WILMINGTON — A prominent writer who scored the 2021 National Book Award for Fiction is one of 35 applicants chosen out of 2,100 to receive a creative writing fellowship through the National Endowment for the Arts
Jason Mott, alumni, author and an associate professor in UNCW’s Department of Creative Writing, will receive $25,000 from the NEA. A bestselling author of four novels, Mott won the National Book Award for his creative fiction “Hell of a Book.”
“I’m honored to receive this fellowship,” Mott said in a press release “One of the most difficult things to do while teaching and navigating life is carve out time for research. So, I’m absolutely thrilled that this fellowship will allow me to set aside a bit more time to enrich my writing.”
The fellowship’s funding provides recipients freedom to write, research, travel, and engage in career development. Fellows are selected through an anonymous review process and judged on artistic excellence of a work sample provided.
According to NEA Director of Literary Arts Amy Stolls, the organization’s investment continues to boost writers’ output nationwide. Since 1967, it’s allotted $58 million to more than 3,700 creative writing fellows.
“It is through their creativity and dedication that our nation’s literary landscape continues to be enriched with stories, perspectives and ideas that reflect the rich diversity of cultures and strengthens our democracy,” she said in the release.
In addition to the National Book Award, Mott also has been recognized with The Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Fiction, a Carnegie Medals For Excellence in Fiction Longlist selection, an Aspen Words Literary Prize Longlist selection, a Chatauqua Prize Finalist, and a Joyce Carol Oates Prize Longlist selection.
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