The Kapnick Foundation Distinguished Writer-in-Residence (DWIR) Program is made possible by a generous gift of the Kapnick family. In the tradition of William Faulkner’s legendary residencies at the University in 1957 and 1958, the program brings writers of international stature to Charlottesville for extended stays to teach and engage with the UVA student body, both at the graduate and undergraduate levels, and to leave a lasting mark on the literary community.
M. NourbeSe Philip is the 2026 Kapnick Foundation Distinguished Writer-in-Residence
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The University of Virginia Creative Writing Program is pleased to announce our incoming Kapnick Foundation Distinguished Writer-in-Residence for 2026-2027 is celebrated poet, novelist, essayist, and playwright M. NourbeSe Philip.
Philip will be on Grounds for the month of September to read from her work and deliver craft talks at public events as well as working closely with the students in our writing programs. While in residence, Philip will be an integral part of the Creating Writing community, bringing a richness and complexity of language, history, memory and culture to the ongoing work of the word.
The Poetry Foundation writes, "M. NourbeSe Philip was born in Tobago. She earned a BSc from the University of the West Indies and an MA and LLB from the University of Western Ontario. Philip was a practicing lawyer for seven years before turning full-time to writing. She is the author of works of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. Her collections of poetry include Thorns (1980); Salmon Courage(1983); She Tries Her Tongue (1989); Her Silence Softly Breaks (1988), which won a Casa de las Américas Prize for Literature; and Zong! (2008), a polyvocal, book-length poem concerning slavery and the legal system."
Philip's monumental and celebrated book Zong! , a "182 page poetry cycle [...] composed entirely from the words of the case report, Gregson vs. Gilbert, related to the murder of Africans on board a slave ship at the end of the eighteenth century", remains a "haunting lifeline between archive and memory, law and poetry".
As part of her Residency, she will be giving a Poetry Reading (September 10) and two Craft Talks (September 16 and September 22). For more information, please see our Events page.
The Kapnick Distinguished Writer-in-Residence position has been held by the following writers:
| Camille Dungy | 8/15/24 |
| Jesse Ball | 8/20/23 |
| Rabih Alameddine | 9/1/22 |
| Rabih Alameddine | 8/25/21 |
| Brenda Hillman | 2/15/21 |
| Ann Beattie | 9/1/19 |
| Mark Doty | 8/30/18 |
| Mark Doty | 9/12/17 |
| Junot Diaz | 2/1/17 |
| Lydia Davis | 10/1/16 |
| Caryl Phillips | 4/1/16 |
| James Salter | 9/1/14 |