Storyteller Foundation Announces First Three Scholarship Winners for Her Spirit Story Summit
Catrice Greer, Celeste Keplin, and Babs Cheung to Attend
Jane Sibbett, chairperson of the Storyteller Foundation and faculty member of Story Summit, announces the first three scholarship awards for the Her Spirit Story Summit. The writers’ conference takes place in December 2022 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and will be attended by more than one hundred women writers.
“The Storyteller Foundation is thrilled to sponsor these women writers from the BIPOC, LGBQT+, and disabled communities,” says Sibbett. “We know that their voices will encourage social change.”
“We are dedicated to promoting inclusion,” adds Candace Green Blust, chief of diversity at the Storyteller Foundation. “These three recipients reflect that inclusion, which is so important for authentic diverse representation in story.”
The first three winners are Catrice Greer, Celeste Keplin, and Babs Cheung.
Catrice Greer is a Baltimore-based literary artist. Her poetic work explores a range of topics, including mental health, trauma, healing, sciences, nature, astronomy, transcendence, spirituality, identity, heritage, and cultural ancestry.
She is a 2021 Pushcart Prize Nominee and served as a Cheltenham Poetry Festival Poet-in-Residence. Currently, she is a Yellow Arrow Publishing Writer in Residence. She is founder and teaching artist of a trauma-informed, nature and poetry workshop series. Catrice is the former co-editor for Lapidus Magazine (UK), Guest Editor for Ice Floe Press, and a contributing writer/reviewer for Fevers of the Mind.
Greer participates as an artist with mental health organizations such as Pro Bono Counseling and Behavioral Health System Baltimore to promote mental health awareness. She is a trained Volunteer Mental Health Support Group Facilitator and presenter for NAMI Metro Baltimore and HUT (Healing Us Together) through BHSB. She is a committee member and artist presenter for Healing City Baltimore.
“I’m elated and honored to be a Rainbow Fund scholarship recipient! Thank you!” writes Greer. “This is an amazing opportunity to grow and be supported as a writer while in community with seasoned professionals and peers.”
Celeste Keplin, a Chippewa and Cree member of the Turtle Mountain Tribe of North Dakota, is a First Nations storyteller.
A first-prize win in the National Tribal College writing contest gave Celeste the impetus to pursue a degree in creative writing at Southern Oregon University, where her studies and degree will be complete just after her 63rd birthday, in the spring of 2023. Celeste’s life goal has advanced as well. She will be the creator of the first All-First Nations Christian Magazine, for and by indigenous writers.
“After the last three years in the academic atmosphere of honing my writing skills, to now being actually awarded this, I feel indescribably blessed,” says Celeste. “The scholarship is an awesome award. It is so much more an achievement than anything I’ve accomplished before, and I wish to absorb everything offered by this Story Summit. It is such a sweet honor!”
Babs Cheung received her BA in philosophy from Saint Francis College in Brooklyn, New York. Cheung now resides in Harlem where she draws inspiration for her work, from her vibrant neighborhood and community.
“I am beyond excited and grateful to be named one of the Rainbow Fund scholarship winners for Her Spirit 2022, “ says Cheung. “Writer was not a title I was allowed to own. I already feel a deep transformation starting within, bridging that disconnection between writing as a skill and writing because I am a writer. I can now confidently call myself a writer and reconnect with my childhood dreams of becoming a great storyteller. Thank you, Storyteller Foundation!”
If you would like to meet other finalists for Storyteller Foundation Scholarships, please check out the video below. This video includes not only finalists for Her Spirit but for other scholarship programs as well.
If you would like to make a donation to our scholarship fund, you can do that here. A contribution of any size is appreciated. Thank you!
“Humanity has always advanced by seeing the world through another person’s eyes,” says Debra Engle, managing director of Story Summit. “That’s the power of story. We’re thrilled to welcome these storytellers to Her Spirit, where we can lift up their voices and wisdom.”
Storyteller Foundation is part of the Family University Foundation, Inc., a California corporation and a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Donations are tax-deductible.
Since its inception in 2020, the Storyteller Foundation has provided scholarships to over one hundred emerging writers. The foundation supports voices that encourage, uplift, and educate, creating a more unified and sustainable world.
In the past two years, the foundation has provided specific help for writers who are working mothers, and writers who are cancer survivors.
Our 2022–2023 scholarship program provides mentorships to emerging writers in the BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and disabled sectors. Mentorship occurs online, in person, and through onsite retreats.
