SK writer wins $25,000 prize

A South Kingstown resident has won what is considered to be among the largest no-strings-attached grants available to writers in the United States.

Chrysanthemum Tran received the $25,000 award from the Rhode Island Foundation’s Robert and Margaret MacColl JohnsonFellowship Fund. Tran was selected along with Mary-Kim Arnold of Pawtucket and University of Rhode Island alumna Luisa C. Murillo of Providence from nearly 100 applicants.

The fellowships are intended to enable writers to concentrate time on the creative process, focus on personal or professional development, expand their body of work and explore new directions.

“We are providing the financial resources necessary to allow these writers to advance their work. We hope this exceptional gift of time and money will enable them to invest in advancing their craft,” said Ricky Bogert, the grant programs officer at the Foundation who oversees the program.

Tran is a poet and nationally touring performer. She plans to use her fellowship to complete her first collection of poems and develop a poetry symposium on a multi-acre farm in Wakefield.

“At the heart of my poetry is a need to explore the intersections of Vietnamese diaspora and transgender dysphoria. I'm motivated by the reality that there are lethal consequences for trans women of color who dare to live their truths,” Tran said.

Tran serves as a host and teaching artist for the Providence Poetry Slam, which holds biweekly shows at AS220 and sponsors ProvSlam Youth, a summer poetry program for Providence high schoolers.

“As an organization run by volunteers, I’ll use the fellowship to make time to better serve local poets who, like me, are primarily young LGBTQ writers and writers of color. I’ll continue building a curriculum for young writers to investigate connections between poetry and politics as I do in my work,” Tran said.

The South Kingstown resident has won several poetry slams, including the 2017 Feminine Empowerment Movement Slam and the 2016 Rustbelt Poetry Slam. Performances of her spoken word poetry have more than 170,000 views on YouTube. Tran, together with Rhode Island writer Justice Ameer, just finished debuting ANTHEM at the American Repertory Theater, a two-woman multi-genre poetry show exploring how race and gender politics shape the lives of trans women of color.

Arnold is a writer working in multiple genres – poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. The fellowship will also enable her to take some time away from her current teaching and freelance writing responsibilities to finish her novel, “Nine Men’s Misery,” which explores the legacy of war and intergenerational trauma on one American family.

Murillo plans to take time off to finalize and publish her first book of poetry, which will be presented in English, Spanish and Quechua to promote an appreciation of Bolivian culture. URI honored her with awards for her short stories and non-fiction in 2015 and 2016.

Arnold, Murillo and Tran were selected by a panel of out-of-state jurors who are professional editors and writers. They were selected based on the quality of the work samples, artistic development and the creative contribution their genre, as well as the potential of the fellowship to advance their careers as emerging-to-mid-career artists.

Applicants had to be legal residents of Rhode Island. High school students, college and graduate students who are enrolled in a degree-granting program and artists who have advanced levels of career achievement were not eligible.

Established in 2003, the MacColl Johnson fellowships rotate among composers, writers and visual artists on a three-year cycle. Over the years, the Foundation has awarded more than $1 million in fellowships.

Rhode Islanders Robert and Margaret MacColl Johnson were both dedicated to the arts all their lives. Mrs. Johnson, who died in 1990, earned a degree in creative writing from Roger Williams College when she was 70. Mr. Johnson invented a new process for mixing metals in jewelry-making and then retired to become a fulltime painter. Before he died in 1999, Johnson began discussions with the Foundation that led to the creation of the fellowships.

The Rhode Island Foundation is the largest and most comprehensive funder of nonprofit organizations in Rhode Island. Working with generous and visionary donors, the Foundation raised $114 million and awarded $52 million in grants to organizations addressing the state’s most pressing issues and needs of diverse communities in 2018. Through leadership, fundraising and grantmaking activities, often in partnership with individuals and organizations, the Foundation is helping Rhode Island reach its true potential. For more information, visit rifoundation.org.