Former Recipients

The 2017 Recipients:

The winners of the HWA, Mary Shelley, Dark Poetry, and Rocky Wood Scholarships will be announced later this year. Our Scholarship From Hell winner for 2017 is:

  • Billy San Juan – The Scholarship From Hell

Dr. Billy San Juan was the recipient of the 2017 HWA Scholarship from Hell. He is a Filipino-American, a skeptic, and a raconteur. He received his doctorate in clinical psychology from Alliant International University in 2014, and has been published in the Psych Geeks line of books (including The Walking Dead Psychology, Star Wars Psychology, Captain America vs. Iron Man Psychology, Star Trek Psychology, and Doctor Who Psychology). He has also spoken on panels at various conventions including San Diego Comic Con, WonderCon, and LA Comic Con. He has written flavor text for Magic: the Gathering and is an avid player of the game. In his spare time, he enjoys watching professional wrestling and cooking dinner for his wife. None of his friends believe that Billy writes horror stories because he’s “too damn cheerful.” You can read his thoughts about life’s dichotomies on his blog: trilobits.net. You can also follow him on Twitter: @Billi_sense.

 

First Recipients of the Young Adult Write Now Endowment:

The Horror Writers Association (HWA), the premier organization of  writers and publishers of horror and dark fantasy and home of the iconic Bram Stoker Awards®, is proud to announce the first-ever recipients of the annual Young Adults Write Now endowments.

Each of the following five libraries will receive $500 to help fund  teen writing programs as part of the HWA’s ongoing dedication to  furthering young adult literacy.

The W. T. Bland Public Library – Mount Dora, FL
Dreadful Teen Writing Program, administered by Cathy Jones, Adult  Services Librarian

The Louisiana, Missouri Public Library – Louisiana, MO
The Missouri Monster Squad: Teen Fiction Writers Program, administered  by Brice Chandler, Holly Mabry, and Darrell Hapsten

The Librarian Association of Rockland County Teen Division – Spring Valley, NY
SCRAWL: Rockland Teens Write, administered by Jessica Gordon, Jennifer  Daddio, Patrice Gottfried, Mary Phillips, and Dennis Sullivan

Click here to read more about the Rockland County endowment

The Fayetteville-Lincoln County Public Library – Fayetteville, TN
Something Wicked We Write, administered by Jena Gray

The Athens-Limestone Public Library, Athens, AL
The Page Turner Program, administered by Amanda Coleman and Kris Reisz

Congratulations to all the recipients!

Applications for 2018 will begin in June, 2017. The Young Adults Write Now program will again provide up to five endowments of $500 each per year for selected libraries to establish new or support ongoing writing programs. The program is currently open to United States libraries, but will be expanded in the future to include other countries, as part of the HWA’s global presence. Membership in the HWA  is not a requirement.

For complete rules, visit http://horror.org/librarians.htm , https://horrorscholarships.com/young-adults-write-now-endowment-program/ , or contact  [email protected].

 

The 2016 Recipients:

The winners of the annual HWA Scholarships have been selected. They are:

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James Arthur Anderson teaches writing and literature (and occasionally, science fiction) at Johnson & Wales University’s Miami campus at the rank of Professor. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Rhode Island, where he wrote his dissertation on H.P. Lovecraft, and his B.A. and M.A. from Rhode Island College. He made his first short story sale to Andrew J. Offutt’s Swords Against Darkness V anthology back in 1979, and has since published fiction and nonfiction in a number of magazines and journals, including Fangoria, Lovecraft Studies, Studies in Weird Fiction, and Crypt of Cthulhu. He is the author of Out of the Shadows: a Structuralist Approach to Understanding the Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft, and The Illustrated Ray Bradbury: a Structuralist Reading of Bradbury’s “The Illustrated Man”, both published by Wildside Press. His latest critical study Stephen King’s Truth Within the Lie: a critical study of America’s favorite boogeyman has been accepted for publication by McFarland Press. When he doesn’t have his nose stuck in a book (or grading student papers), Jim enjoys riding his Paso Fino horse. He lives in North Miami Florida with his wife Lynn, two spoiled cats, and a very spoiled little dog.

Carina Bissett Photo

Carina Bissett is a writer, poet, and educator working primarily in the fields of speculative fiction and interstitial art. She is currently a candidate for an MFA in Creative Writing at Stonecoast and teaches a course on science fiction fairy tales at The Brainery. Her short fiction and poetry has been published in multiple journals and anthologies including the Journal of Mythic Arts,  Mythic Delirium, NonBinary Review, Timeless Tales, and The Horror ‘Zine. She also fosters her passion of fairy tales and folklore through creative non-fiction including her research work at the Mythic Imagination Institute and contributions to the forthcoming publication of American Myths, Legends, and Tall Tales: An Encyclopedia of American Folklore. Her fiction has been nominated for the Sundress Publications Best of the Net Award and her poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and the Sundress Publications Best of the Net Award. You can learn more about her work on her website at www.carinabissett.com.

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Karen Bovenmyer writes dark fantasy and disturbing science fiction poems and stories. A native Iowan, she earned degrees in creative writing from Iowa State University (BS, MA) and the University of Southern Maine (MFA) and her work has been originally published or reprinted in more than twenty different publications. She serves as the nonfiction editor for Escape Artist’s Mothership Zeta Magazine and narrates stories for PseudopodStrange HorizonsFar Fetched FablesStar Ship Sofa and the Gallery of Curiosities Podcasts. While verbally supportive of her pursuit of a writing career in addition to her full-time job, friends, family, and coworkers have yet to read her “scary stories” and continue to remark that they will read her work once she has written something happy. This has yet to happen. She has recently signed a contract for a novel slated for release in the first quarter of 2017.

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John Reinhart – An arsonist by trade, John Reinhart spends his spare time gluing things together. He lives on an urban farmlette in Colorado with his wife and three children. His poems grow between the cracks in his fascination with humanity’s interaction with nature, wafting through broken floorboards, which perhaps explains why they have been published variously in print and online, in sci-fi and literary quarters, at home and abroad. His chapbook, encircled, is available from Prolific Press, and another, Horrific Punctuation, is due out later this year from Tiger’s Eye Press. You may find more of his poetry and links to others at http://www.patreon.com/johnreinhart and https://www.facebook.com/JohnReinhartPoet.

HWA Sumiko

Sumiko Saulson is a science-fiction, fantasy and horror writer and graphic novelist. She was the 2016 recipient of the Horror Writer Association’s “Scholarship from Hell.” She is best known for her non-fiction reference guide 60 Black Women in Horror Fiction. Her novels include Solitude, The Moon Cried Blood, Happiness and Other Diseases, Somnalia, Insatiable and the Amazon bestselling horror comedy Warmth. She has written several short stories for collections and anthologies, including the Carry the Light award winning science-fiction story “Agrippa.” She writes for the Oakland Art Scene for the Examiner.com, SEARCH Magazine and horror blogs HorrorAddicts.net and SumikoSaulson.com, which featured a 2013 Women in Horror Month interview series.The child of African American and Russian-Jewish American parents, she is a native Californian who grew up in Los Angeles and Hawaii. She is an Oakland resident who has spent most of her adult life in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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Kevin Wetmore is an award-winning short story writer and professor at Loyola Marymount University where he teaches horror theatre and horror cinema, among other subjects.   He is also the author of Back from the Dead: Remakes of the Romero Zombie Films as Markers of their Times (McFarland) and Post-9/11 Horror in American Cinema (Continuum), as well as a contributor to numerous anthologies, including the Stoker-nominated Horror 201: The Silver Scream (Crystal Lake) and numerous magazines and scholarly journals including Rue Morgue, Horror Studies, Postscript and Gothic Studies.  He has written about Godzilla, Greek tragedy and the Scream films, space horror, Guillermo Del Toro, Psycho, the clash of vampires and werewolves, lightsabers, The Exorcist, J-horror and the theology of Battlestar Galactica. More can be found at www.SomethingWetmoreThisWayComes.com

Major congratulations to the HWA Scholarship awardees. We received a number of fine applications in all categories. We wish those chosen the very best in their future careers.

The HWA Scholarship Committee (which also judged the Mary Shelley Scholarship) consisted of Marge Simon, Terrie Leigh Relf and Charles Gramlich. The Poetry Scholarship Committee members were Marge Simon, Linda Addison, and David E. Cowen. The Rocky Wood Memorial Scholarship for Non-fiction Writing Committee members were Lisa Morton, Leslie Klinger, and Vince A. Liaguno.

For more information on the scholarships, please go to www.horrorscholarships.com


The 2015 Recipients:

The winners of the three annual HWA Scholarships have been selected, and they are Thersa Matsuura, Eric Smith, and Michael Tugendhat.

Major congratulations to the HWA Writing Scholarship awardees. We received a number of fine applications in all categories. We wish those chosen the very best in their future careers.

Thersa Matsuura, recipient of the Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Scholarship, said, “I am beyond elated to learn that the HWA has chosen me to be this year’s recipient of the Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Scholarship. My son has just moved out of the house to attend university, and I now have the time and mental space to concentrate on me and my career as an author. The timing is perfect. I will use the scholarship to take courses, workshops, and attend my very first HWA convention. My goal is to hone my craft and become a truly great writer of horror and all things creepy. My heartfelt thanks to those on the voting committee and everyone in HWA. I want to become the kind of author that will make all of you proud. Thank you.”

Eric Smith, recipient of the General Writing Scholarship, said, “I thank Marge Simon, Ellen Datlow, Vince Liaguno, and everyone at the HWA for giving me this opportunity to further my writing career with an educational scholarship. Since I began focusing on horror writing a year and a half ago I’ve made considerable progress, developing from an unpublished creative writing major struggling to craft an effective story into an author published in prominent anthologies alongside big names. I believe that with continued effort on my part and the input from online courses, seminars and workshops I will produce better and larger works. I’ll be the one sitting in the front row asking lots of questions.”

Michael Tugendhat, recipient of the Poetry Scholarship Award, said, “After reading horror for a few years, writing it only seemed natural. I didn’t know what to expect when I joined the HWA, but meeting such honest, hardworking, and talented authors has allowed me to concentrate on my craft in such a supportive atmosphere. This is why the dark poetry scholarship is so important to me, it will allow me the financial and developmental assistance to further my career writing speculative poetry. I will be using the scholarship funds on tuition for an MFA in creative writing and convention attendance. Thanks to everyone at the HWA who made this possible. It means a lot!”

The HWA Scholarship Committee consisted of Ellen Datlow, Vince Liaguno, and Marge Simon, while the Poetry Scholarship Committee members were Corrine De Winter, Michael A. Arnzen, and Marge Simon. The Poetry Scholarship is sponsored by Eldritch Press.

For more information on the scholarships, please go to http://horror.org/2014-scholarships-for-members/ and http://horror.org/dark-poetry-scholarship/.



The 2014 Recipients:

Starting from 2014 the Horror Writers Association (HWA) has instituted the Horror Writers Association Scholarship, open to all members of the HWA. The Scholarship is designed to assist in the professional development of writers in the horror/dark fantasy genre.

The first Horror Writers Association Scholarship has been awarded to Jim Pyre, a pseudonym for a writer who grew up in Chicago but now lives in a small farming town.

Jim lives in Ohio with his wife and many, many cats. A Midwesterner by birth, he grew up in Chicago and graduated from a law school in Columbus, Ohio. He reads, writes and works a day job in between. He writes because he knows that there are places—above and below us, behind us, beside us, just beyond the reach of our peripheral vision—that are inhabited, populated, filled … with things. You know what he’s talking about. Things. Spooky things. Creepy things. Crawly things. Shadowy things. Ghostly things even. And these things always find their way into his fiction. He can be found at: www.jimpyre.com, Facebook, Google+, and Twitter as Jim Pyre.

Jim said, “I’m humbled and incredibly grateful for receiving this award. I would like to thank the Horror Writers Association and the judges for awarding me this scholarship. This is a wonderful opportunity for me to explore my craft. To learn just how to put blood to paper. When I was a child I dreamed of becoming an author. I’d copy book after book in the hopes of understanding the secrets of becoming a writer. Sadly, most childhood fancies fall by the wayside with age and mine were no different. School and work replaced art, but my desire to create always remained. Now, thanks to the HWA I get follow a wonderful dream I’ve put on hold for far too long.”

HWA President Rocky Wood said, “We are pleased to present a scholarship specifically targeted to support the development of authors in our genre.”

The Horror Writers Association is a worldwide organization promoting dark literature and its creators. It has over 1200 members who write, edit and publish professionally in fiction, nonfiction, videogames, films, comics, and other media. For more information about the HWA visit www.horror.org. Media inquiries to [email protected].


 

Starting from 2014 the Horror Writers Association (HWA) has instituted the Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Scholarship, open to female writers who are members of the HWA. The Scholarship is designed to address the unseen, but real, barriers limiting the amount of horror fiction being published by women.

The first Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Scholarship has been awarded to Erinn Kemper, a Canadian writer who resides in Costa Rica. Erinn Kemper (E. L. Kemper) grew up in an isolated mill town in coastal British Columbia, Canada. From there she moved to the city to study Philosophy at the University of Victoria. Over the years she’s worked as an eye glasses repair person, a fish farmer, a cabinet maker, a parks department laborer, a book store clerk, a home nurse, a teacher—and lived in a camper, in Japan and on a forty foot wooden sailboat. She now lives in a small town in Costa Rica on the Caribbean Sea where she plans to write her first novel from her hammock.

Erinn has sold stories to Cemetery Dance Magazine and [Nameless] Digest and appears in various anthologies including A Darke Phantastique and Chiral Mad 2. Visit her website at erinnkemper.com for updates and sloth sightings.

Erinn said, “I am honored and thrilled to be chosen to receive The Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Scholarship. I appreciate the opportunity to take some writing courses for the first time and to challenge myself to dig deeper and darker. It’s a wonderful thing that the HWA supports writers and invests in the future of the genre through mentoring and now with these scholarships! When it’s my turn I can’t wait to give back by offering my support as a mentor.”

HWA President Rocky Wood said, “We are proud to be the first genre writers’ organisation to present a scholarship specifically targeted to support the development of female authors.”

The Horror Writers Association is a worldwide organization promoting dark literature and its creators. It has over 1200 members who write, edit and publish professionally in fiction, nonfiction, videogames, films, comics, and other media. For more information about the HWA visit www.horror.org. Media inquiries to [email protected].