Anna Vodicka

Anna Vodicka’s essays have appeared or are forthcoming in Brevity, The Iowa Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, Ninth Letter, Shenandoah, and elsewhere. She grew up in the lakes region of rural northern Wisconsin, is a graduate of Tufts University and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Idaho, where she taught composition and creative writing and completed a collection of essays, Hope Is a Thing. She is a grant recipient of the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies and currently writes from Spokane.

Anna received a 2012 GAP GAP to support the completion of her first book, an in-progress memoir-in-fragments that reflects the themes of rural America and religiosity. Her essays are deeply rooted in the rural American experience and relate thematically to place, environment, religion, feminist issues, and the mentality of the cult in the hopes of illuminating the unspoken and fostering empathy. By offsetting costs of living and the financial burdens of part-time work, GAP funding would encourage the time to write and support the completion of the book. Additionally, a portion of GAP funding would go toward the purchase of a new laptop, which is crucial to the success of the project.