Announcing the 2018 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellows

Some good news coming out of the offices of the Poetry Foundation today: Safia Elhillo, Hieu Minh Nguyen, sam sax, Natalie Scenters-Zapico, and Paul Tran are this year's Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellows. Each poet will take home a $25,800 fellowship. More from the press release:

The fellows will make their first joint appearance at the Dodge Poetry Festivalin October, and the December 2018 issue of Poetry will feature a sampling of their work.

“Our 2018 fellows created their own trails and important beautiful markers for those who will follow them into the future,” said Poetry editor, Don Share. “Each of these fellows energetically speaks to and contributes to the ever-increasing interest in contemporary poetry, especially among young people.”

Established by Ruth Lilly in 1989 for one student recipient nominated by a university writing program, the fellowship program expanded to two spots in 1996, then five in in 2008. After a generous gift from the Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Memorial Fund in 2013, it became the Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowships. Now open to any U.S. poets between the ages of 21 and 31, regardless of whether or not they are affiliated with academic institutions, the fellowship’s expanded inclusivity created space for more young poets to flourish and develop their craft.

This year’s cohort includes a founding member of Slam NYU, a Warren Wilson College MFA candidate, a National Poetry Series winner, a PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award for Poetry winner, and a “Discovery”/Boston Review Poetry Prize winner.

Continue on here. Congrats to the 2018 class of fellows!