The Stegner Fellowship program is a two-year creative writing fellowship at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

. The award is named after

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

Wallace Stegner Wallace Earle Stegner (February 18, 1909 – April 13, 1993) was an American novelist, short story writer, environmentalist, and historian, often called "The Dean of Western Writers". He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1972 and the U.S. National Book ...

(1909–1993), a

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

writer,

environmentalist An environmentalist is a person who is concerned with and/or advocates for the protection of the environment. An environmentalist can be considered a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that se ...

, and Stanford faculty member who founded the university's creative writing program. Ten fellowships are awarded every year, five in fiction and five in poetry. The recipients do not need a degree to receive the fellowships, though many fellows already hold the terminal M.F.A. degree in creative writing. A workshop-based program, no degree is awarded after the two-year fellowship. Prior to 1990, many fellows also enrolled in Stanford's now-defunct

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

program in creative writing. Fellows receive a stipend of $43,000 per year, as well as health insurance and their tuition fee for Stanford. Fellows are required to live close enough to Stanford to be able to attend all workshops, as well as other department-related readings and events.

History

Stegner founded the Stanford creative writing department and fellowship program in 1946. Initial funding was supplied by Dr. E. H. Jones, brother of the chair of the Stanford English Department,

Richard Foster Jones Richard Foster Jones (July 7, 1886 – September 12, 1965) was a professor of English at Stanford University, and executive head of the university's English department. His research interests included Early Modern Britain, early modern English lit ...

. Initially the fellowship was for three writing fellows per year, many of whom were

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

veterans returning home from overseas. In 1973, then-director

John L'Heureux John Clarke L'Heureux (October 26, 1934 – April 22, 2019) was an American author. L'Heureux was the author of such works of fiction as '' The Miracle'', '' Having Everything'', '' The Shrine at Altamira'', ''Comedians'', '' An Honorable Professio ...

expanded the program to include eight fiction writers and eight poets per year. In 1992, the program expanded again to ten fiction writers and ten poets each year.

Faculty

The current poetry faculty for the program consists of director

Eavan Boland Eavan Aisling Boland (24 September 1944 – 27 April 2020) was an Irish poet, author, and professor. She was a professor at Stanford University, where she had taught from 1996. Her work deals with the Irish national identity, and the role of w ...

, Kenneth Fields, and

Patrick Phillips Patrick Phillips is an American poet, writer, and professor. He teaches writing and literature at Stanford University, and is a Carnegie Foundation Fellow and a fellow of the Cullman Center for Writers at the New York Public Library. He has be ...

. The current fiction faculty for the program consists of Elizabeth Tallent, Adam Johnson and

Chang-Rae Lee Chang-rae Lee (born July 29, 1965) is a Korean-American novelist and a professor of creative writing at Stanford University. He was previously Professor of Creative Writing at Princeton and director of Princeton's Program in Creative Writing. E ...

."Wallace Stegner Fellowship,"
Stanford University Creative Writing Department website. Accessed Nov. 3, 2012. Other notable writers often serve as guest instructors for a quarter as part of other endowed lectureships. Recent visiting writers include

Heather McHugh Heather McHugh (born August 20, 1948) is an American poet notable for the independent ranges of her aesthetic as a poet, and for her working devotion to teaching and translating literature. Life Heather McHugh, a poet, translator, educator and ...

Nobel Laureate The Nobel Prizes ( sv, Nobelpriset, no, Nobelprisen) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make out ...

J. M. Coetzee John Maxwell Coetzee OMG (born 9 February 1940) is a South African–Australian novelist, essayist, linguist, translator and recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature. He is one of the most critically acclaimed and decorated authors in ...

Bharati Mukherjee Bharati Mukherjee (July 27, 1940 – January 28, 2017) was an Indian American-Canadian writer and professor emerita in the department of English at the University of California, Berkeley. She was the author of a number of novels and short story ...

Robert Pinsky Robert Pinsky (born October 20, 1940) is an American poet, essayist, literary critic, and translator. From 1997 to 2000, he served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. Pinsky is the author of nineteen books, most o ...

Colm Toibin Colm is a male given name of Irish origin. Colm can be pronounced "Collum" or "Kullum". It is not an Irish version of Colin, but like Callum and Malcolm derives from a Gaelic variation on ''columba'', the Latin word for 'dove'. People * Colm B ...

Li-Young Lee Li-Young Lee (李立揚, pinyin: Lǐ Lìyáng) (born August 19, 1957) is an American poet. He was born in Jakarta, Indonesia, to Chinese parents. His maternal great-grandfather was Yuan Shikai, China's first Republican President, who attempted ...

and, just before his death in 2004,

Thom Gunn Thomson William "Thom" Gunn (29 August 1929 – 25 April 2004) was an English poet who was praised for his early verses in England, where he was associated with The Movement, and his later poetry in America, even after moving towards a looser, ...

. Notable previous long-term faculty include W. S. Di Piero and Denise Levertov in poetry; and John L'Heureux and Nancy Packer in fiction.

Notable Stegner Fellows

Edward Abbey Edward Paul Abbey (January 29, 1927 – March 14, 1989) was an American author, essayist, and environmental activist noted for his advocacy of environmental issues and criticism of public land policies. His best-known works include ''Desert Solit ...

Gregory Abbott Gregory Joel Abbott (born April 2, 1954) is an American singer, musician, composer and producer. Although he continues to record to date, he is best known for his singles in the mid-1980s including his platinum single, "Shake You Down", from h ...

* Molly Antopol *

James Arthur James Arthur (born 2 March 1988) is an English singer and songwriter. He rose to fame after winning the ninth series of ''The X Factor'' in 2012. His debut single, a cover of Shontelle's " Impossible", was released by Syco Music after the fi ...

* Talvikki Ansel * Ken Babbs *

Tom Barbash Tom Barbash is an American writer of fiction and nonfiction, as well as an educator and critic. He is the author of the novel ''The Last Good Chance,'' a collection of short stories ''Stay Up With Me,'' and the bestselling nonfiction work ''On To ...

* Peter S. Beagle *

Frank Bergon Frank Bergon (born 1943) is an American writer whose novels, essays, anthologies, and literary criticism focus primarily on the American West. Biography Frank Bergon was born in Ely, Nevada, and grew up on a ranch in Madera County in California ...

Wendell Berry Wendell Erdman Berry (born August 5, 1934) is an American novelist, poet, essayist, environmental activist, cultural critic, and farmer. Closely identified with rural Kentucky, Berry developed many of his agrarian themes in the early essays of ...

David Biespiel David Biespiel is an American poet, memoirist, and critic born in 1964 and raised in the Meyerland section of Houston, Texas. He is the founder of the Attic Institute of Arts and Letters in Portland, Oregon and Poet-in-Residence at Oregon State ...

Edgar Bowers Edgar Bowers (; March 2, 1924 – February 4, 2000) was an American poet who won the Bollingen Prize in Poetry in 1989."E ...

* Geoffrey Brock * Jason Brown *

NoViolet Bulawayo NoViolet Bulawayo is the pen name of Elizabeth Zandile Tshele (born 12 October 1981), a Zimbabwean author. In 2012, the National Book Foundation named her a "5 under 35" honoree. She was named one of the Top 100 most influential Africans by ''New ...

* Bo Caldwell *

Raymond Carver Raymond Clevie Carver Jr. (May 25, 1938 – August 2, 1988) was an American short story writer and poet. He contributed to the revitalization of the American short story during the 1980s. Early life Carver was born in Clatskanie, Oregon, a mil ...

* Samantha Chang *

Marilyn Chin Marilyn Chin (陈美玲) is a prominent Chinese American poet, writer, activist, and feminist, as well as an editor and Professor of English. She is well-represented in major canonical anthologies and textbooks and her work is taught all over th ...

Eddie Chuculate Eddie Chuculate is an American fiction writer who is enrolled in the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and of Cherokee descent. He earned a Wallace Stegner Fellowship in creative writing at Stanford University. His first book is ''Cheyenne Madonna''. For ...

* Evan Connell *

Max Crawford Raymond Maxwell Crawford (6 August 1906–24 November 1991), was a leading Australian historian. He was Professor of History at the University of Melbourne from 1937 to 1970.] Life and career Crawford was born in Grenfell, New South Wales, ...

Alison Hawthorne Deming Alison Hawthorne Deming (b. 1946 Hartford, Connecticut) is an American poet, essayist and teacher, former Agnese Nelms Haury Chair in Environment and Social Justice and currently Regents Professor Emerita in Creative Writing at the University of A ...

Donald Davie Donald Alfred Davie, FBA (17 July 1922 – 18 September 1995) was an English Movement poet, and literary critic. His poems in general are philosophical and abstract, but often evoke various landscapes. Biography Davie was born in Barnsley, ...

* Catherine Davis * Stephen Dixon *

Harriet Doerr Harriet Huntington Doerr (April 8, 1910 – November 24, 2002) was an American author whose debut novel was published at the age of 74. Early life A granddaughter of California railroad magnate and noted collector of art and rare books, Hen ...

* Geri Doran *

Stephen Elliott Stephen Elliott may refer to: Entertainment *Stephen Elliott (actor), (1918–2005), American actor * Stephen Elliott (author) (born 1971), American author and activist Sport *Steve Elliott (footballer, born 1958), English footballer *Steve Ellio ...

Eugene England George Eugene England, Jr. (22 July 1933 – 17 August 2001), usually credited as Eugene England, was a Mormon writer, teacher, and scholar. He founded '' Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought'', the oldest independent journal in Mormon Studi ...

* Peter Everwine *

Ernest Gaines Ernest is a given name derived from Germanic word ''ernst'', meaning "serious". Notable people and fictional characters with the name include: People *Archduke Ernest of Austria (1553–1595), son of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor *Ernest, M ...

Allan Gurganus Allan may refer to: People * Allan (name), a given name and surname, including list of people and characters with this name * Allan (footballer, born 1984) (Allan Barreto da Silva), Brazilian football striker * Allan (footballer, born 1989) ( ...

Merrill Joan Gerber Merrill Joan Gerber (born March 15, 1938) is an American writer. She is an O. Henry Award winner. Biography Gerber was born in Brooklyn, New York, March 15, 1938. She received a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Florida in 1959 ...

Reginald Gibbons Reginald Gibbons (born 1947) is an American poet, fiction writer, translator, literary critic. He is a Frances Hooper Professor of Arts and Humanities at Northwestern University. Gibbons has published numerous books, as well as poems, short stori ...

Charles Gullans Charles Gullans (May 5, 1929 – March 30, 1993) was an American poet, bibliographer, and educator. His first book, ''Arrivals and Departures'' (University of Minnesota Press, 1962), was his most critically acclaimed publication. He published fi ...

James Baker Hall James Baker Hall (April 14, 1935 – June 25, 2009) was an American poet, novelist, photographer and teacher. Biography James Baker Hall was born in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1935. He was raised in a southern family of means and social standing, ...

* Ron Hansen *

Vicki Hearne Vicky, Vicko, Vick, Vickie or Vicki is a feminine given name, often a hypocorism of Victoria. The feminine name Vicky in Greece comes from the name Vasiliki. Women * Family nickname of Victoria, Princess Royal (1840–1901), wife of German ...

William Hjortsberg William Reinhold "Gatz" Hjortsberg (February 23, 1941 – April 22, 2017) was an American novelist and screenwriter, known for his originality and for writing the screenplay of the film ''Legend''. His novel ''Falling Angel'' was the basis for t ...

Alice Hoffman Alice Hoffman (born March 16, 1952) is an American novelist and young-adult and children's writer, best known for her 1995 novel ''Practical Magic'', which was adapted for a 1998 film of the same name. Many of her works fall into the genre of ...

Skip Horack Bruce Maclachlan "Skip" Horack, Jr. (born May 24, 1976) is an American writer. Life and career He was raised in Covington, Louisiana where he attended St. Paul's School. Horack holds a B.A. in English and a J.D. from Florida State University ...

James D. Houston James Dudley Houston (November 10, 1933 – April 16, 2009) was an American novelist, poet and editor. He wrote nine novels and a number of non-fiction works (some co-authored and/or edited). Early life Houston was born in San Francisco, where h ...

* Maria Hummel *

Scott Hutchins Scott Hutchins (born 1974) is an American novelist and short story writer. Biography Scott Hutchins is an American novelist and short-story writer. A native of Arkansas, he was awarded a Stegner Fellowship from Stanford University. His work has ...

* Adam Johnson *

Donald Justice Donald Rodney Justice (August 12, 1925 – August 6, 2004) was an American teacher of writing and poet who won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1980. In summing up Justice's career, David Orr wrote, "In most ways, Justice was no different from a ...

Christopher Kempf Christopher Kempf is an American poet, essayist, and scholar of American literature. Education Kempf received his MFA in Poetry from Cornell University, his Ph.D. in English Language and Literature from the University of Chicago, and was a 2 ...

Ken Kesey Ken Elton Kesey (September 17, 1935 – November 10, 2001) was an American novelist, essayist and countercultural figure. He considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s. Kesey was born in ...

* Suji Kwock Kim *

Chuck Kinder Charles Alfonso Kinder II (October 8, 1946 – May 3, 2019) was an American novelist. Biography Kinder was born October 8 in Montgomery, West Virginia to Charles Alfonso and Eileen Reba (Parsons) Kinder. He was educated at West Virginia University ...

H. T. Kirby-Smith H.T. or Tom Kirby-Smith (born 1938) is an American author and poet. Life H.T. Kirby-Smith grew up on the Cumberland Plateau, in Sewanee, Tennessee. He received his B.A. from Sewanee an M.A. from Harvard and held a Wallace Stegner Fellowship ...

* William Kittredge * Dana Kletter * Philip Levine *

Anthony Marra Anthony Marra (born 1984) is an American fiction writer. Marra has won numerous awards for his short stories, as well as his first novel, ''A Constellation of Vital Phenomena,'' which was a The New York Times Best Seller list, ''New York Times'' ...

* Tom W. Mayer *

Ed McClanahan Edward Poage McClanahan (October 5, 1932 – November 27, 2021) was an American novelist, essayist, and professor. Biography McClanahan was born in Brooksville, Kentucky on October 5, 1932, to Edward Leroy and Jessie (Poage) McClanahan. He attend ...

Michael McGriff Michael McGriff is an American poet. Life McGriff was born and raised in Coos Bay, Oregon. His work has appeared in ''Slate'', ''Field'', ''AGNI'', ''The Believer'', ''Missouri Review'', and ''Poetry''. He is the founding editor of Tavern Books, ...

Thomas McGuane Thomas Francis McGuane III (born December 11, 1939) is an American writer. His work includes ten novels, short fiction and screenplays, as well as three collections of essays devoted to his life in the outdoors. He is a member of the American A ...

* James McMichael *

Larry McMurtry Larry Jeff McMurtry (June 3, 1936March 25, 2021) was an American novelist, essayist, bookseller and screenwriter whose work was predominantly set in either the Old West or contemporary Texas.

* Joanne Meschery * Robert Mezey *

Ottessa Moshfegh Ottessa Charlotte Moshfegh (; born May 20, 1981) is an American author and novelist. Her debut novel, ''Eileen'' (2015), won the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and was a fiction finalist for the National Boo ...

Gurney Norman Gurney Norman (born 1937) is an American writer, documentarian, and professor. Biography Gurney Norman was born in Grundy, Virginia, in 1937. He grew up in the southern Appalachian Mountains and was raised alternately by his maternal grandparen ...

Jenny Offill Jenny Offill (born 1968) is an American novelist and editor. Her novel ''Dept. of Speculation'' was named one of "The 10 Best Books of 2014" by ''The New York Times Book Review''. Early life Jenny Offill is the only child of two private-school ...

Raymond Oliver Raymond Oliver (27 March 1909 – 5 November 1990) was a French chef and owner of Le Grand Véfour restaurant in Paris, one of France's great historical restaurants. Oliver detested '' nouvelle cuisine'', preferring the rich ingredients favored ...

Tillie Olsen Tillie may refer to: __NOTOC__ Places in the United States * Tillie, Kentucky, an unincorporated community * Tillie, Pennsylvania, a former populated place * Tillie Creek, California People * Tillie (name), a given name and surname Animal * Tilli ...

Julie Orringer Julie Orringer (born June 12, 1973) is an American writer and lecturer. She attended Cornell University and the Iowa Writer's Workshop, and was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University. She was born in Miami, Florida and now lives in Brooklyn with ...

* Nancy Packer *

ZZ Packer Zuwena "ZZ" Packer (b. January 12, 1973) is an American writer. She is primarily known for her works of short fiction. Early life and education Born in Chicago, Illinois, Packer grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, and Louisville, Kentucky. "ZZ" was a ...

* Charlotte Painter *

* Eric Puchner * Stephen Ratcliffe *

Chip Rawlins Chip Rawlins (born 1949) is an American writer and the co-author of '' The Complete Walker IV'' with Colin Fletcher. He also publishes under the name C. L. Rawlins . Rawlins is a non-fiction writer, poet, outdoor guide, and instructor. Previous job ...

Rita Mae Reese Rita Mae Reese is an American poet, fiction writer, and marketing director at Headmistress Press, an independent publisher of chapbooks and full-length collections by lesbian poets. Life Reese was born and raised in Charleston, West Virginia, ...

* Peter Rock * David Roderick * William Pitt Root * Benjamin Alire Sáenz * Keith Scribner *

Vikram Seth Vikram Seth (born 20 June 1952) is an Indian novelist and poet. He has written several novels and poetry books. He has won several awards such as Padma Shri, Sahitya Academy Award, Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, WH Smith Literary Award and Crosswor ...

* Alan Shapiro *

Solmaz Sharif Solmaz Sharif ( fa, سولماز شریف; born 1983) is an Iranian-American poet. Her debut poetry collection, ''Look'', was a finalist for the 2016 National Book Award. She is currently an Assistant Professor of English at Arizona State Univers ...

Akhil Sharma Akhil Sharma (born July 22, 1971) is an Indian-American author and professor of creative writing. His first published novel '' An Obedient Father'' won the 2001 Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award. His second, ''Family Life'', won the 2015 Folio Priz ...

Maggie Shipstead Maggie Shipstead (born 1983) is an American novelist, short story author, essayist, and travel writer. She is the author of ''Seating Arrangements'' (2012) ''Astonish Me'' (2014), ''Great Circle'' (2021), and the short story collection ''You Ha ...

Tracy K. Smith Tracy K. Smith (born April 16, 1972) is an American poet and educator. She served as the 22nd Poet Laureate of the United States from 2017 to 2019. She has published four collections of poetry, winning the Pulitzer Prize for her 2011 volume ''Life ...

Timothy Steele Timothy Steele (born January 22, 1948) is an American poet, who generally writes in meter and rhyme. His early poems, which began appearing in the 1970s in such magazines as ''Poetry, The Southern Review'', and X. J. Kennedy's ''Counter/Measures' ...

Alan Stephens Alan Stephens (born 13 October 1952) is an English former professional footballer who played as a full back. Active in England and the United States, Stephens made nearly 100 appearances in a five-year career. Career Born in Liverpool, Stephen ...

* Robert Stone *

Rod Taylor Rodney Sturt Taylor (11 January 1930 – 7 January 2015) was an Australian actor. He appeared in more than 50 feature films, including ''The Time Machine'' (1960), ''One Hundred and One Dalmatians'' (1961), '' The Birds'' (1963), and ''In ...

Lysley Tenorio Lysley A. Tenorio (born Olongapo City, Philippines) is a Filipino-American short story writer. Lysley Tenorio’s stories have appeared in The Atlantic, Zoetrope: All-Story, Ploughshares, Manoa, and The Best New American Voices and Pushcart Prize ...

Justin Torres Justin Torres (born 1980) is an American novelist and an Assistant Professor of English at University of California, Los Angeles. He won the First Novelist Award for his semi-autobiographical novel ''We the Animals'' which was also a Publishing ...

Scott Turow Scott Frederick Turow (born April 12, 1949) is an American author and lawyer. Turow has written 13 fiction and three nonfiction books, which have been translated into more than 40 languages and sold more than 30 million copies. Turow’s novel ...

* Kirstin Valdez Quade * Robert Vasquez * Emily Warn *

Jesmyn Ward Jesmyn Ward (born April 1, 1977) is an American novelist and a Professor of English at Tulane University, where she holds the Andrew W. Mellon Professorship in the Humanities. She won the 2011 National Book Award for Fiction for her second novel ...

Christian Wiman Christian Wiman is an American poet and editor born in 1966 and raised in the small west Texas town of Snyder. He graduated from Washington and Lee University and has taught at Northwestern University, Stanford University, Lynchburg College in Vi ...

Sari Wilson Sari Wilson is an American novelist and writer. She has written prose and comics, and is the author of the novel ''Girl Through Glass''. Wilson's short fiction has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has appeared in literary journals such as ...

Tobias Wolff Tobias is the transliteration of the Greek which is a translation of the Hebrew biblical name he, טוֹבִיה, Toviyah, JahGod is good, label=none. With the biblical Book of Tobias being present in the Deuterocanon/Apocrypha of the Bible, To ...

* Mark Wunderlich *

David Yezzi David Dalton Yezzi (born 1966) is an American poet, editor, actor, and professor. He currently teaches poetry in the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University. Life Yezzi was born in Albany, New York Monica Youn Monica Youngna Youn is an American poet and lawyer. Life Youn was raised in Houston, Texas. She graduated from St. Agnes Academy (Texas), Princeton University, Yale Law School with a J.D., and Oxford University with a M. Phil, where she was a Rh ...

Al Young Albert James Young (May 31, 1939 – April 17, 2021) was an American poet, novelist, essayist, screenwriter, and professor. He was named Poet Laureate of California by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger from 2005 to 2008. Young's many books includ ...

* Dean Young * Kevin Young * David Vann

References

External links

* {{Stanford University Stanford University American literary awards American poetry awards San Francisco Bay Area literature