January 30, 2007
Joseph wins Illinois Arts Council fellowship
Allison E. Joseph
The council awarded $7,000 to the scholar in recognition of her outstanding work and commitment within the arts. The Artists Fellowship Program offers funding for 12 artistic disciplines on a two-year rotating cycle. Judges selected this year's 75 fellowship and finalist award recipients from 826 creative artists working in the disciplines of interdisciplinary/computer art, music composition, photography, poetry and visual arts.
Joseph was "stunned" when she heard she made the cut. "I've had an Illinois Arts Council Fellowship in Poetry before, but that was about 10 years ago. As a writer, I apply for a lot of
things, knowing that usually the award will go to someone else." she said.
As head of SIUC's master's program in creative writing, Joseph is busy teaching students to use words to express themselves but she's never too busy to compose her own art.
"Right now, I'm working on my sixth collection of poetry. I have a sabbatical coming up in 2008, so I hope to pull the collection into final form then," Joseph said.