From the Farmhouse Table: August 2026
Residencies Catalyze Cultural Change
“Before my time at Hedgebrook, I had never made a fire. But I was moved by the stories of fellow residents, tending to flames as they flickered and feasted on heartwood gathered from the surrounding land. Keeping fire was an exercise in patience and persistence—smoldering and surging—mirroring my writing practice.”
These are the words of Amy Lam - a writer and editor whose work has been published in the New York Times - about her Hedgebrook residency and the 2026 Rona Jaffe Foundation/Hedgebrook Fellowship. The Rona Jaffe Foundation Fellowship was established at Hedgebrook in 2018 and supports an annual fully funded residency of 2-4 weeks, with an additional $2,000 stipend to help with travel costs and other expenses associated with accepting this opportunity.
A Vietnamese Chinese American, Amy’s parents are ethnically Chinese refugees from Vietnam who raised a family in the suburbs of Los Angeles. “This double diaspora resulted in a tenuous connection to our own sense of who we are,” said Amy. “My writing is preoccupied with this lack of heritage identity against the abundance of being an American; the dichotomy of lambasting American imperialism while understanding some of our very existence is a result of it.”
Each year, fellowships at Hedgebrook make it possible for women to tell stories that illuminate what it means to persist, to heal, and to forge a sense of belonging in a world that often sidelines and outright suppresses our voices.
Most of our past fellowships have been awarded to writers who, like Amy, are in the early stages of their writing journeys, before broad publication. Hedgebrook writers are selected for residencies by alumnae judges who see the potential in the budding writer and her work in progress.
The Rona Jaffe Foundation specifically supports emerging writers at Hedgebrook who have yet to publish a book. They believe in the value of the investment, whether what the fellows write inside a Hedgebrook cottage goes on to become a National Book Award finalist, as Deborah Taffa's memoir Whiskey Tender did in 2024, or takes another decade to reach the page, the way Leslie Blanco is still shaping her long-in-progress novel on the Cuban Revolution.
“The hours I had spent kneeled at the hearth, just as with the thousands of words I had typed at my desk, would not have been possible without the care and thoughtfulness of the Hedgebrook staff—and now with the support of the Rona Jaffe Foundation,” said Amy. “I can’t overstate how much it means to receive this type of support—time, nourishment, funding—as an artist who is continually trying to find her way, nurturing a flame within. The gift of Hedgebrook, and support from the Rona Jaffe Foundation, is a reminder and confirmation that I must continue to light the fire, prioritize my practice, and do the work of tending to the page.”
From national bestsellers to Broadway stages, award-winning films to the halls of academia, Hedgebrook alumnae continue to produce some of the most influential cultural works of our time.
Fellowships act as catalysts by validating an author's talent, providing resources to complete projects, and connecting them to industry opportunities, all of which enhance the likelihood of successful publication. For more information about joining the Rona Jaffe Foundation, Elizabeth George Foundation, Carol Shields Prize Foundation, McKnight Fellowship Residency, and BECU in supporting life-changing fellowships for writers, please reach out gifts@hedgebrook.org.
With your contribution—whether a fully funded fellowship, or a one-time or monthly gift— we can continue to offer residencies to emerging writers who generate an outsized impact that enriches public discourse and the imaginations of audiences worldwide.