Miami, Feb. 13, 2025 – Miami Dade College’s (MDC) Miami Book Fair (MBF) announced the 2024-2025 recipients of its Emerging Writer Fellowships (EWF) program, which helps developing writers currently working on a book-length project grow and establish their literary careers. The 2024-2025 fellows are Felipe Bomeny (2025 Fiction Fellow / Iguanaland: Stories ), Simone Zapata (2025 Poetry Fellow / Voices Under Water) and Flint (2025 Nonfiction Fellow / Blood).
EWF is made possible by The Jorge M. Pérez Family Foundation at The Miami Foundation (The Jorge M. Pérez Family Foundation), Cornelia T. Bailey Foundation, Green Family Foundation, Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Tri Star Lifelong Learning Fund at the Coral Gables Community Foundation. Launched through the patronage of The Jorge M. Pérez Family Foundation’s Pérez CreARTE Grants Program , the program welcomed its first cohort of three Fellows in 2021.
“Since 1984, Miami Book Fair has presented authors at the beginning of their careers – many of whom have become super stars in the literature. We are very proud to now also be part of the creation of new works. Our first and second cohort of writers are already publishing books with distinguished publishing companies, we expect no less from our 2025 Fellows.” said Lissette Mendez, MBF’s Executive Director.
Fellows will have access to critical mentorship from nationally established authors in the genres of fiction, nonfiction and poetry, as well as a host of other strategic supports, including professional experience in arts administration, the opportunity to teach creative writing, a stipend, and strong literary community support to allow for 12 months of uninterrupted time to craft their works.
“Our family is honored to support Miami Dade College’s Miami Book Fair, a long-running event that’s established itself as a cornerstone of our community,” said Jorge M. Pérez. “By identifying and nurturing talent, we believe the Emerging Writer Fellowships program is critical to fostering growth in Miami’s literary community and ultimately, cultivating a more dynamic, connected arts ecosystem. We’re excited to see what’s to come from this gifted cohort of Fellows as they hone their craft and push the boundaries of their creativity.”
Learn about the 2024-2025 Emerging Writer Fellows and their mentors:
Born in São Paulo and raised in South Florida, Felipe Bomeny is a graduate of the University of Chicago and holds a master’s degree in fiction from the New Writers Project at the University of Texas, Austin. His writing has appeared in Michigan Quarterly Review and Waybill, among others. His mentor, Brandon Hobson, Ph.D., is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation Tribe of Oklahoma, received his doctorate from Oklahoma State University. His novel, Where the Dead Sit Talking, was a finalist for the National Book Award, winner of the Reading the West Award, and longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award. He teaches creative writing at New Mexico State University.
Simone Zapata is a writer, editor, and educator from San José, California. Her recent work appears in Dilettante Army, Beloit Poetry Journal, and Brink Literary Journal. She has received scholarships and fellowships from Community of Writers, Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing, Banff Centre, and California Institute of the Arts, where she earned an MFA in creative writing. Her mentor Vievee Francis is the author of The Shared World; Forest Primeval, winner of the Hurston Wright Legacy Award; Horse in the Dark, winner of the Cave Canem Northwestern University Press Poetry Prize; and Blue-Tail Fly. Forthcoming are her fifth volume of poetry, Cleaning the Houses of the Dead, and a memoir, Ugly.
Flint earned an MFA in writing from the School of Critical Studies at CalArts and is a 2022 Lambda Literary Fellow in Nonfiction. She has published in The Offing, Arts & Letters (Unclassifiable Contest winner) and Staging Social Justice, CutBank, among numerous other publications and anthologies. Her mentor ESMERALDA SANTIAGO has authored three groundbreaking memoirs: When I was Puerto Rican and Almost A Woman, which she adapted into a Peabody Award-winning movie for PBS’s Masterpiece Theatre, and The Turkish Lover. Her novels include America’s Dream, national bestseller Conquistadora, and Las Madres.
About the Jorge M. Pérez Family Foundation
The Jorge M. Pérez Family Foundation at The Miami Foundation fulfills the philanthropic vision of Jorge M. Pérez, Chairman and CEO of The Related Group, his wife, Darlene, and his family, to develop South Florida as an exemplary world-class urban center. The Family Foundation promotes sustainable, inclusive and just communities by supporting programs and organizations focused on arts and culture, health and well-being, education, environment and economic development – with a particular preference for programs and organizations that could serve as models for other urban centers. In the first 10 years since its inception, the Family Foundation has committed $135 million in support of nearly 150 non-profit organizations. For more information, please visit www.jmperezfamilyfoundation.org.
About Miami Book Fair
Founded in 1984 by Miami Dade College and partners, Miami Book Fair engages the community through inclusive, accessible programs that promote reading and support writers year-round. The annual eight-day festival has grown into the largest and most comprehensive community-rooted literary gathering in the United States generating discourse on contemporary literature and current issues of international importance. Throughout the rest of the year, Miami Book Fair responds hosts an ongoing schedule of activities, including The Little Haiti Book Festival; creative writing and publishing workshops; author presentations; reading campaigns; and Read to Learn Books for Free, a partnership with The Children’s Trust that distributes more than 150,000 free books a year to children in Miami-Dade County. Miami Book Fair programming is made possible through generous support from the State of Florida and the National Endowment for the Arts; City of Miami; Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council; Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners; Miami-Dade County Public Schools; Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau; Miami Downtown Development Authority; and Friends of the Fair; as well as many corporate partners. Miami Book Fair: Building community, one reader at a time.
Follow the Miami Book Fair on social media @miamibookfair.