Congratulations to Grace Jahng Lee, selected by Alexander Chee, and Justin Rovillos Monson, selected by Paisley Rekdal! They will be receiving a two month long mentorship, $1000 honorarium, travel, and lodging, and a feature reading with their mentors at the first-ever Asian American Literary Festival!
Born stateless in Seoul and raised on four continents, Grace Jahng Lee is a recipient of fellowships/awards from VONA, Yaddo, Brooklyn Arts Council, the Jerome Foundation, and Hedgebrook. Fragmented identities, memory, intergenerational trauma, and home are central themes in her writing. She is working on an autobiographical novel and essay collection.
Justin Rovillos Monson is a Filipino-American artist currently serving a prison sentence in Michigan. He has been published in the Michigan Review of Prisoner Creative Writing, Pacifica Literary Review, and Duende Literary Journal.
Congratulations also to our finalists:
In prose:
Kimberly Brown
Suman Chhabra
YZ Chin
Pallavi Dixit
Janalyn Guo
Zahir Janmohamed
Nancy Jooyoun Kim
Katherine Lee
Nay Saysourinho
In poetry:
Noh Anothai
Suman Chhabra
Aline Dolinh
Caroline Mar
Simon Shieh
Tyler Tsay
Saymoukda Vongsay
Kara Wang
Seema Yasmin