We’re thrilled to announce the next fellows for our Writer’s Residency in Downtown Las Vegas. We welcome our fellows Peter Lee, Daniel Hoesl, and Nancy Woo.
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. We also thank our partners at PEN America, Asian American Writers’ Workshop, Goodside, and The Ruby for their nominations.
Peter Lee - June 2024
Pete Lee is a director and photographer based out of San Francisco. Lee grew up in Taiwan during the golden era of Asian cinema but, due to his strict religious upbringing, secular culture was banished from his house. Instead, Lee spent his childhood watching his preacher father politely exorcise demons.
As a filmmaker, Lee's short film Don't Be a Hero premiered at Sundance in 2018. In 2019, he received support from the Rainin Foundation for his screenplay High Priestess of Souls. As a photographer, Lee’s work was recently seen in Mister Jiu’s in Chinatown, which won the James Beard
cookbook of the year in the restaurant and professional category. Currently, Lee is working on a book project with James Beard winner chef Justin Pichetrungsi of Anajak and developing several features with producers Boots Riley and George Rush.
Around town, Lee is known for his elaborate dumpling parties, his kung-fu movie screenings, and starting Whitney Houston singalongs on the piano.
About his project: Pete will be working on a screenplay titled “Lucky Kentucky,” which is a melancholic comedy about a middle-aged man searching throughout the Midwest for the missing Chinese chef behind his favorite rendition of the General Tso's chicken from his childhood, and the lovers, friends, and homicidal forces he meets along the way.
Daniel hoesl - july 2024
Daniel Hoesl, born 1982, lives in Vienna, Austria. He studied MultiMediaArts at the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences. His first narrative feature "Soldier Jane" premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and was awarded the Tiger Award at Rotterdam Film festival, where his second narrative feature "WINWIN" premiered in 2016. His first documentary "Davos" premiered 2020 at Visions du Réel. His third feature film co-directed with his partner & partner-in-crime Julia Niemann "VENI VIDI VICI" premiered 2024 again at Sundance Film Festival. His latest narrative feature "Un gran casino" - about the biggest casino in Europe in Campione d'Italia - is currently in post-production. His narrative films are satires. All his films target the price of money.
About his project: Daniel will be working on a screenplay titled THE SPIRIT OF DAVOS, which is a satire set during the World Economic Forum in the Swiss mountain village of Davos. He will also be conducting research for another project titled CAESARS PALACE, which is a movie about an undead woman who returns to take revenge on the heirs of the family that once took her life.
nancy woo - august 2024
Nancy Lynée Woo is an eco-centric poet based in southern California who harbors a wild love for the natural world. She has released a full-length poetry book entitled I’d Rather Be Lightning from Gasher Press, as well as two chapbooks. Her poems have appeared in Tupelo Quarterly, Radar Poetry, Stirring, West Trade Review, Cathexis Northwest Press, and others. Nancy has received fellowships from PEN America, California Creative Corps, Artists at Work, Arts Council for Long Beach, and Idyllwild Writers Week. Her poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. She has an MFA from Antioch University.
About her project: Nancy will be working on her second poetry manuscript tentatively titled Field Notes from a Slow Apocalypse. These poems are centered around the topics of environmental destruction and climate change. The speaker of these poems mourns the loss of global ecosystems while appreciating the beauty of plants and animals around her. She struggles with the sobering reality that the stable climate is breaking down rapidly while also maintaining a sense of hope and optimism. There is a tension in these poems between what is outside the average person’s control when it comes to global politics and the agency of every individual to affect change where they’re at.
In addition to traditionally written poems, she is toying with a collection of “field notes” that she is trying to formulate into a digestible fashion for the reader, among other elements like photos, audio files, etc. that might be included in a kind of multi-media collage project.