HBCU MFA Think Tank at #AWP25

The HBCU MFA Think Tank at #AWP25 will serve as a collaborative space to explore the viability of developing MFA programs at HBCUs, where none currently exist. 

Funded in part by a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, AWP will award scholarships to ten HBCU faculty and administrators involved in creative writing at their institutions. These scholarship recipients will participate in a roundtable discussion with ten invited specialists.

Scholarships for the HBCU MFA Think Tank at #AWP25

The HBCU MFA Think Tank at #AWP25 scholarships will be offered to ten faculty or administrators from HBCUs. Applications will be open from October 1 through November 22 and will be selected by the HBCU MFA Think Tank committee. Selected applicants will be notified by mid-January.

The scholarships include the following:

• airfare to and from the conference
• two nights lodging at a conference hotel
• access to all on-site conference and bookfair programming

Eligibility Requirements

In order to be eligible for the HBCU MFA Think Tank at #AWP25 scholarship, applicants must meet these requirements:

• currently be a faculty member or administrator at an HBCU
• either teach creative writing or be actively engaged in creative writing at an HBCU
• be available to travel and be at the conference on March 26–29, 2025

HBCU MFA Think Tank Committee Organizers

Regina Brooks

Regina Brooks is the founder and CEO of Serendipity Literary Agency, the largest African American–owned agency in the US. Serendipity Literary Agency has represented a diverse base of award-winning clients in adult and young adult fiction, nonfiction, and children’s literature. Brooks represents many notable authors and illustrators whose awards include the National Book Award, the Newbery Medal, the Caldecott Medal, the Michael L. Printz Award, PEN honors, the NAACP Image Award, the Edgar Award, and the Kirkus Prize, among others. She is the author of two writing craft books: Writing Great Books for Young Adults and You Should Really Write a Book: How to Write, Sell, and Market Your Memoir.

Kwame Dawes

Kwame Dawes is a Brown University professor of literary arts and the Glenna Luschei Editor-in-Chief of Prairie Schooner. He is the author of numerous books of poetry and other books of fiction, criticism, and essays. His most recent collection, Sturge Town, was published in the UK by Peepal Tree Press and released by W. W. Norton in the US in August 2024.

A. J. Verdelle

A. J. Verdelle is a professor of creative writing to undergraduates and PhD students at Morgan State University in Baltimore. Verdelle is the author of two books: most recently the memoir Miss Chloe: A Memoir of a Literary Friendship with Toni Morrison and the novel The Good Negress, which was listed in USA Today as one of the one hundred most important Black novels to read. Verdelle holds an MFA in fiction from Bard College.