FRANKFORT, Ky. (Sept. 9, 2026) – Today, Gov. Andy Beshear announced that Team Kentucky is awarding $42,000 in grant funding to 16 literary artists across the commonwealth. The funding is made available through the Individual Artist Fellowship and Emerging Artist Award programs, which recognize artistic excellence in creative nonfiction, fiction, play and screenwriting and poetry.
“Kentucky writers help us tell our stories, preserve our history and inspire new ideas,” said Gov. Beshear. “Team Kentucky is proud to support these talented artists and give them the resources to showcase why our commonwealth is so special.”
The Kentucky Arts Council's Individual Artist Fellowship program recognizes Kentucky artists whose work demonstrates exceptional artistic achievement, while the Emerging Artist Awards recognize promising early-career artists with significant artistic potential.
“I’m deeply honored and thankful to receive the Kentucky Arts Council Emerging Artist Award in Literary Arts,” said creative nonfiction writer Lucy Oquaye. “Being recognized for my work as a writer is encouraging at this stage in my career, and funding will provide practical support for creative endeavors. I'm grateful to the Kentucky Arts Council for championing artists and helping ensure that Kentucky's literary voices continue to grow and thrive.”
“Grants like these make huge differences in artists’ lives,” said fiction author Hannah Pittard. “I feel incredibly lucky to have been chosen as a recipient of an Individual Artist Fellowship Award. Kentucky has been my home for more than 10 years. For so many reasons, including this kind of visible support for arts and creativity, I’ve been able to do some of the best writing of my life here.”
“I’m still surprised to be included in this year's awardees," said nonfiction writer B.J. Wilson. “I hope to use the grant to attend a writing residency somewhere. Whenever I write poems, I tend to focus on place, but when I write nonfiction, I tend to focus on the past. It would be really cool to have a space and time to write whatever comes.”
Award winners include:
Individual Artist Fellowship Grants
- B.J. Wilson, Oldham County, Creative Nonfiction
- Hannah Pittard, Fayette County, Fiction
- Vidalia Unwin, Jefferson County, Play/Screenwriting
- Jennie Malboeuf, Bourbon County, Poetry
Emerging Artist Award Grants
- Mallory Donoghue, Fayette County, Creative Nonfiction
- Lucy Oquaye, Fayette County, Creative Nonfiction
- Randi Ewing, Fayette County, Fiction
- Allegra Solomon, Fayette County, Fiction
- Tara Cocco Guptill, Jefferson County, Play/Screenwriting
- Tim Kirkman, Fayette County, Play/Screenwriting
- V. Joshua Adams, Jefferson County, Poetry
- James Evans, Franklin County, Poetry
- Silvia McClamrock, Campbell County, Poetry
- Matthew Parsons, Carter County, Poetry
- Leah Raidt, Jefferson County, Poetry
- Adrian Sanders Russo, Hardin County, Poetry
The 2027 fiscal year grant period runs from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027. Individual Artist Grant recipients are selected solely on artistic excellence through an anonymous panel review process conducted by professionals in each literary discipline. Emerging Artist Grant recipients are selected through a similar process that considers artistic excellence, achievements, commitment to their creative practice and the potential impact of the award on the artist’s work. Applications are evaluated on the quality of submitted work samples, and panel recommendations are approved by the Kentucky Arts Council Board before awards are announced.
The Kentucky Arts Council provides leadership, funding and support for the arts in Kentucky. For more information on the Kentucky Arts Council and other grant opportunities, visit the artscouncil.ky.gov.
The Kentucky Arts Council is the state arts agency and is responsible for developing and promoting support for the arts in Kentucky. Strategically placed in the Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet, the Kentucky Arts Council is publicly funded by the Kentucky General Assembly and the National Endowment for the Arts, an independent agency of the federal government.