Here’s the first cohort of a new literary fellowship supporting Puerto Rican writers.

Today, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Flamboyan Foundation’s Arts Fund announced their inaugural cohort of Letras Boricuas Fellows. This new fellowship aims to support emerging and established Puerto Rican writers, both in the archipelago and across the diaspora in the US. Recognizing the historically limited opportunities for Puerto Rican writers, the fellowship aims to “support Puerto Rico’s celebrated literary lineage—a discipline traditionally under-resourced and underfunded both in Puerto Rico and in the United States—illustrate the diversity of these writers’ experiences, and showcase incredible Puerto Rican literary voices.” The Letras Boricuas Fellowship provides unrestricted grants of $25,000 to each of its 20 fellows, and offers opportunities for connection and community amongst the recipients. The fellowship is open to writers of fiction, poetry, non-fiction, and children’s literature.

“Twenty vibrant Puerto Rican voices make up this remarkable initial cohort, each one resonant and powerful,” said Elizabeth Alexander, President of the Mellon Foundation, in a press release. “These are writers who convey the depth and breadth of Puerto Rico’s stories and histories across literary genre and a range of styles, and who affirm the vital significance of the word through their work.”

Below are this year’s fellows.

Fiction:

Amina Lolita Gautier

Cezanne Cardona Morales

Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa

Francisco Font Acevedo

Juanluís Ramos

Luis Negrón

Manolo Núñez Negrón

Sergio Gutiérrez Negrón

Creative Nonfiction:

Mercy Romero

Vanessa Mártir

Xavier Valcárcel de Jesús

Yara Liceaga Rojas

Poetry:

Amanda Hernández Vélez

Carmen R. Marín

Francisco Félix

Jonatan María Reyes

Maria Teresa Fernández Rosario a.k.a. Mariposa

Martín Espada

Mónica A. Jiménez

Children’s Literature:

Mrinali Álvarez Astacio