Central to our work at The Freya Project is our belief in the voices of women and non-binary people, and the transformative power of storytelling.
Which is why we are so thrilled to support writers Teri Ellen Cross Davis, Chanice Hughes-Greenberg, Danielle Lazarin, and Litia Perta with our 2019 grants to readers. Each of them will receive unrestricted $1,000 grants to support their writing in any way they choose.
These grants, called Meret Grants after the Egyptian goddess of rejoicing, will provide Teri, Chanice, and Danielle with essential support for their work.
This year, we also introduced our Juno Grant, which we awarded to Litia. Also an unrestricted $1000 grant, Juno grants support former readers who are also parents.
Congratulations to this year’s winners! Read more about them and their many accomplishments below.
Teri Ellen Cross Davis
MERET GRANT
Teri Ellen Cross Davis is the author of Haint (Gival Press) winner of the 2017 Ohioana Book Award for Poetry. She has attended Cave Canem, the Soul Mountain Writer’s Retreat, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. Her work can be read in many anthologies and journals including: Not Without Our Laughter: poems of joy, humor, and sexuality and The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 2: Black Girl Magic and Harvard Review, Little Patuxent Review, North American Review, Poet Lore, and Tin House.
Learn More: poetsandparents.com
“Knowing the history of the name for the Meret grants and seeing how incredibly useful and needed the Freya Project is right now, I am so thrilled and excited about this grant and having worked with you all.
Shortly after receiving this grant, I was awarded a scholarship to attend the 2019 Squaw Valley Poetry Workshop. The scholarship covered housing and tuition. Thanks to the Meret grant, I would have the funds to purchase a flight to California and still get small laptop on which to write and revise a second collection of poems. As a poet, I took a leap when I wrote the lyric essay I read at the DC 2018 event. Receiving this grant is like someone giving me a hand back and saying ‘leap again.’ ”
Chanice Hughes-Greenberg
MERET GRANT
Chanice Hughes-Greenberg is a poet, Capricorn, & playlist enthusiast hailing from upstate New York by way of Long Island. Her work has appeared in Caketrain, Horse Less Review, Big Lucks, Studio Magazine & No, Dear Magazine. She has participated in readings with The Poetry Project, Cave Canem, Poets & Writers, & The Freya Project. She is also the creator of Who Is She, a newsletter that celebrates creative women. Chanice received a BFA in Writing from Pratt Institute & was a finalist for The Poetry Project's 2018-19 Emerge-Surface-Be Fellowship. She resides in Bed Stuy with her cat Huxley & drinks rosé year round.
Learn More: chanicehughesgreenberg.com
Tweet: @ohheychanice
Gram: @ohheychanice
“I’m so honored to win this grant, as it will help spread the impact of Who Is She and grow it from a digital space into a physical one.”
Danielle Lazarin
MERET GRANT
Danielle Lazarin is the author of the short story collection Back Talk. Her fiction has been published in, amongst other places, The Southern Review, BuzzFeed, Colorado Review, Glimmer Train, Boston Review, and Electric Literature, and her nonfiction has been featured in Lenny Letter, The Cut, and The New York Times. Her work has been honored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance, the Glimmer Train Family Matters Award, Hopwood Awards, and the Millay Colony for the Arts. She lives in her native New York, where she is at work on a novel.
“I’m getting closer and closer on my novel draft, but honestly, also having the weeks where it’s like, ‘oh god can I do this, really, and how long will it take?’ And this recognition feels like a yes from the goddesses (that’s you two [Nonie Brzyski and Natalka Burian, Freya Project Founders], who benevolently oversee an army of strong women working to make the world more connected through writing).
On a practical level, this money is going right into the childcare budget so I can squeeze some more working days out of my summer. I’m so grateful and honored to have this boost to get me over the finish line of this book.”
Litia Perta
JUNO GRANT
Litia Perta is a writer, mother, sister, daughter, friend. She writes frequently about art and love, and her recent writing has appeared in Hyperallergic and Hold: a journal. She is currently completing three book projects: a critique of the violence in American higher education and the imprint it leaves on the arts; a book about radical caregiving and queer parenting; and a collection of essays on sex, loss, and writing. For now, she lives in Los Angeles with her twin flame adventurer, their child, and a black cat named Lucha Libre.
Learn More: litiaperta.com
“The Freya Project was a turning point in my parenting life—I hadn’t been out or read in public in so long... the room quieted like an invitation and the fact that we were all there to help support other women, other women starting their stories over (“new chapter” was the theme of the reading), was life-giving in the most profound of ways. Thank you so much for what you do. It was a deep gift to be given.”