“[A]t the time that I wanted to write stories and had stories to write, I felt free to write them, thanks to the fellowship.”
—Flannery O’Connor
The twentieth century has perhaps been the most dynamic period of American literary history to date. The Kenyon Review is proud of its influential role during this rich time period, when the journal was known for discovering, nurturing, and promoting new writers of significant talent. One way The Kenyon Review developed its reputation as a must-read for the literary audience of the time was establishing relationships with the best new writers through Fellowship awards. This tradition of fellowships at The Kenyon Review dates back to 1944, when the Rockefeller Foundation funded young critics to assist in editorial duties for the Review. The first Rockefeller Fellow was British critic Harold Whitehall, and his stipend was the first money ever paid by the Rockefeller Foundation to a literary magazine. Whitehall was followed by Eric Bentley, Charles Riker, and Robert Penn Warren, who was the fourth and final Rockefeller Fellow. The Rockefeller Fellows helped to shape the Review and influence the fiction, poetry, and criticism that the magazine published.
Beginning in 1952, through another grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, The Kenyon Review offered literary fellowships to writers, many of whom went on to become internationally recognized masters of their craft. Each year, the Review awarded fellowships in fiction, poetry, and criticism to such writers as Flannery O’Connor, W.S. Merwin, and James Wright giving them the financial freedom to devote themselves to writing. These fellowships played a pivotal role in allowing some of the most vital American writers of the past century to develop their voices, and with the new KR Fellowships, The Kenyon Review will continue its legacy of supporting excellent emerging writers.
Now, looking forward, The Kenyon Review opens a new chapter of this tradition. By searching in 2011 and bringing the first two fellows to Gambier in the summer of 2012, we affirm this ongoing aspect of our mission: to identify and support talented writers in the earlier stages of their careers. And for the first time, we will also be offering them significant opportunities to grow as teachers and editors as well.
Past recipients of The Kenyon Review literary fellowships:
Poetry:
- Edwin Watkins (1953)
- W.S. Merwin (1954)
- Edgar Collins Bogardus (1955)
- Douglas Nichols (1955)
- Ruth Stone (1956)
- Delmore Schwartz (1957)
- James Wright (1958)
- Theodore Henry Holmes (1958)
Fiction:
- Flannery O’Connor (1953, 1954)
- George Lanning (1954)
- Howard Nemerov (1955)
- Andrew Lytle (1956)
- James F. Powers (1957)
- Elizabeth Spencer (1957)
- Robie Macauley (1958)
Criticism:
- Irving Howe (1953)
- Richard W.B. Lewis (1954)
- Richard Ellmann (1955)
- Leslie Fiedler (1956)
- Theodore Hoffman (1956)
- Frances Fergusson (1957)
- Thomas Henry Carter (1958)
