Pacific English Instructor Matthew Minicucci Wins Oregon Literary Fellowship
Pacific University English instructor Matthew Minicucci has been awarded a 2018 Oregon Literary Fellowship.
Minicucci, a prize-winning poet, is one of only 18 writers to receive this year's Oregon Literary Fellowship. More than 400 writers applied for the 2018 fellowships, which are intended to help local writers initiate, develop or complete literary projects.
Literary Arts, a nonprofit literary center in Portland, awards the yearly fellowships, which each come with a $3,500 grant. A panel of out-of-state judges spent several months reviewing 2018 applications, using literary excellence as their main criterion.
"The award has special meaning for me because I'm still working to find my place in the Oregon writing community, which has been endlessly welcoming to me," Minicucci said.
"This fellowship very much has the feel of someone saying: 'You're an Oregon poet, and we can't wait to see what you write next.'"
Minicucci is the author of two collections of poetry: Small Gods (2017), a finalist for the Green Rose Prize from New Issues Poetry & Prose, and Translation (2015), winner of Kent State University's Stan and Tom Wick Poetry Prize. His work has also appeared in numerous journals and anthologies.
He has received previous fellowships and awards from the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, the Wick Poetry Center and his alma mater, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Minicucci teaches writing and literature courses at Pacific University, where he also was the senior poetry editor of the most recent issue of Silk Road Review, a literary magazine published by the university.
Reflecting on having been awarded an Oregon Literary Fellowship, Minicucci says he cried a bit after learning the news.
"Perhaps, in the end, no matter how confident a writer might be, we're all still moved by someone reminding us that the work actually speaks to someone; that there's someone on the other end who believes in it as much as we do."