When writing the NEA Literature Fellowships 40-year history, Amy Stolls added a splash of Wyoming color. Writes Stolls: “In his final report at the completion of his FY 1999 grant, poet Dainis Hazners from [Story] Wyoming recounted the following anecdote:

At the feed store, buying grain for my goats and chickens, I was introduced to the new owner as Our Local Poet. “He’s the one got that big award. Quite the honor.”
“I was…shocked,” I offered.
“You mean that NEA outfit back East?” the new guy asked.
“National Endowment for the Arts,” I said meekly. “Washington.”
“That’s it. I’m proud to know you!” he grinned.

“It’s amazing to me,” wrote Hazners, that “even after a year, people remember. I belong to them, in a funny kind of way – like the mountain and the bad weather, I’m out there somewhere.”

The 60-page report was released March 1 by the NEA. It features Stolls’ history and the long list of recipients. The literature fellowships survived the budget cuts of the Newt Gingrich era ten years ago and are the only remaining discipline-based fellowships at the Arts Endowment. Order a print copy of the report here.
- posted by Michael Shay @ 8:53 AM