program will receive a one-time $1,000 BFA Goddard Engaged Artist Award. PEN Center USA Fellows who are admitted to the MFA in Creative Program but who do not receive the Goddard/PEN Center USA Scholarship will receive a one-time $2,000 MFA Goddard Engaged Artist Award.
About Goddard College
The mission of Goddard College is to advance cultures of rigorous inquiry, collaboration, and lifelong learning, where individuals take imaginative and responsible action in the world. Goddard College offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in a number of disciplines. Founded in 1976, Goddard’s low-residency MFA in Creative Writing Program was the first of its kind in the nation. The low-residency program is offered at campuses in Plainfield, Vermont, and Port Townsend, Washington. It is a 48-credit, student-centered program ideal for students with family, work, or personal obligations who choose to hone their writing skills while maintaining their other commitments. The program regularly hosts luminaries from the theater and film industries and the publishing trade, and conducts a Visiting Writers Series and Visiting Alumni Writers Series as well.
