Announcing the Starshine and Clay Fellowship for Emerging Black Poets
Cave Canem, EcoTheo Review, and LOGOS Poetry Collective are pleased to announce the launch of the Starshine and Clay Fellowship, a new initiative providing financial and development support to emerging Black poets, and fundraising opportunities for Cave Canem.
Named in honor of Cave Canem elder Lucille Clifton (“won’t you celebrate with me”), the Starshine and Clay Fellowship was developed to speak to the mentorship Clifton offered Cave Canem fellows during her tenure as faculty at the Cave Canem Retreat. Not only will recipients receive a monetary reward, they will be provided with opportunities to work on their craft and network with other poets as a cohort.
Gregory Pardlo will serve as the inaugural judge of the Starshine and Clay Fellowship, which is now accepting applications from Black poets without a published book or a book under contract. Each recipient will receive $500, $500 for a LOGOS reading, a $500 travel stipend and free lodging to attend the upcoming Wonder in Wyoming conference, a one-on-one consultation with the final judge, and master classes and other opportunities provided by Cave Canem. The poets will also have their work published in the Summer 2021 issue of EcoTheo Review, with proceeds of the sale going to Cave Canem.
Malcolm Tariq, programs and communications manager at Cave Canem, says: “Cave Canem is grateful to EcoTheo and LOGOS for approaching us with the resources to support the work of Black poets, and for collaborating to develop a program that we hope will guide writers toward new possibilities.”
The fellowship is two-fold, with an additional objective of providing financial support and fundraising opportunities for Cave Canem, North America’s premier home for Black poetry for nearly 25 years.
Jason Myers, editor-in-chief of EcoTheo Review says, “Cave Canem has been a gift to the literary world in general and my formation as a reader and practitioner of poetry in particular. It’s deeply gratifying to be able to collaborate in a way that will extend the mission of Cave Canem while honoring a poet whose work has long been spiritual nectar. Clifton’s Good News About the Earth is a touchstone text for us at EcoTheo Review, and we are thrilled to have a small role in extending her legacy and eager to read the poems Greg selects.”
Travis Helms, founder and curator of LOGOS Poetry Collective, says: “LOGOS is elated at the opportunity to build on its partnership with EcoTheo to establish this meaningful collaboration with Cave Canem. We feel there is no work more crucial, life-giving, and prophetic in the world of poetry and culture-making than that of Cave Canem; and we are deeply honored for this chance to help amplify the voices and careers of emerging Black poets.”