The WLA honors the great writer and scholar Louis Owens for his contributions to western American and American Indian literary studies and for his unfailing generosity as a colleague, teacher, and mentor. The goal of the Louis Owens Awards is to build for the future of the Western Literature Association by modeling Owens’ own support and encouragement of diverse graduate student engagement in western literature and culture studies.
The Owens Awards are intended to foster ever-greater diversity within the WLA membership, to help broaden the field of western American literary studies, and to recognize both graduate student scholarship and financial need. Since its inception in 2004 through an anonymous donation and with the help of yearly donations from our members, 32 scholarships have been awarded so far.
PLEASE HELP US KEEP THIS AWARD GOING AND DONATE TODAY:
THANK YOU!
The monetary amount of this year’s scholarships: TBA.
If you are interested in applying for this award, submit a paper proposal for participation in the conference. If your paper is accepted, you can then submit the award application materials via Google Forms: https://forms.gle/VBuUzkRenhj72HHz5.
Application deadline: August 1, 2023
If you are awarded one of the Owens stipends, you are expected to attend most of the conference. Please see conference details for the 2023 WLA Conference.
If you have any questions regarding the Owens Awards, please contact Prof. Lydia Heberling, Chair of the Owens Committee.
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PREVIOUS WINNERS:
Originally named the Minority Student Award
2004: JOSHUA SMITH, University of Southern California
2005: JESSICA BREMMER, University of Southern California
ANDREA DOMINGUEZ, University of Arizona
Renamed Louis Owens Award/s
2006: ELIXABETE ANSA-GOICOECHEA, Indiana University
JENNIFER CLARK, University of Southern California
2007: NAVEED REHAN, University of Alberta
2008: JESSICA BREMMER, University of Southern California
2009: CAROLE JUGE, Université Paris, Sorbonne
JAMES E. MURRAY, University of South Dakota
2010: ELISA BORDIN, University of Verona
STEPHEN SIPERSTEIN, University of Southern California
2011: JOHANNES FEHRLE, University Freiburg, Germany
2012: CHRISTOPHER MUNIZ, University of Southern California
AUBREY STREIT KRUG, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
2013: RENATA GOMES, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil
JASMINE JOHNSON, University of British Columbia
2014: JANE WONG, University of Washington
2015: SHANE JOSEPH WILLIS FRANKIEWICZ, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Germany
LORENA GAUTHEREAU, Rice University
JULIE WILLIAMS, University of New Mexico
2016: MIKA KENNEDY, University of Michigan
MARIA MACKAS, Georgia State University
HO’ESTA MO’E’HAHNE, University of Southern California
2017: LAURA DE VOS, University of Washington
NADHIA GREWAL, Goldsmiths University of London, UK
2018: LYDIA HEBERLING, University of Washington-Seattle
TISHA REICHLE, University of Southern California
BERNADETTE RUSSO, Texas Tech University
2019: MARIA ALBERTO, University of Utah
SURABHI BALACHANDER, University of Michigan
2020: No awards were given.
2021: No awards were given.
2022: TACEY ATSITTY, Florida State University
DOMINIC DONGILLI, Goldsmiths University of London
LAUREN WHITE, University of Southern California
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FEATURE OF PREVIOUS WINNER:
Note: Our 2018 award recipient, Lydia Heberling, is this year’s award committee chair! She is now an assistant professor at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo in the Department of Ethnic Studies.
Meet one of our Owens Recipients: Lydia Heberling (2018)
The Western Literature Association is truly one of the most welcoming professional organizations for graduate students entering the field of Western literary studies. WLA faculty are generous with their mentorship, feedback, and encouragement, and the graduate student cohort is deeply collaborative and supportive. I have been energized and encouraged by the vibrant exchange of ideas and collaborative spirit I found in the WLA since I first attended in Reno, Nevada, in 2015.
It is through the generous support of the Louis Owens Award committee that I was able to attend the 2018 conference in St. Louis, Missouri, and present work on reimagining 17th and 18th century Spanish missions in California as Indigenous hubs of resistance. This work in progress examined the rich mixed-media, mixed-genre book Bad Indians: A Tribal Memoir (2013) by Chumash and Costanoan Ohlone-Esselen writer Deborah Miranda, which reframes dominant narratives about Indigenous erasure in California. The WLA is particularly supportive of work in the field of American Indian and Indigenous literary studies, and I am so grateful that awards such as the Louis Owens Award exist to support work by Indigenous scholars and scholars of color in this field.
Through the WLA I have made several lasting friendships and connections that will continue to shape my professional work and enrich my personal life. At WLA conferences I have had the immense pleasure of interacting with scholars such as Krista Comer, Lisa Tatonetti, Susan Bernardin, Joanna Hearne, Jenn Ladino, and Kirby Brown. The WLA is a fantastic space for emerging scholars to develop work in any area of Western literary and cultural studies.
~Lydia Heberling, University of Washington (2019)