PRACTICE FELLOWSHIP: This fellowship category seeks to support an emerging poet in their writing practice through an 8-month long mentorship with an established poet. Mentor and fellow will meet monthly one-on-one to workshop writing, discuss poetry and poetics, and explore publication opportunities. Meetings will take place in person and virtually. During the fellowship period, the recipient will also receive a $500 book allowance, may attend any Woodland Pattern workshop free of cost, and will be invited to give a culminating reading. Poets with existing manuscript projects are particularly encouraged to apply in this category.

Eligibility: Open to Milwaukee poets between the ages of 20 and 35, who are not currently enrolled in an MFA or PhD program. 

Mentorship: The Milwaukee Emerging Poet Fellow in the Practice category will be mentored by Chuck Stebelton. Stebelton is author most recently of One Hundred Patterns & Three Heuristics (Green Gallery Press, 2023). His previous poetry collections include An Apostle Island (Oxeye Press, 2021), The Platformist (Cultural Society, 2012), and Circulation Flowers (Tougher Disguises, 2005). He currently serves as Project Manager at Woodland Pattern. As a Wisconsin Master Naturalist volunteer, he has led workshops and field trips for nonprofit organizations and conservancy groups including Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters; Milwaukee Public Library; Woodland Pattern; Friends of Lorine Niedecker; and Lynden Sculpture Garden. He recently completed an ARTservancy artist residency with River Revitalization Foundation and has held residencies at Lynden Sculpture Garden in 2011, 2014, and from 2018 to 2024.

Application Instructions: Please submit 10 poems and a cover letter discussing your writing practice and reasons for seeking this fellowship. Poems may be submitted as either a manuscript or performance recording. Please submit all 10 poems in only ONE text document.

ABOUT THE MILWAUKEE EMERGING POET FELLOWSHIPS: Drawing inspiration from both the Mary L. Nohl Fund Emerging Artist Fellowship and the Poetry Project’s Emerge Surface Be program, Woodland Pattern established the Milwaukee Emerging Poet Fellowship program in 2022 to bring greater visibility and much-needed early support to Milwaukee poets through mentorships, access to opportunities that encourage a poet’s practice and development, and investment in literary projects for which younger poets frequently lack resources. The Milwaukee Emerging Poet Fellowship program also seeks to make available alternative avenues of support for emerging poets outside traditional academic-track poetry programs and environments.

PROJECT FELLOWSHIP: This fellowship category seeks to support an emerging poet in need of financial and administrative support for an ambitious literary project such as a reading series, small press, literary journal, or interdisciplinary exhibition. Both new and existing projects are eligible for consideration. The Project fellow will receive ongoing support from our staff, along with a $1,500 project budget. Poets with a track record in DIY literary publishing and programming are particularly encouraged to apply in this category.

Eligibility: Open to Milwaukee poets between the ages of 20 and 35, who are not currently enrolled in an MFA or PhD program. 

Mentorship: The Milwaukee Emerging Poet Fellow in the Project category will work directly with Woodland Pattern’s Assistant Programming Director, Antonio Vargas-Nieto, to realize their projects, and will receive additional support from Woodland Pattern’s Executive Directors Jenny Gropp and Laura Solomon in administrative matters such as budget planning.

Application Instructions: Please submit a project proposal, a budget, and a cover letter outlining your preparedness to execute your project and your reasons for seeking this fellowship.

ABOUT THE MILWAUKEE EMERGING POET FELLOWSHIPS: Drawing inspiration from both the Mary L. Nohl Fund Emerging Artist Fellowship and the Poetry Project’s Emerge Surface Be program, Woodland Pattern established the Milwaukee Emerging Poet Fellowship program in 2022 to bring greater visibility and much-needed early support to Milwaukee poets through mentorships, access to opportunities that encourage a poet’s practice and development, and investment in literary projects for which younger poets frequently lack resources. The Milwaukee Emerging Poet Fellowship program also seeks to make available alternative avenues of support for emerging poets outside traditional academic-track poetry programs and environments.

Woodland Pattern and its partners are excited to announce the third annual Milwaukee Youth Poet Laureate cycle and initiative!

Finalists will be selected in April and receive performance coaching to help them prepare for a juried event in May.

Eligibility

Applicants must be Milwaukee County high school freshmen, sophomores, or juniors.

Application Process

• Submit 5 poems + a CV outlining extracurricular activities, volunteer work, and academic honors by March 30, 2025.
• Finalists will be selected in April to compete at a juried Poetry Reading in May.

The Milwaukee Youth Poet Laureate will receive:

• A $500 book allowance
• A paid summer internship with Woodland Pattern
• Mentorship and opportunities to perform, facilitate workshops, and compete for regional and national titles