The Speculative Literature Foundation is pleased to announce LD Lewis as the winner of the 2017 Working Class Writers Grant.
Lewis, who volunteers as Art Director for FIYAH Literary Magazine for Black Speculative fiction, primarily writes fantasy centering Black women and femmes in extraordinary worlds and with extraordinary power. She intends to make a living writing fantasy one day, and is well on the path to do so. The writing sample she submitted as part of her application for the grant will be published on April 24th as a novella by Dancing Star Press under the title, “A Ruin of Shadows,” and takes place in her Three Known Worlds Universe.
Working Class Writers Grant juror Rebecca Gibson said this of Lewis’ winning entry: “LD Lewis has created characters who stride off the page into your brain, provoking real emotions and responses. You can smell the sea of her opening pages, and taste the dust stirred up by her war rhinos. Her exciting story makes you need to know what happens next!”
“A Ruin of Shadows” isn’t Lewis’ first foray into the Three Known Worlds, though. Her short story, “Chesirah”, published in the Winter 2017 Rebirth issue of FIYAH Literary Magazine, also takes place in that universe.
Honorable Mentions for the 2017 Working Class Grant go to LL Madrid, Peg Rousar-Thompson, and Mica Kole for their entertaining and thought-provoking submissions, which made the selection of the winner a difficult but enjoyable process for our jurors.
The $750 Working Class Grant is intended to support working class, blue-collar, poor, and homeless writers who have been historically underrepresented in speculative fiction due to the financial barriers that have made it much harder for them to have access to the writing world.
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Click here for more information on the Working Class Writers Grant.
Questions about the Working Class Grant process may be directed to our grants administrator at grants@speclit.org
