Top Literary Fellowship

GAMBIER, Ohio (April 18, 2005) The Richard L. Thomas Chair in Creative Writing at Kenyon brings internationally renowned poets and fiction writers to Kenyon. This year is no exception. Fanny Howe, who is teaching workshops and literature courses at the College this spring, has been named a 2005 Guggenheim Fellow in the creative arts. An acclaimed poet who has also written novels, stories, fiction for young adults, and literary essays, Howe has won support in the category of general nonfiction.

"The Guggenheim is the most prestigious fellowship in American literature," says Sergei Lobanov-Rostovsky, associate professor of English and chair of the English department. "This award recognizes Fanny Howe's importance as a major voice in American poetry, and we feel very fortunate to have her at Kenyon this year."

The 2005 Guggenheim winners include 186 artists, scholars, and scientists selected from a field of more than 3,000 applicants for awards totaling $7,112,000. Guggenheim Fellows are appointed on the basis of distinguished achievement in the past and exceptional promise for future accomplishment. Awards are based on recommendations from hundreds of expert advisors and approved by the foundation's board of trustees. Past winners include such major writers as Saul Bellow, Langston Hughes, Czeslaw Milosz, and Octavio Paz.

Howe's most recent book, On the Ground, has been short-listed for the 2005 Griffin Poetry Prize, one of Canada's most prestigious literary awards. Howe has also received the 2001 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize from the Academy of American Poets for her Selected Poems, as well as awards from the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Poetry Foundation.