Poets and prose writers win Minnesota State Arts Board Grants

Ten poets and 32 prose writers are among the winners of Minnesota Arts Board Grants, announced today. Winners include James Cihlar, Shannon Gibney, Kao Kalia Yang, Margaret Hasse and Danielle Sosin, and grants top out at $10,000.

Winners were also announced in dance, theater and music.

Here are the poetry and prose winners, and hearty congratulations to them all.

James J. Cihlar, Saint Paul $ 10,000
Cihlar will study ekphrastic and persona poetry to generate new work, which will be shared at readings and events in the Twin Cities and greater Minnesota.

Roy G. Guzmán, Minneapolis $ 10,000
Guzmán will complete his first poetry manuscript, Catracho, which looks to his Honduran heritage to examine issues of immigration, queerness, and trauma. The project will culminate in five readings and a writing workshop.

Margaret M. Hasse, Saint Paul $ 8,565
Hasse will share her latest book, Between Us, with older audiences likely to appreciate her strong and tender poems about aging. She will offer workshops to inspire senior citizens to read and write poetry.

Raymond V. Moniz, Jr., Minneapolis $ 10,000
Moniz will work with an editor to prepare his first poetry manuscript for submission and will travel to local Minnesota communities for public readings.

Sagirah Z. Shahid, Minneapolis $ 9,800
Shahid will complete Bean Pie, her first collection of poetry. She will also host a panel discussion and a performance featuring local African American Muslim women who are practicing artists.

Sun Yung Shin, Minneapolis $ 10,000
Shin will complete the manuscript for a fourth book of poetry with images, and purchase projection equipment to create innovative readings and events.

Elizabeth R. Tannen, Minneapolis $ 8,500
Tannen will deepen her poetry while working toward publication of a chapbook and completion of her first full-length collection. She will hold a reading open to the public in Minneapolis.

Michael P. Torres, Mankato $ 10,000
Torres will work with an editor to revise his first book of poems, Against the Closed Ear of Sky. He will host a poetry workshop for homeless youth at the 410 Project and give a reading in Mankato.

Morgan G. Willow, Minneapolis $ 10,000
Willow will complete her fourth poetry collection, develop a marketing plan, and give readings throughout the state to expand her audience and share her work with the Minnesota public.

Andy Bennett, Duluth $ 10,000
Bennett will complete his manuscript about his father's experiences during the Vietnam War, how those experiences shaped the author's childhood, and the closure achieved by visiting Vietnam with his father in 2016. A reading is being planned for Duluth and Minneapolis.

Ryan J. Berg, Minneapolis $ 8,440
Berg will travel to ten cities in Minnesota to promote his book, No House to Call My Home, a personal account of his time working with LGBTQ homeless youth in New York City. He will also teach writing workshops for youth.

Cheryl E. Blackford, White Bear Lake $ 9,900
Blackford will write a middle grade novel about Mary Anning, a 19th century English paleontologist. She will also make several author visits to schools in the Twin Cities.

Victoria A. Blanco, Minneapolis $ 10,000
Blanco will revise her essay collection about a Rarámuri community in Chihuahua City, Mexico. She will also hold a workshop to help writers explore the creative possibilities of bilingual writing.

Steve Brezenoff, Minneapolis $ 9,000
Brezenoff will complete and revise the first two titles of a series of middle grade novels. He will host a reading at Addendum Books in Saint Paul that will feature his work and that of other middle grade writers.

Karlyn K. Coleman, Minneapolis $ 4,255
Coleman will complete her first novel, Air, which captures the complex role that economics, race, and geography play in the saving of lives through the transplant process. A reading for a high school driver's education class and a writing workshop for senior citizens will be held in Princeton.

Jonathan Damery, Minneapolis $ 10,000
Damery will complete Plainlands, a nonfiction book that explores the cultural history of the tallgrass prairie. He will host readings and wildflower walks at Minnesota natural areas featured in the book.

Dana M. D'Amico, Minneapolis $ 10,000
D'Amico will write a collection of lyric essays about science in Minnesota. She will work with the Minneapolis Department of Health to host a public reading, discussion panel, and writing workshop.

Anne-Marie Erickson, Grand Rapids $ 10,000
Erickson will produce six new essays about her husband's decline into dementia, bringing her memoir close to completion. She'll give readings in Bemidji, Benson, and Grand Rapids.

Amy L. Fladeboe, Minneapolis $ 10,000
Fladeboe will revise her novel, Boys Not Yet Men, and host a literary event that features her work and the work of other Minnesota writers who cross borders through art.

Shannon E. Gibney, Minneapolis $ 8,704
Gibney will complete her essay collection, American Perversions: Class, Caste, And Race in the Academy. She will also organize a public panel, reading, and workshop comprised of women of color academics in Minnesota.

Molly B. Griffin, Minneapolis $ 6,700
Griffin will complete Either/Or, a new young adult novel exploring themes of sexuality, race, and identity policing. She will host a reading in collaboration with the Queer Voices Reading Series at the Loft in Minneapolis and Addendum Books in Saint Paul.

Marcus H. Kessler, Saint Paul $ 10,000
Kessler will complete a memoir about moving from Chicago to a farm in rural Minnesota with his twelve siblings. He will host a reading on the frontier's legacy in Saint Paul.

Sophia E. Kim, Minneapolis $ 10,000
Kim will complete a revision of her first novel about a young Korean American woman who returns to Seoul, Korea. She will give a reading from her manuscript and lead a storytelling workshop in Saint Paul.

Chrissy Kolaya, Morris $ 10,000
Kolaya will complete her second novel, The Second Voyage of Audley Worthington. She will host a reading, book talk, and other events in greater Minnesota.

Rachel A. Moritz, Minneapolis $ 8,640
Moritz will complete research and writing toward a new book of lyric prose, Light Machine. In late 2017, she will host a reading and discussion on lyric prose and other hybrid forms.

Margie Newman, Saint Paul $ 10,000Newman will work with an editor to finish the second draft of her memoir to prepare it for publication. She will lead a writing session for elders, and will do a public reading with other Minnesota writers.

Nicole A. Nfonoyim-Hara, Rochester $ 9,345
Nfonoyim-Hara will complete a first draft collection of eight short stories that grapple with migration, inherited identities, and acts of mythmaking. She will present a public reading of her new work and host a panel discussion in Rochester on these themes.

Angela Pelster-Wiebe, Saint Paul $ 10,000
Pelster-Wiebe will complete her nonfiction manuscript City Symphony. She will have a public reading as well as a workshop on using special collections resources in creative writing projects.

Matt Ryan, Saint Paul $ 10,000
Ryan will complete his new literary crime novel, Mean Darlene. He will hold two public readings in greater Minnesota.

Danielle Sosin, Duluth $ 10,000
Sosin will finish a novel in progress about an elderly couple living in southeast Minnesota that explores themes of perception, independence, and interdependence. She will also lead two creative writing workshops at the Duluth Public Library.

Kate St Vincent Vogl, Plymouth $ 6,834
Vogl will work with an editor to prepare her first novel, The Narrows, for submission. She will also organize a multigenre reading in the Twin Cities and provide two writing workshops in greater Minnesota.

Mary C. Stein, Minneapolis $ 9,980
Stein will complete a first draft of her novel, Wonderland Babies. Upon completion, she will host an LGBTQ themed reading in Minneapolis and offer two writing workshops.

Jordan K. Thomas, Minneapolis $ 10,000
Thomas will revise his first book, This Skin is Forever, an exploration of blackness and faith in the wake of the very public killings of black people in recent years. He will facilitate a panel of black writers who will read from their work and talk about their experience of living in the Twin Cities.

Andrea Uptmor, Minneapolis $ 10,000
Uptmor will complete a draft of her novel which explores the relationship that emerges between a small town schoolteacher and the squatter who illegally occupies her neighbors' home. A reading and writing workshop for former female offenders will be offered through Volunteers of America Residential Reentry Center.

Kao K. Yang, Saint Paul $ 10,000
Yang will work on her third memoir Return of the Refugee, an exploration of motherhood in times of war and its aftermath. At the end of 2017, she will host a community event on Hmong motherhood where she will read from the manuscript and facilitate a conversation about women and war.