We’re thrilled to announce the next fellows for our Writer’s Residency in Downtown Las Vegas. We welcome our fellows Lindsey Webb, Jenn Alann Trahan, and William D’Urso.
Fellows will spend a month in the vibrant heart of downtown Las Vegas, engaging with and becoming a part of the city’s thriving arts scene. The fellowship is designed to give talented writers and other creatives the space, time, and freedom to work on their longform projects, and the bibliophilic joy of living in a fully furnished apartment next to Las Vegas’ literary hub, The Writer’s Block bookstore.
Our apartment is in The Lucy, which also houses the Writer's Block. The Lucy is Beverly Rogers’ multi-use artist residency and complex, dedicated to fostering a creative community in Las Vegas.
Special thanks again to Nevada Humanities, UNLV, and private donors for helping bring these fellowships to life.
LINDSEY WEBB - DECember 2024
Lindsey Webb is the author of 'Plat' (Archway Editions, 2024), which was a finalist for the National Poetry Series, and two chapbooks: 'House' and 'Perfumer's Organ'. Her writings have appeared in Chicago Review, Denver Quarterly, jubilat, and Lana Turner, among others. She lives in Salt Lake City, where she is a Graduate Research Fellow in the Tanner Humanities Center and PhD candidate in Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Utah. She edits Thirdhand Books.
About her project: Lindsey will be working on a book of essays entitled 'Saccades,' about land art and land use in the American West.
JENN ALANN TRAHAN - JANUARY 2025
Jenn Alandy Trahan was born in Houston, Texas, and raised in Vallejo, California. The first in her family to go to college, she graduated from the University of California, Irvine, with a BA in English and went on to earn her MA in English and MFA in Fiction at McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
Jenn's writing has been supported by the Carlisle Family Scholarship at the Community of Writers, a Wallace Stegner Fellowship at Stanford, the Gullkistan Center for Creativity in Laugarvatn, Iceland, a Writing Downtown Fellowship in Las Vegas, Nevada, The Elizabeth George Foundation, and a La Baldi Residency in Montegiovi, Italy. She is also grateful to Blue Mesa Review, Harper's, One Story, and The Best American Short Stories for featuring her work. Jenn is currently a Jones Lecturer at Stanford, where she has taught undergraduate courses in fiction, nonfiction, Filipinx fiction, creative expression, and service-learning through creative writing; she's also taught Writer's Studio workshops on writing about class, race, and sports.
About her project: Jenn will be finishing a collection of short stories and starting a new book.
WILLIAM D’URSO - February 2025
William D’Urso is a longform narrative journalist. In his previous career in newspapers he covered aerospace and defense before investing in the craft of narrative nonfiction for publications like SB Nation, Vice and Outside magazine. He has covered the cost overruns of the F-35, shadowy DARPA programs and stood on the front lines of California’s battle with the growing problem of wildfires. His story “Shadow Boxer,” a true crime yarn about stolen identity, was a Longreads top 5 read of the week. William believes in the power of well reported and written scenes to draw the audience into a story and keep them there long after they have finished reading. He has worked in the salmon fishing camps of Kodiak, Alaska and gone toe-to-toe in the boxing ring with pros in the making. He resides in Vermont.
About his project: Amid the winking lights of old Las Vegas, a new kind of gambling tycoon had made the strip his own, and from afar his million-dollar a day revenues would entice three gamblers of a different mint to try their luck. What followed is a stunning tale of con artists, irascible law men and the looming threat of terrible violence.
