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Fellowships - Columbus State University Skip to Main Content
the front side the Carson McCullers house with green door and green and white walls

Fellowships

The Marguerite and Lamar Smith Fellowship for Writers

Purpose

Named in honor of Carson's parents, The Marguerite and Lamar Smith Fellowship for Writers was inspired by McCullers's experience at the Breadloaf Writer's Conference in Vermont and, especially the Yaddo Arts Colony in Saratoga Springs, New York. To honor the contribution of these writers' residencies to McCullers's work, the Carson McCullers Center for Writers and Musicians awards fellowships for writers to study in her childhood home in Columbus, Georgia. The fellowships are intended to afford the writers in residence uninterrupted time to focus on their work, free from the distractions of daily life and other professional responsibilities.

Description and details

The Marguerite and Lamar Fellowship for Writers is offered during fall semester. The fellowship begins the first of September and ends the first of December. During this time, the writing fellow will reside in a spacious private apartment inside Carson McCullers's childhood home, the Smith-McCullers House. The fellow is provided with a stipend of $5,000 to cover costs of transportation, food and other incidentals. Fellowship recipients are encouraged to take an active role in the community and to meet informally with students and local residents interested in writing. The fellow will work with the McCullers Center director to plan a presentation near the end of the residency.

McCullers Center apartment bedroom
McCullers Center Apartment

The Smith-McCullers House is located on a quiet residential street in the Wildwood Circle-Hillcrest Historic District of Columbus. The fellow’s designated parts of the house include the Writer’s Apartment (downstairs bedroom, bathroom, utility room with washer and dryer, and a closet), as well as the rear main-floor bedroom, which has been converted into an office (including a large desk, ink jet printer, and upright piano) and its en suite bathroom. The remainder of the house serves as the Smith-McCullers house museum. Because the house operates as a museum and outreach center, events and tours will often occur in the upper part of the home during the fellow's time in residence. However, the visiting writer’s portion of the house includes a private entrance, allowing fellows to work without interruption or disturbance by the Center and Museum. The kitchen and breakfast room are shared by the fellow and the Center, and the Center sometimes uses those spaces for special events, to which the fellow is always invited.

The writer’s apartment is adequately furnished. Fellows need bring only their personal belongings and a laptop computer. The Carson McCullers Center provides utilities, general property maintenance, and WIFI service, as well as all linens, cooking equipment, and tableware. Since public transportation is limited, an automobile is recommended; however, there are grocery stores, post offices, and other services within walking distance. A spouse or companion is welcome, but children and pets are not allowed.

2025 Fellow: Monica Macansantos

Monica Macansantos
Monica Macansantos

Monica Macansantos is the author of Returning to My Father's Kitchen: Essays (Curbstone/Northwestern University Press, 2025), and Love and Other Rituals: Stories (2022). Her honors include a 2024-25 Shearing Fellowship with the Black Mountain Institute in Las Vegas, and residencies at Hedgebrook, the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, the I-Park Foundation, Storyknife Writers Retreat, and Monson Arts. She holds an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin, Michener Center for Writers, and a PhD from the Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand. Her work has appeared in Colorado Review, River Styx, Bennington Review, The Hopkins Review, Electric Lit, and Lit Hub, among others, and has been named Notable in the Best American Essays 2023, 2022, 2021, and 2016.

Past Fellows

 

Application Materials

I. Compile the following information for submission: Send via email to: mccullerscenter@columbusstate.edu

II. Also, we require at least two letters of recommendation, which may be included in the writer’s packet or sent directly by recommenders to the same email address

The Carson McCullers Center Fellowship Program
English Department
Columbus State University
4225 University Avenue
Columbus, GA 31907

Direct questions to:

The Carson McCullers Center for Writers and Musicians
706-565-1200
mccullerscenter@columbusstate.edu

Deadline to Apply: April 1, 2025

Announcement of Winner: June 1. All applicants will receive notification of the winner.

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