2023 Wilma Dykeman Writer-in-Residence Program
The Wilma Dykeman Writer-in-Residence program provides the recipient time to write in the quiet comfort of author and activist Wilma Dykeman’s Asheville, North Carolina home. A collaboration between the University of North Carolina Asheville and the Wilma Dykeman Legacy, the residency honors the legacy of Wilma Dykeman, a groundbreaking environmentalist, pioneering civil rights reporter, best-selling author, founder of Appalachian Studies, and a beloved daughter, wife, and mother.
November 6, 2023:
UNC Asheville Wilma Dykeman Writer-in-Residence program announces second recipient, opens call for 2024-25 applicants
UNC Asheville and the Wilma Dykeman Legacy are proud to welcome Shanita “NitaJade” Jackson as the next Wilma Dykeman Writer-in-Residence in Spring 2024.
This residency honors author Wilma Dykeman, a trailblazing advocate for social justice who promoted women’s rights, gender and class equity, and racial justice before these endeavors became widely embraced.
Jackson, who will be returning to their hometown during the residency, said they are honored and looking forward to returning to where their journey began.
“I was born in Hillcrest, and my passion for poetry solidified with Asheville’s youth poetry slam scene. Countless poets and artists in Asheville have helped me become the poet and creative I am today,” they said. “Though my academic and career paths have taken me to Kentucky and Virginia, my heart rests in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. I am called home again and again.”
An Affrilachian poet, Jackson is published in “Inverted Syntax,” “Auburn Avenue” and the “Zora’s Den: The Fire Inside Volume II” anthology, among others. Recently, they accepted the role of assistant professor of English at Emory and Henry College in Virginia.
Jackson earned their BA in African and African American Studies from Berea College in 2019, where Dykeman served as the first woman on the Board of Trustees and championed Berea’s policy to maintain affordable tuition. In 2022, Jackson earned their MFA in Creative Writing (Poetry) from the University of Kentucky.
“The Wilma Dykeman residency gifts me the opportunity to honor The Transcended, breathe new life into my writing, and practice Sankofa,” Jackson said.
Sankofa, a word from the Akan tribe in Ghana, means “it is not taboo to fetch what is at risk of being left behind.” It indicates the quest for knowledge by searching the past, and knowing the past shapes the present.
“It is a full circle and a dream come true to return to my stomping grounds with the soul purpose of creating, writing, and pouring into the community that first fostered my creative liberation,” Jackson said.
Jackson will utilize this time to further develop their poetry manuscript “FleshCrawl” and pursue publishing opportunities.
Applications for 2024-2025 Residencies Now Open
Recipients of the residency spend two consecutive months in the peaceful, quiet comfort of the Dykeman home, located in a wooded neighborhood close to both UNC Asheville’s campus and downtown Asheville. Writers-in-Residence are expected to collaborate with the University to engage with campus and surrounding communities.
Utilities, property maintenance and Wi-Fi are all provided by UNC Asheville, as well as a stipend of $4,000 to cover transportation costs, food and other incidentals.
This residency offers one recipient two consecutive months between August 1 and November 15, 2024, or between January 15 and April 30, 2025. The successful applicant will consult with UNC Asheville to determine the exact dates of their residency.
In the spirit of Dykeman’s work and legacy, the program welcomes applications from writers whose work demonstrates a commitment to at least one of the following: social, racial, gender, and/or environmental issues. Writers of all genres are invited to apply.
To apply, email the following as PDF attachments to wir@unca.edu with the subject line: Dykeman WIR 2024-25 Application.
- A cover letter describing your current project, how it reflects the themes of the program and how the residency would aid you in its progress
- an up-to-date curriculum vitae
- a 10-20 page writing sample
- two professional references
All applications must be submitted on or before December 15, 2023, and the recipient will be announced no later than February 1, 2024 via a joint press release distributed by UNC Asheville and the Wilma Dykeman Legacy.
For more information on the residency, visit https://wir.unca.edu/residency/
For more information about Wilma Dykeman, please visit the Wilma Dykeman Legacy website.
May 3, 2023:
The University of North Carolina Asheville and the Wilma Dykeman Legacy are pleased to announce that John Vercher, author of the award-winning novel Three-Fifths, will join the campus as the inaugural Wilma Dykeman Writer-in-Residence.
The Wilma Dykeman Writer-in-Residence Program is open to writers whose work embodies a passion for equity and inclusion and demonstrates a commitment to social, racial, environmental and/or gender justice. The residency offers the recipient four consecutive weeks between July 1 and October 31, 2023, to write in the quiet comfort of author and activist Wilma Dykeman’s home in Asheville, North Carolina. During his residency, Vercher will collaborate with UNC Asheville to plan an activity that will engage with the campus and Asheville community.
“When I began my writing journey, I’d only dreamt of opportunities such as the one afforded by the Wilma Dykeman Writer-in-Residence award,” Vercher said. “Never did I imagine I’d have the great fortune of being selected for this dynamic and important program. To say I’m inspired to have the opportunity to create and write in the home of a woman who dedicated her creative efforts to equity and social justice when I aspire to do the same with my own writing only begins to describe the enormity of emotion I’m experiencing in this moment.
“We are living in an era where our words are under fire, and I’m grateful that UNC Asheville is putting their institution at the forefront of a movement to change the world with our writing. I’m indebted to the committee for their confidence and belief in my work and am incredibly excited for a meaningful month creating in and engaging with the UNC Asheville community.”
Vercher’s debut novel, “Three-Fifths,” in which a savage hate crime impels a young man toward a deeper reckoning with his biracial identity, received starred reviews from Library Journal and Booklist, was named one of the best books of 2019 by the Chicago Tribune, and has sold in seven countries. In the U.K., “Three-Fifths” was named a Book of the Year by The Sunday Times, The Financial Times, and The Guardian.
Vercher’s second novel, “After the Lights Go Out,” was published by Soho Press in 2022 and has been called “simply brilliant” by Publishers Weekly in a starred review and “shrewd and explosive” by The New York Times. BookRiot selected the novel as a 2022 Best Book of the Summer; Publishers Weekly included it in their Summer Reads 2022 list; and Booklist named it an Editors’ Choice in Adult Fiction for 2022.
His forthcoming work, “Devil is Fine,” will be published in 2024.
Wilma Dykeman was a celebrated writer, speaker, activist and teacher. Born near Asheville, North Carolina, she became a ground-breaking environmentalist, a pioneering civil rights reporter, a best-selling novelist, and a founder of Appalachian Studies.
Her accomplishments and awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Sidney Hillman Award, the first woman trustee of Berea College, a Senior Fellow of the National Endowment for the Humanities, the first woman Tennessee State Historian, membership in the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame, and membership in the Fellowship of Southern Writers.
The Wilma Dykeman Legacy was founded as a non-profit organization in 2012 to honor Wilma Dykeman’s extraordinary life and to sustain her core values of environmental integrity, social justice, and the power of the written and spoken word.
The selection committee was chaired by Wiley Cash, award-winning author and UNC Asheville Writer-in-Residence, and includes: Susan Andrew, development manager for RiverLink; Mildred Barya, UNC Asheville assistant professor of English; and novelists Elizabeth Kostova and Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle.