Civitella Ranieri has a longstanding tradition of Affiliated Fellowships. Collaboration with outside agencies enriches the program, the pool of Fellows, and the profile of the Civitella community. We are pleased to maintain our relationships with the following arts organizations and we look forward to welcoming all of our Affiliated Fellows in 2022!

The 2021 PEN Open Book Award went to Asako Serizawa (Incoming Writing Fellow 2022) for her short story collection Inheritors (Doubleday). From the judges’ citation: “The variety of narratives in the Inheritors by Asako Serizawa is nothing short of remarkable. Whether Serizawa is constructing an incredibly tense scene between a Japanese veteran of the Pacific War and the mother of his missing comrade, or gently unraveling the forgotten memories of a dying immigrant, the precision and care with which she writes her sentences and builds her worlds never falters. In these stories are men and women haunted by the ghosts of the disappeared, the fires of war, and their own complicity in acts of world-shattering violence. Formally experimental and philosophically complex, Serizawa’s collection explores the nature of political and historical violence, immigration, Japanese and American nationalisms, assimilation, memories, death, loss, suffering, and, of course, inheritance itself, in all its terrible forms.” Learn more about Inheritors here.

The 2021 Academy of American Poets First Book Award went to Kemi Alabi (Incoming Writing Fellow 2022) for their first full-length poetry collection, Against Heaven. The recipient was selected by Claudia Rankine; Alabi’s collection will be published by Graywolf Press in 2022, and they will come to Civitella in that same year. About Alabi’s prize-winning collection, Rankine writes, “Against Heaven activates multiple lexicons, seeking to construct the immensity of black queer subjectivity with guile and formal virtuosity. At once sonic and disruptive, these poems pull together everything in a world where nothing is sacred. In this energetic and brilliant debut, the thrust of the lyric dislodges all that is stuck and stagnant, creating new possibilities for utterance.”

The 2021 Lexi Rudnitsky First Book Prize went to Anni Liu (Incoming Writing Fellow 2022) for her collection entitled Border Vista. The awardee receives publication of her collection by Persea Books as well as an all-expenses-paid residency at Civitella; Persea will publish Liu’s collection in spring of 2022, and she will come to Civitella that same year. Anni Liu is a writer and translator with work featured in Ploughshares, the Georgia ReviewHyphenTwo Lines, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA from Indiana University and works at Graywolf Press. 

We still await the results of our Affiliated Fellowships with the Kirby-Mewshaw Family, WOJR (who helps us bring an architect to the Castle), and the Griffin Poetry Prize. Check back to see who else will be coming to Civitella in 2022. To learn more about Civitella’s Affiliated Fellowships, see here.