From the Farmhouse Table: June 2023
Supporting Emerging Women Writers
We are incredibly grateful for our partnership with The Rona Jaffe Foundation and the support they provide for emerging women writers of exceptional promise. For nearly 30 years, Jaffe-sponsored programs in the form of writers’ awards and fellowships have helped many women build successful writing lives by offering opportunities, encouragement, and financial support at a critical time.
The Rona Jaffe Foundation Fellowship was established at Hedgebrook in 2018 and supports an annual fully funded residency of 2-4 weeks with an additional $1,500 stipend to help defray additional costs associated with accepting this opportunity. To date, four deserving and talented women have received the fellowship: Vero González, Leslie Blanco, Elizabeth de Souza, and Deborah Taffa.
“We think of the Rona Jaffe Foundation Fellowships as the model we’re working to replicate, so that, one day, every writer invited to Hedgebrook is able to respond with an enthusiastic and worry-free, ‘Yes! Whidbey Island, here I come!’” says our Development Director, Roxanne Kröon Shepherd.
“The Rona Jaffe Foundation’s awareness of women-identified writers’ needs enables Hedgebrook to offer crucial support for writers, covering costs such as childcare or transportation, as well as underwriting our signature Radical Hospitality. As a result, Hedgebrook can encourage a broader scope of potential applicants.” Liz de Souza, a 2020 recipient, describes the unique significance of the Jaffe Fellowship when she says “You’re not being paid to do something, somebody’s not hiring you for your talents, they’re investing in you.”
The investment in de Souza went further than just offering her a residency spot. She recalled the importance of the additional stipend funding to assist with expenses for her family and travel costs. “It can bring anyone to tears,” de Souza added.
When asked about the barriers to entry that Hedgebrook and the Rona Jaffe Foundation helped to break down for her, de Souza spoke about the difficulties of being a Black woman author and academic. “There’s less than two percent of tenured professors who are black women,” de Souza said. “It’s not because there aren’t qualified people, it’s because the systems in place are biased.” As another alumna recently shared at this year’s Board Retreat, Hedgebrook and the Foundation present a structural solution to the problem of inequity by providing “funded space and time to just do the thing you’re meant to do, which is write.”
We value this opportunity to pair the Foundation’s support with our Writers in Residence and, together, uplift women-identified storytellers and their ability to put into action their calling and craft. With that, we are thrilled to announce this year’s Rona Jaffe Foundation Fellow, Lisa Lee. Lisa’s work explores the specific ways in which the lives of Korean women have been impacted by patriarchal violence, displacement, war and sexual violence, and historical trauma. “I’m deeply cognizant of the obstacles that stand in the way of women like myself discovering their agency and voice as writers.” Lisa will be joining us on the land shortly and we look forward to welcoming her and showering her in Radical Hospitality.
Congratulations, Lisa!
Read the full interviews with Liz de Souza and Deborah Taffa here.