The Horror Writers Association Announces Winners of Scholarships and Grants
13 Winners of Grants, Endowments, and Scholarships Awarded in 2022
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Los Angeles, CA – The Horror Writers Association (HWA) offers a variety of scholarships and grants to assist writers looking
to pursue a career as a writer of horror fiction, nonfiction, or poetry. The nonprofit membership organization also provides an endowment program for libraries looking to expand their young adult reading programs. This year, the HWA awards 13 scholarships, grants, and endowments, for a total value of $15,650 (USD).
John Palisano, President of the HWA, says, “We proudly salute the recipients of this year’s scholarships, grants, and endowments. There is an incredible array of talent on the list. On behalf of the HWA, we wish them continued success on their writing journey.”
Recipients of HWA scholarships, grants, and endowments 2022 include:
The Horror Writers Association Scholarship
Rob Flumignan (Rob Cornell, pen name) – Whether it’s a covert-ops team of vampire assassins or a greedy dragon who lives under Detroit’s MGM Grand Casino, most of Rob Cornell’s stories feature some element of the dark and fantastic. He has self-published over a dozen novels, including two dark fantasy sagas – The Lockman Chronicles and the Unturned series. He has also dabbled in the mystery and crime genres, including a three-book series featuring private eye and karaoke bar owner, Ridley Brone. In his most recently completed novel, A Shadow Full of Stars, a “life transplant” offered by an unsettling stranger sends a suicidal musician to an isolated and oppressive utopia designed to keep its residents happy at all costs. Rob hopes to publish this one sometime in 2023.
A native of the Detroit area, Cornell spent a handful of years living in both Los Angeles and Chicago before returning to Michigan where he now lives with his wife, kids, three dogs, four cats, and (grudgingly) a bunch of evil chickens.
For more information visit: RobCornellbooks.com
The Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Scholarship
Mary Berman – Mary Berman is a Philadelphia, PA, USA-based writer of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. She earned her MFA in creative writing from the University of Mississippi, and she also holds a BA in Writing Seminars from Johns Hopkins University. Her stories can be found in PseudoPod, Fireside, Weird Horror, Shoreline of Infinity, and elsewhere.
She is a member of the Pitch Wars class of 2021 and the Viable Paradise class of 2022, as well as an active member of SFWA and HWA.
For more information visit: MtgBerman.com
Newsletter: mtgberman.substack.com
Twitter: @mtgberman
Instagram: @mtgberman
The Dark Poetry Scholarship
Tania Chen – Tania Chen is a Chinese-Mexican queer writer. Their work has been published in Unfettered Hexes by Neon Hemlock, Strange Horizons, Pleiades Magazine, Apparition Lit and Baffling. They are a first reader for Nightmare Magazine, a graduate of the Clarion West Novella Bootcamp workshop of January/Feb 2021 and assistant editor for Uncanny Magazine.
For more information follow them on Twitter: @archistratego
The Rocky Wood Memorial Scholarship Fund for Non-fiction Writing
Gillian King-Cargile – Gillian King-Cargile is receiving this award for her work with They’re Coming to Get You, Barbara: A Gal’s Guide to Surviving and Thriving in Horror, which examines the role of the female survivor in horror, employing both feminist film theory and irreverent commentary.
Gillian King-Cargile earned her BA in film production and an MFA in creative writing from Southern Illinois University. She has worked with schools, libraries, universities, and national labs to create exciting stories, games, events, and even stand-up comedy routines that spark a love of reading and learning. A member of the Horror Writers Association and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, King-Cargile has published picture books, middle-grade nonfiction books, and longer work for readers of all ages. Her short stories have appeared in McSweeney’s Internet Tendencies, Carve Magazine, Everyday Fiction, River Styx, 3 Elements, Hello Horror, and other publications. Her short story, “The Dead Kid,” received a Pushcart Prize Special Mention and was adapted into an award-winning short film.
For more information visit: GillianKingCargile.com
Louise Zedda-Sampson – Louise is receiving this award for her work with a history of horror in Australia.
Louise Zedda-Sampson is an Australian writer, researcher and editor. Louise has edited/co-edited several anthologies and was a AHWA Shadows Awards Finalist for Trickster’s Treats 4: Coming Buried or Not! [2020]. Her short fiction has appeared in numerous publications, and her horror articles have appeared online at This is Horror, Horror Tree and Horror Oasis. Her debut book Bowl the Maidens Over: Our First Women Cricketers [2021] examines the Australian women cricketers’ first games in the 1870s.
For more information visit: LouiseZeddaSampson.com
The Dennis Etchison Young Writers Scholarship
The HWA had a recipient for the Dennis Etchison Young Writers Award. This year a single winner was chosen out of twenty-seven applicants. The winner is a minor and their name and likeness will not be released due to privacy laws. The HWA congratulates this fantastic winner and look forward to their future contributions to the horror field.
The Diversity Grants
Chinaza Eziaghighala (she/her) – Chinaza Eziaghighala is a medical doctor (House Officer), featured on WHO Africa, who tells stories. An interdisciplinary writer at the intersection of health, film, and literature, she is a 2021 University of Iowa International Writing Program Alum and 2022 Voodoonauts Fellow. She is an SFWA member. Her works are in/forthcoming BSFA’s Fission #2 Vol 1 Anthology, Mythaxis, Planet Scumm, Metastellar, Brittle Paper, Hellboundbooks and BSFA’s Focus. CHIMERA, her debut novella, is forthcoming in 2024 from Nosetouch Press. She works as a Screenwriter for Africa Magic/Multichoice and is training to become a Film Developmental Executive with Jungle Film Works.
For more information visit: ChinazaEziaghighala.disha.page
Twitter: @chinazaezims
Facebook: Chinaza Ebere Eziaghighala
Instagram: Chinazaeziaghighala
LinkedIn: Chinaza Ebere Eziaghighala
Youtube: Chinaza Ebere Eziaghighala
Darcy Marie Hughes (e/em/eir/eirs/emself) – The poet, TTRPG designer/streamer, fiction writer, and editor with 18 names (including Emily Flummox, Tristissima, & Skunkheart) competed nationally twice during eir decade-long slam career. Much of eir poetry, notably “Sacred Purification Ritual Using Your Own Urine Instead of Water”, focuses on identifying with the divinity of the disgusting.
E’s performed eir stories “Civilization Stained These Young Things” and “The Fog of Time Means We’re Everywhere” during the San Francisco Leather Cultural District’s Erotic Storytelling Hour; the former’s been published in Scry of Lust 2. An excerpt from eir Spiritualist space-fantasy novel Aduality{0≠2;100=108} appeared in Wickedly Abled.
For more information visit: Linktr.ee/queermythopoeia
Facebook: Gandalfina Face-and-Heart
Twitter: @tristissima
Instagram: @bimbomagick_sasquatchstyle
Naching T. Kassa (she/her) – Naching T. Kassa is a wife, mother, and horror writer. She serves as an assistant at Crystal Lake Publishing and is a proud member of the Horror Writers Association, Mystery Writers of America, and several Sherlock Holmes Scions. Naching resides in Eastern Washington State with her husband, Dan, and their three children.
For more information visit: Nachingkassa.wordpress.com
Facebook: Shademistress
Twitter: @nachingkassa
Instagram: @nachingkassa
Ian Muneshwar (he/they) – Ian is a Boston-based writer and teacher. His short fiction has sold to venues such as Strange Horizons, Nightmare, and The Dark, and has been selected for The Year’s Best Weird Fiction and Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror. Ian has taught writing in the Transitional Year Program at Brandeis University, in the Experimental College at Tufts University, and in Clarion West’s online programming.
For more information visit: IanMuneshwar.com
Instagram: @ianmuneshwar
Meemee Taylor (she/her) – Meemee is a Louisiana-raised, Los Angeles-based author and screenwriter of psychological thrillers, horror, and creature features with a touch of humor. She was the July 2022 Winner of the Roadmap Career Writers Program Diversity Initiative with her horror TV pilot, The Vessel. She was also a top 10 Finalist in the Women Write Now 2022 Program and has had horror short stories published in the anthology, The Memory Eater, and on the Yahoo Contributors Network. An avid world runner, her favorite race will always be the local Run For Your Lives 5k, where “zombies” chased her throughout the course.
For more information follow her on Twitter: @mtaylor_writer
Young Adults Write Now Endowment Program
Both of the following libraries will receive $250 to help fund teen writing programs as part of the HWA’s ongoing dedication to furthering young adult literacy:
McCracken County Public Library – Paducah, KY
Telltale Stories, administered by Justin Brasher, Library Director.
Woodland Hills Academy Library – Woodland Hills, CA
Teen Wolfpack Horror Writer’s Club, administered by Neva Galvez, Teacher Librarian.
About the Horror Writers Association:
The HWA is a nonprofit organization of writers and publishing professionals around the world, dedicated to promoting dark literature and the interests of those who write it. The HWA aims to encourage public interest in and foster an appreciation of horror and dark literature — as well as reading, in general — for adults, teens, and children. For more information about our scholarship program, please visit our scholarship website.
