Rainbow Weekend Scholarship Recipients

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Please join us in congratulating the recipients of the 2019 Rainbow Weekend scholarships! These awards were made possible by a partnership with We Need Diverse Books, donations from supportive publishing industry professionals, and our incredible Rainbow Weekend Faculty.

Barry Goldblatt Scholarship for Queer Writer of Color

medina (they/them/their) is a Honduran nonbinary trans adoptee with Cerebral Palsy who lives in Brooklyn. Their words have appeared in: them, Into, Yes Poetry, Hello Giggles and The Establishment. They are a first year MFA candidate in Writing for Children at The New School. As a New School Impact Entrepreneur Graduate Fellow, their venture is to create a platform for LGBTQIA+ Youth of Color (@inQluded). Twitter: @medinawrites
 

Greenhouse Literary Scholarship

Moe Shalabi is a Palestinian-American author. He has written multiple manuscripts and short stories, one of which was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. He has also interned at literary agencies including Folio Literary and Talcott Notch where he worked as a junior agent with Paula Munier. He was also mentored by Neil Connelly, author of Into the Hurricane and The Miracle Stealer as part of a competitive mentorship program.
 
When he isn’t working on his novels, he can be seen outlining for a new one. Moe likes to write adult fiction sprinkled with hints of magical realism and young adult literary fiction and fantasy. His stories are inspired by his diverse background growing up in the Middle East and are usually written to help him answer life’s more difficult questions. He earned a Masters degree in Applied Cognition and Neuroscience from the University of Texas at Dallas and currently works as a Foreign Language Analyst in Washington D.C. Twitter: @Agent_Moe
 

Hachette Scholarship

cara davis makes up a lot of young adult stories with mythical  creatures and scary situations. Occasionally she writes kissing books, and sometimes she combines all three.

When not writing, she spends her spare time bothering her cat and her partner, watching Bob’s Burgers, and eating unreasonable amounts of popcorn. She lives in the Kansas City, Missouri, area and is still struggling to adjust to the sight of wild turkeys.

Hachette Scholarship

Born and raised in the Kansas City, Missouri metro, Adrianne Russell has spent most of her life making things up, and the only thing she loves more than reading grand adventures is writing them. She fully believes that if you’re unsure what to do with your characters, having them kiss or die (and occasionally both) will unstick any plot.

When she’s not writing, she can be found napping, watching documentaries, and taste-testing baked goods.

 

Candlewick Press Scholarship

Mary E. Cronin writes poetry, essays, and fiction for young readers. She earned an
MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She is currently at work on a middle-grade novel, as well as picture books and poetry collections. Mary’s poetry, recently published in Provincetown Magazine and the anthology Hashtag Queer vol. 2, has been twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She has been awarded grants and scholarships from the Highlights Foundation, the New England SCBWI, the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod, and local cultural councils. Her work has been featured in poetry anthologies, in the Cape Cod Times, WBUR’s Cognoscenti, Shewired.com, and on WCAI-FM, the public radio station of the Cape and Islands.
 
Mary grew up in the Bronx and now lives on Cape Cod with her wife. At Cape Cod Community College, she teaches early childhood education courses and is a writing tutor in a program supporting first-generation college students. She is an early literacy trainer for Cape Cod Head Start programs and has taught creative writing at local schools and at the Barnstable County Correctional Facility. As a lesbian parent, educator, and writer, Mary lectures on the intersection of LGBTQ topics and children’s literature. You can reach her at www.maryecronin.com or on Twitter @maryecronin. Mary is represented by Linda Camacho of Gallt &
Zacker Literary Agency.
 

Cori & Amy Rose Scholarship

Trisha Kelly (she/her/hers) is a recent graduate of Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, where she majored in Film Studies. She has been writing for over a decade in the areas of YA and MG, as well as some adult fiction, and is always looking for ways to include aspects of the queer experience in her books. Although she writes across genres, she finds herself at home in the realm of speculative fiction; both of her favorite projects so far include queer witches. When not writing or freelance editing, you can find her watching reality television or doting on her small pack of dogs. She’s so excited to engage in conversation with other queer artists at the Writing Barn!

Cori and Amy Rose Scholarship

Kathryn M. Amato writes the queer novels she needed growing up…stories about smart, flawed, brave girls finding friendship and love.

Kathryn grew up all over the United States: bouncing from North Carolina, to Hawai’i, to Illinois, and finally settling in New England. She has a degree in International Studies from Loyola University Chicago and a Master of Arts in Teaching from The University of Pittsburgh. When Kathryn isn’t writing she can usually be found gawking at plants, cooking elaborate meals, or being pulled down the sidewalk by her dog.

Pippin Properties Scholarship

Jonathan Lenore Kastin is a queer, trans poet and writer. He has an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts and his poems can be found in Mythic Delirium, Goblin Fruit, Liminality, and Abyss & Apex. He lives with a murderous cat, too many books, and a frightening number of skulls. You can find him on twitter at @JLKastin.

Agent Scholarship*

Alexandra Abraham is English major by day, your friendly neighborhood bookseller by night (and most weekends). She grew up just outside Providence, Rhode Island. Naturally indecisive and curious, she’s studied creative writing, literature, environmental science, and classical civilizations between Emerson College, Boston University, and the American College of Greece. In addition to reading and writing diverse stories about magical, complicated kids, she loves playing with dogs and hanging out with her equally-curious seven-year-old sister. Though her dream is to one day live on an enchanted apple orchard which can only be found by those who need it, she currently calls Massachusetts home. You can find her online as @allyabe where she frequently shouts in her Twitter series, “Queer Books for Cool Kids.”

*The Agent Scholarship is made possible through the generous support of Roseanne Wells, Kurestin Armada, Bibi Lewis, Erin Casey, Lauren Bieker, Caitlen Rubino-Bradway.

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