The Ashley Bryan Fellowships

In honor of award-winning writer and artist Ashley Bryan’s life, the MWPA is pleased to offer the Ashley Bryan Fellowships, which support emerging Maine writers who are Black, people of color, and/or members of one of the Wabanaki Nations or other Native peoples. Bryan Fellows receive free membership, workshops and other support—you will find full guidelines, application details, and backgound info below. In collaboration with all of the 2021 Ashley Bryan Fellows, Coco McCracken writes the following about the fellowship:

Ashley Bryan Fellows are invited to hone their literary craft and build community in safe spaces, free from bigotry and white supremacism. Whether addressing these themes in our work or in conversation with one another, this Fellowship is designed to break down barriers that have impacted marginalized communities of color in Maine. We do so by honoring each other’s work, making space for authentic truth-telling, and calling one another in rather than calling out in order to repair harm when necessary. Through these means, we are building a network of mutual support to bolster each member’s creative and professional goals. Until our literary world provides equal access to opportunity for BIPOC writers, this group sees the Ashley Bryan Fellowship as an opportunity to build stronger connections and to acknowledge and celebrate literary ingenuity within our vibrant, multifaceted communities. 

“I love to celebrate the artistry of people around the world in whatever material or form they work” --Ashley Bryan

The Bryan Fellowships are open to applications from September 7 to October 15 and nominations from September 7 to October 9.

If you have any questions, please contact MWPA Executive Director Gibson Fay-LeBlanc at director@mainewriters.org.

The 2022 Bryan Fellows include (below, clockwise from left to right, after Ashley Bryan himself) educator, writer, and performer Linda Ashe-Ford, artist, writer, and community organizer Dania Bowie, writer and graphic designer Kendric Chua, writer, mother, and boat captain Minquansis Sapiel, and poet and community organizer Stacey Tran.

Linda Ashe-Ford is a veteran in the early education field and was a classroom teacher for over 45 years. She is a past president of the Maine Association for the Education of Young Children as well as a past treasurer of the New England Association for the Education Of Young Children. Linda holds a Master in Education from Antioch New England Graduate School and a BA in Theater and Communications from the University of Hartford. Using her background in theater, she has written, produced and performed both original and scripted materials on various topics. Linda is a storyteller who brings the history and folktales of people of color to life. She believes that through story we can begin to deepen our understanding of each other.

Dania Bowie (she/they) is an artist, as well as a resource and community organizer who works to move resources and people power to address systems-level change through civic and political education in Maine. They are first-generation Filipinx American, queer, and a learning abolitionist. Their art—from fiction writing to painting—seeks to connect people, but also complicate the narrative of resilience in immigrant families. Their focus is on the Filipinx diaspora and the consequences of living global lives as previously colonized people.

Growing up gay in a community with strong Catholic roots on the northernmost island of the Philippines, Kendric Chua spent most of his childhood in his imagination and within the fictional worlds of others, like Stephen King, to inoculate himself from an abusive household. Kendric emigrated to the United States when he was fifteen and earned his BFA in Visual Effects from the Savannah College of Art and Design. He now proudly calls Maine home and volunteers his design skills to benefit non-profit organizations. He has finished the first draft of his first novel and written several short stories, most of which are set in Maine. Kendric is currently being coached by Maine novelist and transgender activist, Alex Myers.

Minquansis Sapiel is a Passamaquoddy TribaI member, mother of three daughters and has a Masters in Social Work. Her daughter also illustrated the children’s book she wrote Little People of the Dawn. She grew up on the Sipayik Reservation and moved off to go to college at the University of Maine. She also has her Captain’s license and offers whale watching tours.

Stacey Tran (she/they) is a community organizer, author of Soap for the Dogs (Gramma, 2018), and creator of Tender Table, a project celebrating Black and Brown community by connecting and honoring our identities, traditions, joy, resilience, and fight for collective liberation through storytelling and food.

The 2022 Bryan Fellows include (below, clockwise from left to right, after Ashley Bryan himself) musician, writer, tutor, and translator Wendy Newell Dyer, Ian-Khara Ellasante, Michelle Kazaka, Leila Nadir, and Maya Williams. A full bio for each Ashley Bryan Fellow appears below.

Wendy Newell Dyer is a citizen of the Passamaquoddy Nation. Put into the Maine child welfare system at birth and later adopted, she searched for and found her biological parents when she was twenty-five and began her journey to come to know herself as a Passamaquoddy woman. In the past thirty-three years she has fully immersed herself in cultural teachings, practices and ceremonies. She graduated from the University of Maine at Machias in 2003. She was a freelance writer/photographer for the Downeast Coastal Press and the Machias Valley News Observer where she covered a variety of topics including the Maine High School Basketball Tournaments. Widowed at forty-two, Wendy helped write educational materials for the Maine Coalition to Fight Prostate Cancer, and won a national writing contest sponsored by the Prostate Cancer Foundation and judged by actress Kristin Bell. Her story "A Warrior's Homecoming" appeared in "Dawnland Voices: An Anthology of Indigenous Writers from New England in 2014." Several of her stories have been published in the online literary magazine Dawnland Voices 2.0, two Chicken Soup for the Soul books and in Homeschooling Today magazine. As an adoptee, Wendy testified before the Maine Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2015. She recently shared her adoption story on WERU's Dawnland Signals. Newell Dyer was one of the recent winners of the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance Call for Native Writers. She works for Wayfinder Schools as the Passages teacher for Washington County. She has three sons, four grandsons and a black lab Jack.

Ian-Khara Ellasante (they/them) is a Black, queer, trans-nonbinary poet and cultural studies scholar. Ian-Khara has published poems in We Want It All: An Anthology of Radical Trans Poetics, The Feminist Wire, The Volta, Hinchas de Poesía, Nat. Brut, and Writing the Land, and has been honored with the New Millennium Award for Poetry. Their critical writing has appeared in Transgender Studies Quarterly, Ethnic and Racial Studies, and elsewhere. Proudly hailing from Memphis, Ian-Khara has also loved living and writing in Tucson, Brooklyn, and most recently, in southern Maine, where they are an assistant professor of gender and sexuality studies at Bates College.

I am Michelle Kazaka, Born in 1977 in the capital of the Republic Democratic of Congo . At the age of sixteen, the injustice and inequality that I endured changed everything. Understanding that for me to manage the seed, the problem of the root should be resolved, I devote myself completely in the activism of the rights claim that leads me to get closer to the source of the problem and thus to understand what was wrong. And this knowledge, which inflames my enthusiasm to continue what I defined as a noble struggle, was defined for those who took advantage of it as a threat. And it was to eliminate this movement of young people who grew up drastically, the authorities used means increasingly hard and harsh with regard to its young for whom, the only sin was their rights and benefits that they granted them. The xenophobia chasm I endured while passing through various African countries, made the life more sour and repressions on and made our stay more and more difficult to hold, until the day thanks in the lottery American known as "DV LOTTERY" allowed us to travel to the United States, always in search of peace because of the noise that the claim of justice can create and the safety of their lives. And above all, raising awareness of more important international nations about the hardships that young people face, who, as they stand up for their rights, flout.

 A mother of 3, a new Mainer for about 5 years and in my spare time, a storyteller/writer. My passion for storytelling already existed when I was just 5 years old, gathering my siblings and the rest of my family around the big mango tree in our backyard almost every night. I then graduated from a local University in Kinshasa with a degree in Journalism, where my passion for writing stemmed from.

Being born in Kinshasa, DRC, passing through various African countries throughout the course of my life and eventually finding myself in Maine gave me quite the unique experience- or so thought. Coming here, I found so many other people who shared similar experiences with me, making me feel heard and belonged for the first time in my life.

This is why I wrote my book, ‘How Long The Night’, to provide a voice, a perspective from all immigrants who found themselves in Maine after a long journey that lasted almost their entire lives. This book is a memoir that reflects my story, in which some will learn from and some will relate to.

Leila Christine Nadir is an award-winning Afghan-American artist, writer, and educator exploring life after ruins and the possibilities for collective memory and repair amidst ecological disruptions, childhood violence, immigration and exile, and colonial traumas. Her writing has appeared in literary, scholarly, and popular venues, including Black Warrior Review, North American Review, Asian American Literary Review, ASAP, Aster(ix), and Hyperallergic, and has been anthologized in 2021's New Moons: Contemporary Writing by North American Muslims, edited by Kazim Ali. With poet Zohra Saed, she has co-edited a special collection of Afghan-American writing for Asian American Literary Review. Her book project, Afghan Americana: An Intimate-Geopolitical memoir, is supported in 2022-2023 by a MacDowell Fellowship, Hedgebrook Residency, and Aspen Institute Emerging Writer Fellowship. She holds a PhD in English from Columbia University.

Maya Williams (ey/they/she) is a religious Black multiracial nonbinary suicide survivor who is currently the seventh poet laureate of Portland, ME from July 2021 to July 2024. Ey has published poems in venues such as The Portland Press Herald, The Cortland Review, FreezeRay, Indianapolis Review, Occulum, glitterMOB, Littoral Books, Black Table Arts, and more. Their debut poetry collection Judas & Suicide will be published May 2023, and their second collection Refused a Second Date will be published October 2023. She has received residencies from organizations such as Sundress Academy for the Arts (SAFTA), Voices of Our Nation Arts (VONA) Foundation, The For Us by Us Fund’s Words of Fire Retreat, Hewnoaks Artist Colony, and The Watering Hole. Maya was one of three artists of color selected to represent Maine in The Kennedy Center’s Arts Across America series in 2020, and was listed as one of The Advocate’s Champions of Pride in 2022. Maya also serves as MaineTransNet's Community Care Program Coordinator, where they develop peer support groups for trans survivors, develop educational material on trauma informed trans competency for advocates, provide outreach to incarcerated trans folks, and develop arts programming. Follow more of eir work, and invite em to read or facilitate a workshop, at mayawilliamspoet.com.

The 2021 Bryan Fellows include (below, clockwise from left to right, after Ashley Bryan himself) musician, writer, tutor, and translator Johan Alexander Fenney, who grew up in Belfast and lives in Portland; writer and copywriter Liz Iverson, who lives in Portland; writer and podcaster Zahir Janmohamed, who is a Visiting Assistant Professor of English at Bowdoin College; writer and social worker Ariele Le Grand who lives on Mount Desert Island; writer, mother, and Portland resident Coco McCracken; writer, playwright, mother, and Portland native Christina Richardson; and scholar, data analyst, research consultant, and writer Ning Sullivan, who grew up in Mainland China and has lived in Wells for twenty-two years. A full bio for each Ashley Bryan Fellow appears below.

Johan Alexander Fenney is a musician, tutor, and translator based in Portland, Maine. Born in Medellin, Colombia, and adopted at 18 months, he grew up in and around Belfast, Maine. After spending years abroad in South America and subsequently returning to Maine, he currently spends a few months every year in his birth country teaching ESL.

Zahir Janmohamed is a Visiting Assistant Professor of English at Bowdoin College. He received his MFA in fiction at the University of Michigan where he received awards in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and playwriting. In 2019, the podcast he co-founded, Racist Sandwich, was nominated for a James Beard Award.

Liz Iversen was born in the Philippines and grew up in South Dakota. Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Creative Nonfiction, Passages North, Room, and J Journal: New Writing on Justice. She has received support from Tin House and the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance. Currently based in Portland, Maine, she is a copywriter for a radio and podcast advertising agency. You can find her online at liziversen.com.

Ariele Le Grand is a first generation American/Brooklyn-born black woman. She is a writer and social worker living on Mount Desert Island with her partner and their tree climbing dog. Ms. Le Grand’s first story was recently published in Split Lip Magazine. Her work was also selected as a finalist in the 2019 – 2020 Tennessee Williams & New Orleans Literary Festival Fiction Contest. Ms. Le Grand received her MFA last spring from Temple University, where she also taught fiction and first year writing.

Born into a mixed-race family in Toronto, Coco McCracken has always been interested in writing about the intersectionality of place, race, and identity. With mystery shrouding her ancestry, her work is equal parts detective work and rhetorical relief, which comes from examining what it means to be a half-Asian, half-white woman, today. Now, raising a young daughter in Maine she embarks on her new immigrant identity as half-Canadian, half-American. Coco currently has a newsletter called Coco’s Echo, writes a monthly column for Amjambo Africa, and is working on her first memoir.

Christina Richardson is a Black-identified mixed race Portland native with a love for community, equity, creativity, and the little things. Spending as much time as she can with her daughter, Laila, she also works as a Supervisor at the Portland Public Library. She was a Team Member for the 2020’s Beautiful Blackbird Children’s Book Festival, a co-playwright for Bare Portland’s ‘Storage’, and has served positions for Mayo Street Arts and The For Us, By Us Fund, was a Committee Member for The City of Portland MLK Task Force, and has held many other positions within the Greater Portland Community.

Ning Sullivan was born and grew up in a turbulent time in Mainland China. She taught political economics and philosophy at college and graduate school level. In 1993, at age 35, she left China for Sweden as a visiting scholar. She later came to the United States to pursue an advanced degree in Applied Sociology and Research Methods. She taught statistics, worked as a data analyst and research consultant, and published research papers on Asian American mental health. In May 2021, she was invited to participate a reading at a Cultural Event sponsored by Boston Major’s Office: Emerging Writers from Grubstreet: A Reading and Conversation Hosted by Artist Fellow Shubha Sunder. Her short story Mizugiwa will be published in an upcoming issue of Massachusetts Review. She lives in Wells, with her husband of 22 years.

• The Ashley Bryan Fellowships are open to Maine residents (1) who have published no more than one book, (2) who are 18 years of age or older at the time of the application, and (3) who are Black, people of color, and/or members of one of the Wabanaki Nations or other Native peoples.

• Both full-time and part-time Maine residents are eligible to apply (including part-time, seasonal residents who grew up in Maine and have a regular presence in the state and/or those who own a second home in the state).

• The fellowships are open to writers in all genres.

• There is no fee to apply.

• Whether nominated or self-nominating, all prospective fellows must submit an application, which includes a statement of purpose and work sample—see details at the application link below.

• Eligible writers can be nominated by writers, teachers, or librarians around the state or can nominate themselves. Any writer who is nominated will be alerted to their nomination and asked to apply. Nominators, please see the nomination link below.

Each Bryan Fellow will receive the following:

• A five-year Find Maine Writers Membership, valued at $275, which entitles the fellow to the following benefits:

  • A profile on Find Maine Writers, a website dedicated to profiling Maine’s many diverse and talented writers, publicizing their work and accomplishments, and connecting them with readers, editors, literary agents, publishers, and potential employers

  • Member Workshop & Conference Discounts & Scholarships

  • MWPA’s weekly literary news & events newsletter, the Peavey

  • Eligibility to apply for MWPA member opportunities like the Monson Residency

• Two free short-term (less than five weeks) workshops per year or one free long-term workshop per year (an estimated $250-$500 value/per year)

• Opportunities to connect and confer with other Bryan Fellows and with established and award-winning Maine writers

The Bryan Fellowships are open to applications from September 7 to October 15 and nominations from September 7 to October 9.

In 2017, MWPA awarded Ashley Bryan its Distinguished Achievement Award for exceptional and steadfast contributions to the Maine literary arts. Bryan published more than fifty books in his lifetime, and many of them have been groundbreaking. Among Bryan’s other awards are the Coretta Scott King–Virginia Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award, Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal, and the New York Public Library’s Literary Lions award. Ashley Bryan died in 2022, and it is our hope that the Ashley Bryan Fellowships will continue his legacy by offering support, encouragement, and connection to talented Maine writers.

In 2021, MWPA gave out the first 7 Ashley Bryan Fellowships to emerging writers who were either nominated by writers, teachers, or librarians around the state or nominated themselves. Two award-winning writers of color acted as the jurors. In 2022 and in each year to follow, MWPA hopes to give 5 Bryan Fellowships through an open application process with a subset of the current fellows and/or Community Advisory Board members acting as jurors.

We thank writer Stephanie Cotsirilos for the original matching support to establish the Ashley Bryan Fellowship, as well as to the other MWPA donors who help make this fellowship possible. If you wish to contribute to this fund, please click on the donate button below or contact Gibson Fay-LeBlanc at director@mainewriters.org.

MWPA hopes to add more opportunities for mentorship, support, and community for Bryan Fellows in the years to come. This fellowship is one of a series of efforts to help make Maine’s writing community more diverse, equitable, and inclusive. You can read MWPA’s Statement on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion here.

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If you would like to honor Ashley Bryan and support Maine writers who are BIPOC, please make a tax-deductible donation by clicking the button below and note that you wish to support the Bryan Fellowship.