Help Annie Attend VONA

Hello Everyone!


My name is Annie. I will be graduating from Mississippi State University this spring with a Masters of Arts in English, specifically in Creative Writing with a thesis in fiction. I plan to pursue an MFA and teach creative writing in the near future.  

More awesome news: I have been accepted to Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation (or VONA/Voices Workshop) this summer at the University of Pennsylvania (June 25-July 1st). VONA is an organization founded by Junot Díaz, Elmaz Abinader, and Diem Jones to support emerging writers of color. I’ll be workshopping with M. Evelina Galang, the author of Angel de la Luna and the 5th Glorious Mystery: A Novel, and will be working on fiction with her. I have attended her panels at AWP this year, and I’m excited to work with her, especially because she focuses on Asian and Asian-American women, which are the primary foci of my thesis centers around Vietnamese-American families. Having been accepted to become a part of this prestigious and empowering community, I’m really excited. If I am able to attend, I feel like this will be a huge move for my writing and teaching career.

I have received partial funding for this opportunity; however, it is not enough to cover the remaining expenses. As a teaching assistant/graduate student, I live on a stipend of around $1000 a month, which just meets my current needs for lodging and food on a regular basis, plus 30% of my tuition. For this reason, I have been unable to put aside money for such an amazing opportunity. Any amount will help me lower the cost of attending. Here is the breakdown of workshop fees:

Tuition: $350

Room and Board: $750

Total: $1100

Fees are due by June 1.

I plan to handle my own daily expenses. Any amount that goes over $1100 will go towards transportation. Anything over the amount needed for full participation and transportation will be donated to VONA.

Overall, thank you for supporting, and I am forever grateful.

 
Annie