The Hillary Gravendyk Memorial Scholarships to attend the Poetry Program
Hillary Gravendyk attended the Poetry Workshop in 2010.
This scholarship was initiated by her “Jeffery House” housemates, and is supported by her family and friends in her memory.
The recipient of this scholarship will be chosen by director Brenda Hillman and Hillary’s sister, Meg Gravendyk, and will be based on poems submitted in the standard submission process.
Hillary Gravendyk (1979-2014) was a poet living and teaching in Southern California. She wrote the poetry books, Harm (Omnidawn, 2012) and The Naturalist (Anchiote Press, 2008). She was Assistant Professor of English at Pomona College in Claremont, CA. Her poetry has appeared widely in journals such as American Letters & Commentary, The Bellingham Review, The Colorado Review, The Eleventh Muse, Fourteen Hills, MARY, 1913: A Journal of Forms, Octopus Magazine, Tarpaulin Sky and Sugar House Review. She was awarded a 2015 Pushcart Prize for her poem “Your Ghost,” which appeared in the Pushcart Prize Anthology. This scholarship was established in her memory.
“Exuberance,” by Hilary Gravendyk.
To know me as golden is to know me all wrong. Every time I breathe in it
smells rusty, like blood, and when I cough there is blood in the air.
If I were in charge of these special effects, I’d make it thicker; it’s so hard
to take it seriously. Bright little hearts and stars and carnations on a white
cloth.
Let’s go out with a thicker line, a cerulean skylight, rain that gets dumped
out of a trough to thwack the pane of glass, a smear of red like tempera
paint across the cheek or the hand, streaming from the mouth.
Let’s have a disaster, a lake made of salt, a blackout. Everything riots and
unspools, the whole room on one side and all the sound winking out.
You stay here. Let me run into that starring role, pinker and more flooded
with blood: remember when it meant exuberance, remember awe? Let’s
be that breathless.
Eligibility: This scholarship is intended for a poet who has not attended previously, and who, like Gravendyk, has experienced and written about illness, and our relationship to the body.
Amount of Scholarship: TBD To be determined, based on available funds.
Scholarship will be in the form of a partial or full tuition waiver.
To Apply: Along with your Financial Aid application, prepare a paragraph titled: “Application for consideration for The Hilary Gravendyk Poetry Scholarship.” In this paragraph (limit 1000 words), and with the work of Gravendyk in mind, please introduce yourself and tell us what you hope to get out of your week at the Poetry Workshop and why you would be a good candidate for the scholarship. . Indicate your wish to apply for this scholarship in the “Special Scholarship” portion of the online application form, and paste the paragraph in the appropriate place on the online application form.
For more information contact Brett Hall Jones, Executive Director.
Please note. In 2021, the Poetry Workshop will be held entirely online.
