Meet: Robing Emmons
April 17, 2024
Professor Grace Bauer and UNL creative writing alumni Amy Knox Brown, Carson Vaughan, Karen Shoemaker, and Mary K. Stillwell were recently selected as recipients of the Nebraska Arts Council's 2018 Individual Artist Fellowship award in Literature. This prestigious program recognizes exemplary work by Nebraska artists on a three-year rotation between artistic disciplines: Literature, Performing Arts/Filmmaking and Visual Arts.
The recipients were selected from a pool of 44 applicants by a panel of peer professionals including Rachel Galvin, University of Chicago; Ben Pfeiffer, Editor-at-large, The Rumpus magazine; Ted Genoways, editor-at-large, OnEarth magazine. A total of $18,000 was divided among the receiving artists.
The recipients of the 2018 Individual Artist Fellowship award in Literature are:
$3,500 Award
Emily Borgmann
Amy Knox Brown
Carson Vaughn
$1,000 Award
Grace Bauer
Heather Herrman
Sarah Mason
Karen Shoemaker
Brent Spencer
Mary K. Stillwell
About the winners
Emily Borgmann (Omaha) is a writing educator who works with middle school, high school and college students. She received her BFA in Creative Writing and MFA in Writing from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. She received the Outstanding Fine Arts Graduate Student award in 2016 and is currently an adjunct professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and Metropolitan Community College.
Amy Knox Brown (Lincoln) received her Bachelor of Fine arts in Creative Writing from Stephens College, her Master of Arts in English, Juris Doctorate, and Doctorate of Philosphy from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and she received her MFA in Creative Writing from North Carolina State University. Brown has worked as Program Director and Professor of English at College of Saint Mary since 2012.
Carson Vaughan is a freelance writer and author educated at University of Nebraska-Lincoln and University of North Carolina Wilmington. He is the Co-Founder and Content Manager at Local Color XC, travel website. Vaughan has previously held positions as Summer Nonfiction Instructor at South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts & Humanities and Communications Director for Domina Nebraska.
Grace Bauer (Lincoln) has held a professorship at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln since 1994. Bauer was previously the editor of Nasty Women Poets: An Unapologetic Anthology of Subversive Verse, and Umpteen Ways of Looking At a Possum, and her poetic work has been anthologized in a multitude of publications, including Great Plains Prayer, a Nebraska Poetry: A Sesquicentennial Anthology.
Heather Herrman (Omaha) holds an MFA from New Mexico State University. Her work has appeared in various publications including the Alaska Quarterly, the South Carolina Review, Cemetery Dance, and Snake Nation Review. Her fiction has also garnered the Frank Waters Prize in fiction and earned a scholarship to the Prague Writers Program.
Winner of an Academy of American Poets Prize and two Nebraska Book Awards, Sarah Mason is the author of Cradling Monsoon (Blue Light Press, 2010), and has been published everywhere from West Virginia's standardized tests to literary journals such a Rattle, Green Mountains Review, Ruminate, The South Dakota Review, Sugar House Review, and Smartish Pace. An editorial board member for Spark Wheel Press, Sarah teaches creative writing to first-generation college students at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and is the proud founder, curator, and host of
Feedback at KANEKO.
Karen Shoemaker (Omaha) holds a Bachelor of Journalism and Master of Arts degrees, and Doctorate of Philosophy from University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She is currently a faculty mentor at University of Nebraska at Omaha, as well as adjunct faculty member. She previously held positions as lecturer and teaching assistant at University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Shoemaker authored critically acclaimed novel The Meaning of Names in 2014.
Brent Spencer holds a Bachelor of Arts from Wilkes College, Master of Arts from University of Michigan, Doctorate of Philosophy from Pensylvania State University and an MFA in Creative Writing from Iowa Writers Workshop. Spencer currently holds a position as tenured professor of English at Creighton University.
Mary K. Stillwell received her Bachelor of Arts at St. Mary College, her Master of Arts at University of Nebraska at Omaha, and her Doctorate of Philosophy at University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her work was anthologized in Piano Four Hands, Circle Dance, The Cutting, A Waltz for My Mother, Black Cardinal, and many other publications. Stillwell's book, Nebraska Presence: The State of Poetry, received the 2018 One Book, One Nebraska selection honor.
For additional information on Individual Artist Fellowships, contact Suzanne Wise or visit artscouncil.nebraska.gov/iaf.
About the Nebraska Arts Council
The Nebraska Arts Council (NAC), a state agency, provides numerous grants, services and special initiatives that help sustain and promote the arts throughout Nebraska. NAC is supported by the Nebraska Cultural Endowment, Nebraska Legislature and National Endowment for the Arts.
