MFA George Floyd Memorial Award

submitted by symes@augsburg.edu

The Augsburg University MFA Program in Creative Writing is pleased to announce the winner of our George Floyd Memorial Award — the poet Valérie Déus.

Valérie Déus is a poet, film programmer, and radio show host. Her work has been featured in Minnesota Women’s Press, The Brooklyn Rail, Midway, Saint Paul Almanac, The BeZine and, most recently, A Garden of Black Joy anthology and Under Purple Skies: A Minneapolis Anthology. When she’s not writing, she is the host of Project 35, a local low-fi radio show featuring music from all over the diaspora and poetry on KRSM – 98.9 FM. She curates FilmNorth’s Cinema Lounge and is the Shorts Programmer for the Provincetown Film Society & Festival.

Augsburg University created this award to support and celebrate writers that show great promise in their ability to further dismantle anti-Black racism, racism, white supremacy, and other forms of oppression. The award covers the cost of tuition for the MFA program’s three required summer residency sessions and provides a reduced rate for the remaining credit hours needed for the degree.

Owing to the strength of the candidates for this award, Augsburg University was able to provide a second scholarship to Minnesota-based fiction writer Hawo Jama.

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