LAS VEGAS - September 3, 2009 -The Black Mountain Institute (BMI) at UNLV welcomes four new writers to the Bennett Fellows Program. Cristina Garcia, Lavonne Mueller, Judith Nies and Timothy O'Grady each received a prestigious nine-month fellowship to write at the BMI daily. The fellowship gives writers a rare chance to work in an uninterrupted environment with ample time to develop a piece of literary work. Additionally, the fellows will share their views on the craft of writing with the UNLV community and will be available to mentor graduate students in the English and theatre departments.
"From a cultural perspective, Las Vegas provides writers a place to observe a changing melting pot of cultures, trends and ideals," said Dr. Carol Harter, Black Mountain Institute executive director. "The BMI is honored to host these writers, whose backgrounds in fiction, journalism, non-fiction and playwriting have earned them countless praise in literary circles."
Cristina Garcia is the BMI Teaching Fellow. Her fellowship, in partnership with the English department, requires her to teach two creative writing courses each semester this academic year. Her fellowship and five study abroad scholarships for Master of Fine Arts students is funded by a $95,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Born in Havana and raised in New York City, Garcia is a former Time Magazine reporter and Miami bureau chief. Her novel, "Dreaming in Cuban," was a finalist for the National Book Award. She also authored "Monkey Hunting" and "A Handbook to Luck" and has edited several Latin-American literature books.
Lavonne Mueller, the International Women's Forum Fellow, is completing the third play in a trilogy called "Women in War: Silent Screams." The play, based on historical events, focuses on the experiences of 25 Japanese women who were severely disfigured and were brought to America in 1955 for reconstructive surgery after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Mueller's critically acclaimed plays have been produced in Brazil, England, India and Korea. She has received several awards including a Guggenheim fellowship, a Rockefeller grant and three National Endowment for the Arts grants.
Judith Nies, an essayist and reporter, is the author of three nonfiction books including "The Girl I Left Behind: A Narrative of the Sixties" and "Native American History: A Chronology." Her fellowship is in conjunction with the Kluge Center at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C., where she will spend a portion of her time. Nies is working on a book about the environmental and cultural damage incurred on the Hopi and Navajo reservations. She received the Bunting Fellowship at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study and her article on "The Black Mesa Syndrome: Indian Lands, Black Gold" was a finalist for the John Oakes Award in Distinguished Environmental Journalism.
Timothy O'Grady, author of "Divine Magnetic Lands: A Journey in America," "Motherland" and "I Could Read the Sky," is the Tom and Mary Gallagher Fellow. A winner of the David Hingham Award and Britain's Encore Award, O'Grady's work has appeared in The Sunday Times, The Observer and Esquire Magazine. He is currently working on a two literary pieces: a novel on a retired IRA sniper who has committed several crimes but has never been caught and a nonfiction book about people who live in transient hotels, trailer camps and the wilderness.
Support for the individual fellowships comes from Tom and Mary Gallagher, the International Women's Forum, the Library of Congress and the U.S. Department of Education. The BMI awards three to five fellowships each year to exceptional writers who have published at least one highly acclaimed book before the application deadline. The fellows each receive $50,000 and have an office, computer and access to the UNLV Lied Library. For more information, please visit or call (702) 895-5542 or e-mail blackmountaininstitute@unlv.edu.
Founded in 2006, Black Mountain Institute (BMI) at UNLV is an international center dedicated to advancing literary and cross-cultural dialogue. Through public programs, residential fellowships, and publishing initiatives, Black Mountain provides a cultural lens through which today's most pressing issues can be addressed and evaluated.
