AWP Announces TCU Fellowship Program for 2026

Tribal communities have long fostered emerging literary talents and continue to produce some of the most influential voices in the literary landscape today. The Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) is honored to provide more space for Indigenous American talent through the AWP Tribal Colleges and Universities Fellowship Program. The organization seeks to provide a space where TCU faculty can work with students through mentorship to create and share original work by awarding fellowships to attend and participate in every annual AWP conference and book fair. With the help of generous donations, current fellowships will send fellows to the 2026 AWP conference and book fair in Baltimore, Maryland.

Ramona Emerson is the #AWP26 TCU Fellowship Program’s creative advisor and will lead the upcoming cohort through the program’s second year. Emerson is a Diné writer and filmmaker originally from Tohatchi, New Mexico. She received her degree in media arts in 1997 from the University of New Mexico and her MFA in creative writing in 2015 from the Institute of American Indian Arts. She has worked as a professional cinematographer, writer, and editor for over 30 years and is currently working on her eighth and ninth film projects, Crossing the Line and Through Her Lens. She is an Emmy nominee, a Sundance Native Lab fellow, a Time Warner Storyteller fellow, a Tribeca All Access grantee, and a WGBH Producer fellow.

Emerson recently released her second novel, Exposure, the follow-up to her debut novel Shutter, which was published by Soho Press in 2022. Shutter was longlisted for the National Book Award and was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award, PEN Open Book Award, and Edgar Award, among others. Emerson currently resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she and her husband/producer, Kelly Byars, run their production company, Reel Indian Pictures. She is also an assistant professor at the University of New Mexico in the Department of Film and Digital Arts.

The #AWP26 TCU Fellowships will be offered to two faculty and four students. The fellowships include a $4,000 honorarium for faculty and a $300 stipend for students; paid travel expenses and lodging for the duration of the conference; monthly meetings between faculty and students to workshop the students’ creative pieces; meeting the creative advisor and attending private group discussions at the conference; a public reading given by student fellows at the conference; a complimentary one-year AWP membership; and publication in The Writer’s Chronicle of an article featuring faculty fellows’ reflections and student fellows’ final creative pieces

The #AWP26 TCU Fellowship Program faculty fellows are Michelle Sturges-Brown and Yolanda Franklin; the student fellows are Dominique Hunter, Tylia Begay, Jamie Natonabah, and Elliott Chemberlin.