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2021 Quarry Farm Fellows Announced

Elmira, NY (01/12/2021) — The Center for Mark Twain Studies is offering eleven Quarry Farm fellowships and one smaller artist's residency in 2021 to scholars, writers, and artists working in the field of Mark Twain Studies. The fellowships provide the Fellows an opportunity to work on academic or creative projects at Quarry Farm, the family home of Twain's sister- and brother-in-law, Susan and Theodore Crane.

Twain and his family lived at Quarry Farm for over twenty summers. During this time, in an octagonal study located about one hundred yards from the main house, Mark Twain wrote the majority of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, and many other major works. Fellows are consistently struck by the beauty and quiet of the home and its surroundings, an environment inspiring in its own right and especially conducive to writing and research.

Reflecting the mission of the Center for Mark Twain Studies, Quarry Farm Fellowships foster and support scholarship and creative works related to Mark Twain, including, but not limited to, his literature, life, family, associations, influences, reception, and significance. The fellowship selection process aims to assist scholars and artists in producing work of highest distinction and cultivate a diverse community of scholars across backgrounds, specializations, and ranks.

Mark Twain was interested in a myriad of different subjects. The Quarry Farm Fellowships reflect Twain's insatiable curiosity. Not only are scholars in the field of literature and history encouraged to apply, but applicants from any academic or creative field are eligible for fellowships. While projects focusing on a critical analysis of Twain's literary corpus are common, projects emerging from cultural studies, media studies, gender studies, environmental science, political science, economics, and the creative arts are also most welcome.

The Center for Mark Twain Studies is honored to announce the 2021 Class of Quarry Farm Fellows:

  • Jillian Spivey Caddell, lecturer in nineteenth-century American literature at the University of Kent, Canterbury, UK
  • Courtney DeRusha, senior masonry student at Alfred State College
  • Fred L. Gardaphe, distinguished professor of English and Italian/American studies at Queens College/CUNY and the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute
  • Alexsandra Hernandez, postdoctoral associate in the Department of English and an Affiliated Faculty Member in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Miami
  • Ryan Heryford, assistant professor of environmental literature in the Department of English at California State University, East Bay
  • Clifton Hood, George E. Paulsen '49 Professor of American History and Government at Hobart and William Smith Colleges
  • Bob Ievers, freelance painter living in the Finger Lakes region of New York State
  • Barbara Ladd, professor of English at Emory University
  • Alan Rankin, writer and independent researcher
  • Laura Rice, professor emerita in the School of Writing, Literature and Film at Oregon State University
  • Merav Schocken, PhD candidate in English at the University of California, Santa Barbara
  • Mika Turin-Nygren, American literature faculty member at Bard High School Early College DC, part of the Bard College network

Visit CMTS online to learn more about each Fellow and their projects.

Media Attachments

The Center for Mark Twain Studies announces the 2021 Class of Quarry Farm Fellows.

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