Panelists
2015 Literature Fellowship
October 6, 2014
9:00 AM - to conclusion
Teleconference (How to participate)
Chair: Patricia Warren
Program Manager: Morgan Lewis
Vanessa Blakeslee
Orange County
- Author of short story collection, Train Shots and a forthcoming debut novel to be published by Curbside Spendor Publishing in Fall 2015
- Previously creative and expository writing teacher at the University of Central Florida and Rollins College
- Writing has appeared in over a hundred literary journals and magazines, including The Southern Review, Green Mountains Review, The Paris Review Daily, The Globe and Mail, and Kenyon Review Online
- Winner of the inaugural Bosque Fiction Prize, 2014 IPPY Gold Medal in Short Fiction, longlist for 2014 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award
- Awarded grants and residencies from Yaddo, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, The Banff Centre, Ledig House, the Edward F. Albee Foundation, the Ragdale Foundation, and the Atlantic Center for the Arts, and the 2013 Individual Artist Fellowship in Literature from the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs
- M.F.A. in Writing, Vermont College of Fine Arts.
John Fink
Escambia County
- Associate Professor and Director of Creative Writing, University of West Florida
- Editor, Panhandler Magazine and PanhandlerBooks
- Poems and essays published in Poetry, New England Review, TriQuarterly, Slate, Witness, The Southern Review, and Virginia Quarterly Review, among other publications
- Recipient of the Editors’ Prize in Poetry from The Missouri Review, the McGinnis-Ritchie Award for Nonfiction/Essay from Southwest Review, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs, and Emory University, among other institutions
- Two books of poetry forthcoming from Dzanc Books
- M.F.A., Syracuse University; B.A., Trinity University
Michael Hettich
Miami-Dade County
- Professor of English and Creative Writing, Miami Dade College
- Author of over a dozen books and chapbooks of poetry, including Systems of Vanishing; The Animal Beyond Us; The Measured Breathing; and Like Happiness
- Poems published in over 100 journals, including Orion, The Sun, Witness, Prairie, Schooner, Poetry East, and Tri-Quarterly
- Winner of three Individual Artist Fellowships from the Florida Department of State, The Tampa Review Prize for Poetry, Swan Scythe Chapbook Award, and the YellowJacket Press Award for Florida Writers
- Ph.D. English and American Literature, University of Miami; M.A. Literature and Creative Writing/Poetry, University of Denver; B.A., Hobart College.
Mia Leonin
Miami-Dade County
- Senior Lecturer Creative Program, Department of English, University of Miami
- Author of two books of poetry, Braid and Unraveling the Bed (Anhinga Press), and memoir Havana and Other Missing Fathers (University of Arizona Press)
- Theater reviews and articles published in the Miami Herald, Dance Magazine, Dance Teacher Magazine, New Times, and Pointe
- Poetry published in Alaska Quarterly Review, Chelsea, Guernica, Indiana Review, New Letters, North American Review, Prairie Schooner, River Styx, and Witness
- Special mention in 2014 Pushcard Prize Anthology for poem “A Boy Shoots Marbles in a CNN Transcript”
- Recipient of two Florida Individual Artist Fellowships (poetry and creative nonfiction); 2007 fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts/Annenberg Institute on Theater and Musical Theater
- M.F.A., Creative Writing, University of Miami; B.A., English Literature, Rockhurst University
Joyce Sweeney
Broward County
- Author of fourteen novels for young adults and one chapbook of poetry
- Writing teacher and mentor to aspiring authors through classes and seminars throughout the state and a series of online courses: Sweeney Writing Coach
- Founding member of The Playgroup LLC, which produces original works by local playwrights.
- Numerous poems, short stories, articles and interviews published, as well as a play produced
- Recognitions by American Library Association’s Best Books List and Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers, Nevada State Reading Award, Silver Medal in the 2006 Florida Book Awards, and Delacorte Press Prize for an Outstanding Young Adult Novel
- Graduate study in creative writing, Ohio University; B.A., Wright State University
Lu Vickers
Leon County
- Professor of English, Tallahassee Community College
- Published one novel, Breathing Underwater, and three books on Florida history, Weeki Wachee, City of Mermaids, a History of One of Florida’s Oldest Roadside Attractions, Cypress Gardens, America’s Tropical Wonderland, and Weeki Wachee Mermaids: Thirty Years of Underwater Photography
- Received three Individual Artist’s Grants for fiction from the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs, and awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for fiction
- Current research topic on history of Paradise Park, a segregated park in Ocala, Florida
- Upcoming novel, The Natural History of a Mermaid
- Ph.D. in Creative Writing, Florida State University