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APRIL | MAY 2022 • IDAHO SENIOR INDEPENDENT SPOTLIGhTS PAGE 15

Idaho’s Writers in Residence

Idaho applicants have their writing samples program at Western Colorado University.
BY KAThLEEN MULROY judged by a panel of out-of-state writers, As Idaho Writer in Residence, she travels
after which the panel makes a recom- throughout the state to conduct readings
Idaho’s first Poet Laureate (later called mendation to the Commission. Finally, and talk about her craft.
Writer in Residence), Irene Grissom, was the governor approves the Commission’s 2018-2020 IDAhO WRITER IN
appointed in 1923 by the governor. Grissom choice. RESIDENCE: MALIA COLLINS
was a Colorado native and graduate of 2021-2023 IDAhO WRITER IN Boise resident Malia Collins was named
Colorado State Teacher’s College, who RESIDENCE: CMARIE FUhRMAN Writer in Residence in 2018. She received
moved to Idaho later in life. She wrote CMarie Fuhrman, who lives in western an MA in Literature from the University
three novels and three poetry collections, Idaho, holds an MFA in Creative Writing of Hawaii, Manoa, and an MFA in Creative
including Verse of the New West, and served from the University of Idaho, and a BA Writing from Boise State University.
as Poet Laureate until her death in Idaho from the University of Idaho, in English She also studied French literature at
Falls in 1946. and Creative Writing. She is co-editor L’Universite Stendhal in France on a Rotary
The next laureate was named to the of the soon-to-be-published Cascadia: A Ambassadorial Scholarship.
honorary position in 1949. Sudie Stuart Field Guide Through Art, Ecology and Poetry An associate professor of English and
Hager was a former Oklahoman who (Mountaineers Press, 2023), author of Creative Writing at the College of Western
taught school in Kimberly, Idaho, while Camped Beneath the Dam: Poems (Floodgate Idaho, Collins is also co-director of the CWI
writing poetry. Her best-known collection 2020), and co-editor, with Dean Rader, of Visiting Writer Series, Writers and Words.
was Earthbound. Native Voices: Indigenous American Poetry, She is a teaching artist with the Idaho
Following Hager’s death in 1982, Craft and Conversations (Tupelo 2019). Commission on the Arts.
Governor John Evans appointed a five-mem- Fuhrman has published poetry and Collins’ published works include two
ber panel of Idahoans to select a new Poet nonfiction in several anthologies and Hawaiian-themed children’s books and
Laureate. The panel recommended the name journals, like Emergence Magazine; Yellow numerous short stories, which have
of the position be changed to Writer in Medicine Review; Cutthroat, A Journal of the appeared in a variety of literary maga-
Residence and it be open to all Idaho writers Arts; Whitefish Review; Poetry Northwest; and zines. She was also a contributing writer
of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. Other Platform Review. to the book, Narrative Thread: Sewn Stories
agreed-upon changes included the Writer Fuhrman is a frequent columnist for the of Refugee Journeys to Idaho.
serving a two-year term, being paid $5,000 Inlander, translations editor for Broadsided Other Idaho Writers in Residence (since
annually, and giving 12 public readings of Press, non-fiction editor for High Desert 2000) have included Christian Winn, Diane
their works each year. Journal, and Director of the Elk River Writers Raptosh, William Johnson, Anthony Doeer,
Today, the Idaho Commission on the Arts Workshop. She is also Director, with a Poetry Kim Barnes, and Jim Irons. ISI
oversees the Writer in Residence program. Concentration, for the low-residency MFA

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