Midland College English Professor selected for prestigious writing residency in OregonOctober 28, 2021

Midland College (MC) professor and author Stacy Egan has returned from a coveted Tin House residency for young adult writing in Portland, Oregon. More than 500 aspiring authors apply per residency cycle, only 8 writers are selected, and only 2 are selected in the young adult genre. 

“I was so honored and excited to be chosen for the Tin House Residency for Young Adult Writing,” Egan said. “This opportunity has allowed me to model my discipline and practice writing in action. I am able to empathize with my students when they struggle with revisions and show them firsthand how long it takes me to get a draft to a place where I am happy.”

Egan was in Portland from September 2-18. She was selected to work on the second book in her fiction trilogy set in an alternate version of the U.S. where citizens are under constant surveillance, the wealthiest use a company to design their children, and the privilege of the few is dependent on an overworked majority class. When the protagonist and her friends learn the neurological enhancement they were designed to possess has a dangerous side effect, they must struggle to assert their humanity within an institution that treats them as volatile patients and a society that sees them as a threat.

“I have been able to successfully complete both Intuitive and its sequel No Man's Land,” Egan said. “My agent is currently on submission to editors with Intuitive. The publishing industry is extremely competitive, but with any luck, we will find a home for this book." 

Egan teaches Integrated Reading and Writing, Composition I, Composition II, American Literature I and II, Masterpieces (novels), and Creative Writing. Her short book of fiction, You Could Stop It Here, was published by PANK books and was an honorable mention for the 2019 Eric Hoffer Book Awards. Her stories have appeared in The Hunger, The New Plains Review, December magazine and others. 

“I owe a huge thank you to my family for making it possible for me to be away from home for this amazing opportunity,” Egan said. “Special thanks to my husband and best reader, Brendan Egan. I am beyond grateful to be in MC’s English department; my dean Billy Feeler, my department chair Pamela Howell, and Sara Peterson, my Language Hub colleague, all support and celebrate my creative endeavors. As an institution, MC truly values its faculty. Also, thank you to my Integrated Reading and Writing students who so perfectly adapted and embraced Zoom learning for the time I was working remotely.”

Tin House residencies attract high-caliber writers and offer them greater time, space, and financial flexibility to write and work on literacy projects.