Linfield prof wins Literary Arts fellowship

Submitted photo##Joe Wilkins, author and creative writing professor at Linfield University, is one of two winners of the Oregon Literary Arts fellowship this year. Wilkins submitted two of his stories to judges, who chose him for the honor and $10,000 prize.

Linfield University professor Joe Wilkins has received a $10,000 “Literary Career” fellowship from Oregon Literary Arts.

“A fellowship like this is professionally validating,” said Wilkins, a McMinnville resident. “It means your peers, other professional writers out there, have looked at your work and determined it deserves support, recognition and a place in the larger conversation.”

He is one of two writers to receive the prestigious fellowships this year. Eric Simons, a writer, improviser and teacher, also was honored by Literary Arts, which sponsors the Oregon Book Awards and other programs that support writing and literature.

The fellowship winners will be honored April 8 along with the book award finalists, who include McMinnville author Stephanie Shaw.

Wilkins is chairman of Linfield’s English department and director of the creative writing program. A member of the Linfield faculty since 2013, he also teaches environmental studies.

Writing and teaching writing aren’t the first career for Wilkins.

He received a degree in engineering from Gonzaga University, then taught ninth-grade pre-algebra in the Mississippi Delta with Teach For America. He returned to school to earn a master’s degree in creative writing from the University of Idaho.

He is the author of novels, including “Fall Back Down When I Die,” which won the 2020 High Plains Book Award; a memoir, “The Mountain and the Fathers;” and four books of poetry, including “When We Were Birds,” a 2017 poetry collection that won an Oregon Book Award.

Wilkins was among 556 writers and 31 publishers who applied for the 2024 fellowships. Judges from outside Oregon evaluated applications for their literary excellence.

The Linfield professor said he had to submit a writing sample from his recent work. He submitted two short stories, “Every Moment Shines, When You Cut It Open,” originally published in literary journal Moss, and “Enough of Me,” which appeared in High Desert Journal.

“I was thinking I’d do a selection from my upcoming novel, but I wanted something that closed in on itself,” he said.

His next book, “The Entire Sky,” will be published July 2 by Hachette Book Group.

He will take part in the local authors’ fair Feb. 24 at the McMinnville Public Library and “Pubs and Profs,” a Linfield alumni gathering at Portland’s Lucky Labrador Beer Hall on Feb. 28.

Wilkins said he is grateful for the Literary Arts award and the freedom that comes with the stipend.

“It’s a chance to travel a little farther in the summer as I work on projects,” he said. “It ultimately gives me more time to keep writing, which is always what you’re after as a writer.”