ALSCW/VSC Fellowship Application : Deadline (Feb 15th)

The application deadline for the Second Annual ALSCW/VSC Fellowship is in less than three weeks!  For more information about the Vermont Studio Center, please visit www.vermontstudiocenter.org/.  If you are interested in applying for the, fellowship, go to www.vermontstudiocenter.org/fellowships. to download an application.

The ALSCW/VSC Fellowship provides a one-month VSC residency for a writer who is a current member of the ALSCW.  It is open to all of the Association’s creative writers and literary translators.  To be eligible for the fellowship, please make sure you have paid your 2011 dues.  If you still need to renew, please do so online at https://www.bu.edu/literary/membership/join-or-renew.shtml.

We are pleased to partner with the VSC for this fellowship and for other literary ventures such as LiT (Literature in Translation).  You can read about the first LiT forum – which featured Clare Cavanagh and Adam Zagajewski (also participants in our broadside gallery!) – on page 4 of Literary Matters 3.4  http://www.bu.edu/literary/publications/Literary_Matters_3-4.pdf.  The second LiT forum – with Patrizia Cavalli and Geoffrey Brock – will be held in October 2011 (the same month as the ALSCW’s annual conference).

We are also grateful to Fred Iseman for funding the first fellowship, and to Rosanna Warren for funding this second fellowship.

NEH Grants for Undergraduate Teaching – Sept/Oct Deadlines

The National Endowment for the Humanities supports undergraduate course development through:

• Enduring Questions Course Grants (new courses)
• Teaching Development Fellowships (existing courses)

Enduring Questions Course Grants (up to $25,000)
What is the good life?  What is beauty?  What is friendship?  What is the relationship between humans and the natural world?  Enduring questions such as these have long held interest to college students and allow for a special, intense dialogue across generations.

The National Endowment for the Humanities will award Enduring Questions course grants, which support a college faculty member from any discipline with up to $25,000 to develop a new humanities course at the undergraduate level on a question of enduring significance, to be taught at the sponsoring institution at least twice during the grant period. The application deadline is September 15, 2009. For more information and instructions, please see the grant guidelines at http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/EnduringQuestions.html

Teaching Development Fellowships (up to $21,000)
The National Endowment for the Humanities will award Teaching Development Fellowships to support college and university teachers pursuing research aimed specifically at improving an existing undergraduate course that the applicant has taught already in three different terms and will continue to teach. The research undertaken as a part of the project may involve engaging with fundamental texts or sources, exploring related subjects or academic disciplines, or cultivating neglected areas of learning. Research in any area of the humanities is welcome.

Teaching Development Fellowships cover periods from three to five months and carry stipends of $4,200 per month. Thus, the maximum stipend is $21,000 for a five-month award period. The application deadline is October 1, 2009. For more information and instructions, please see the grant guidelines at http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/TD_Fellowships.html.

ALSC Receives Major Funding from the NEH

We are thrilled to report that on March 10, the Association received a $30,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities funded through the Division of Education Programs, continuing our recent run of great success in raising money for our programs and activities. Great thanks are owed to Immediate Past President Christopher Ricks for the indispensible role he played in presenting our case to the generous and hard-working program officers at the Endowment. We are very hopeful and optimistic that news of this award will help us in our continuing efforts to attract major support from other funding agencies and individuals. So please—spread the word!

N.B. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this Website do not necessarily reflect those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Vermont Studio Center and Zoland Poetry Offer Fellowships for Two New Studio Residencies

We call your attention to a fellowship opportunity specifically for translators—a month-long residency award at the Vermont Studio Center sponsored by VSC and Zoland Poetry.

Learn more here.

The Big Read Announces Grant Opportunities

A reprint of a press release of interest.

The NEA has a new grant opportunity to celebrate poetry in your community! We are proud to announce the expansion of The Big Read to include three poets featured in our American Literary Landmarks program—Emily Dickinson, Robinson Jeffers, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. In 2007, the National Endowment for the Arts—in partnership with the Poetry Foundation—created a new component of The Big Read called American Literary Landmarks that celebrated three of the nation’s historic poetry sites: the Emily Dickinson Museum, Robinson Jeffers’s Tor House, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s Wayside Inn. The Big Read programming in 2009-2010 expands reading choices beyond books to include these three poets and their works. The deadline for applications is February 3, 2009. Please see below and at www.NEABigRead.org for the full guidelines.

The Big Read is accepting applications from non-profit organizations to conduct month-long, community-wide reads between September 2009 and June 2010. Organizations selected to participate in The Big Read will receive a grant ranging from $2,500 to $20,000, financial support to attend the orientation meeting, educational and promotional materials for broad distribution, Organizers Guide for developing and managing Big Read activities, inclusion of your organization and activities on The Big Read Web site, and the prestige of participating in a highly visible national initiative. Approximately 400 organizations of varying sizes across the country will be selected for this cycle.

To download the Guidelines & Application Instructions go to www.NEABigRead.org

Questions? Call Arts Midwest at 612.238.8010 or email TheBigRead@artsmidwest.org

The Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Arts Midwest.

New NEH Funding for Courses on Enduring Questions

What is the good life? What is friendship? What is good government? Is there a human nature, and, if so, what is it? What are the limits of science? Enduring questions such as these have long held interest to college students and allow for a special, intense dialogue across generations.

The National Endowment for the Humanities has recently launched “Enduring Questions: Pilot Course Grants.” This new grant program will support college faculty from any discipline with up to $25,000 to develop and to teach a new undergraduate humanities course that addresses questions like these.

The application deadline is November 13, 2008, and the sponsoring institution must agree to offer the course at least twice. For more information and instructions, please find the grant guidelines at: http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/EnduringQuestions.html.

We encourage you to share information about this new funding opportunity with your members.

If you have any questions or need additional information, please do not hesitate to contact me at 202-606-8317 or lmikal@neh.gov.