Lincoln University Graduate Kieron Walquist Selected for Prestigious Creative Writing Fellowships

Lincoln University of Missouri 2020 graduate Kieron Walquist has been selected for two prestigious creative writing fellowships — one with the Monson Arts Center in Monson, Maine, and another with the Vermont Studio Center.

Kieron Walquist, a Lincoln University of Missouri 2020 graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in English with an emphasis in creative writing, has been selected for both a three-week residency at the Monson Arts Center in Monson, Maine, in April, and a month-long residency fellowship at the esteemed Vermont Studio Center later this summer.

“I’m overjoyed by the gift to write and work on my first full-length collection at Monson Arts and Vermont Studio Center this spring/summer," Kieron Walquist says. "The uninterrupted time and support from these residencies is fortifying, and I look forward to writing more about my life in mid-Missouri.”

A Vermont Studio Center residency fellowship provides artists and writers the time and space to focus on their creative practice in an inclusive, international community within a small Vermont village in Johnson, Vermont. Residents can explore swimming holes, hiking and biking trails, as well as the rural charm of neighboring towns while expanding their creative potential and building a solid network of friends and mentors. The full cost for four weeks at Vermont Studio Center is more than $12,000. Through the generosity of individual donors and foundation partners, the Vermont Studio Center has awarded Walquist a full fellowship. This fellowship is awarded through a competitive process.

Monson Arts’ residency program supports emerging and established artists and writers by providing them with time and space to devote to their creative practices. During this three-week program, Walquist will join a cohort of five artists and four other writers as they immerse themselves in small-town life at the edge of Maine’s North Woods and focus intensely on their work within a creative and inspiring environment. He'll receive a private studio, a private bedroom in shared housing, all meals and a $1,000 stipend. 

As Walquist embarks on his residencies at the Monson Arts Center and the Vermont Studio Center, he eagerly anticipates delving into the rich tapestry of his rural Missouri upbringing. These opportunities offer him invaluable time and space to explore his creative vision.

“My work is interested in the beauty and brutality of rural Missouri; the river and lakes, the bluffs, the fields, the caves, but also the violence, poverty, addiction, and neglect found there," Walquist says. "In many ways, I’m haunted by my hometown and try to write toward my complicated relationship, as a queer and neurodivergent person, with a place I grew up in but often felt like an outsider.”

Walquist was previously a 2022-2023 Fine Arts Work Center Fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts. After graduating from Lincoln University with his degree in English creative writing, Walquist earned his MFA in Washington University’s highly regarded graduate program. He has been accepted to the University of Utah’s celebrated doctoral program where, this fall, he will begin his journey toward a Ph.D. in English with a specialization in creative writing.