Meet the 2026-2027 Emerging Writer Fellows: Tiffany Kim, DeAnna Yvette, and Anthony Febo. Every year, GrubStreet awards the Emerging Writer Fellowship to three talented writers who demonstrate a passion and commitment to their writing. We could not be more excited to congratulate and welcome Tiffany, DeAnna, and Febo!
Tiffany Kim grew up in Seoul with a Korean mother and an American father. Caught between cultures since the day she was born, she explores the invisible textures of living and loving while feeling illegible to the world. Her background in management consulting informs her critique of achievement culture and its effects on mental health. She is also fascinated by prose written through a scientific lens that is grounded in nature and the body. She will be attending Harvard University this August for an MPH in Health Management. When not writing or studying, she enjoys cooking Korean food, Netflix, and skiing on a budget. You can find her at @tiffany_k001 on Instagram and tiffany__kim on TikTok.
What does being selected for this fellowship mean to you?
I never thought I would allow myself to be a writer, having abandoned my dreams of being a novelist in elementary school in the pursuit of more STEM-oriented paths. Having people respond to my writing now has been incredibly validating and healing for the little girl inside me who gave up on herself. I plan on using this incredible opportunity to tighten my craft and receive guidance from veterans in the industry. I’m also looking forward to expanding into my nascent fields of interest, including screenwriting, essay writing, and poetry. More than anything, I’m excited to meet and befriend peers in GrubStreet’s community, and share in its welcoming culture.
DeAnna Yvette (she/her) is a Chicago-based writer. She explores Blackness, queerness, place, and belonging through historical narratives with a speculative twist. As a writer and reader draw to Southern Gothic fiction, historical fiction, and magical realism, her work often centers haunting, conjuring, and unsettled histories. She is currently at work on a novel and short story collection. You can find her reading, writing, and resting on Instagram @annayvettewrites.
What does being selected for this fellowship mean to you?
For me, being selected for GrubStreet’s Emerging Writer Fellowship means that I have the rare opportunity to build momentum in my creative education. Because creative writing courses can be so expensive, I haven’t had the opportunity to take full advantage of classes and workshops that are available at places like GrubStreet. I’m thrilled to dive into a year-long creative education without cost as a hindrance. I also see the fellowship as an opportunity to build a community of writers who understand the layered histories and imaginative possibilities in my work. As a queer Black writer, I often feel like I have to overexplain the historical and cultural logics that guide my stories during workshops and have craved a sustained community of storytellers who understand the stakes of the stories I write.
Anthony Febo is a Puerto Rican poet, teaching artist, and new dad living in Riverside, RI. Febo has been performing, teaching spoken word and theatre for over 18 years in the greater Boston area. In the classroom, Febo treats each workshop as its own celebration. He draws on his experiences in theatre spaces, museums, arts nonprofits, and art centers to provide the participants with the tools they need for their success. As an artist, Febo has toured the country individually and as half of the cooking and poetry duo Adobo-Fish-Sauce: a cooking and poetry collaboration. His first book of poems, Becoming an Island, published by Game Over Books, is a practice in actively choosing joy in the face of what is trying to break you.
What does being selected for this fellowship mean to you?
It means so much to me to be selected for this fellowship considering I've focused on and hid behind my stage presence for so long that I started to lose faith in my writing. Being part of the Emerging Writer Fellowship is proof that I don't need to hide, that my words can take up space on the page, that the years I've spent crafting my performance gives me a different understanding of my voice. And I cannot wait to sharpen that voice and learn about the publishing side of things knowing that GrubStreet has my back.