Andover Author Receives $5K Fellowship To Aid Summer Writing

ANDOVER, MA — Kate McQuade, an English teacher at Phillips Academy, author and Andover resident, has been named a Jack Hazard '23 Fellow by the New Literary Project.

The fellowship includes a $5,000 grant to help teachers — who also are writers of fiction, creative nonfiction or memoir — find time to do their writing over the summer. McQuade was one of 14 writer-teachers to receive the award this year.

"I'm tremendously grateful to the New Literary Project for this summer support," McQuade, who lives on the Phillips Academy campus with her family, told Patch. "I rarely have time to focus on my own writing during the school year, so summer is the time I try to squeeze it in among other professional and family obligations. This grant is an incredible gift, helping me cover childcare costs and allowing me to focus on writing full-time as I finish the draft of my latest novel."

McQuade is the author of a 2019 story collection "Tell Me Who We Were" and the 2005 novel "Two Harbors," and her fiction, poetry and essays have appeared in numerous publications.

McQuade said she plans on doing much of her writing this summer at home in Andover. Though she will spend a period of time in residence at the Women's International Study Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico and have a "self-made residency" with a writing group in western Massachusetts.

In addition to the fellowship and financial award, McQuade said the New Literary Project also has helped to introduce her to other writers-teachers, who have proven to be invaluable resources.

"I'm just as excited about the community of writer-teachers I've been able to meet through this program," McQuade said. "The New Literary Project is intentional about creating opportunities for Fellows to connect online and support each other during our shared period of summer work. That kind of literary community is a rare and special thing, and I feel very lucky to be a part of it."