Announcing the 2024 Fresh Voices Fellow
Epiphany is pleased to announce our 2024 Fresh Voices Fellow: sara mariah montijo
sara mariah montijo is a Tucson-born interdisciplinary scholar, facilitator, & emerging writer living in Lenapehoking with her two cats. Her writing approach grounds in liberation & honors the curious rhythms that shape disobedience & devotion to our shared humanity. She was a 2023 Periplus Fellow under the mentorship of Ingrid Rojas Contreras, and is working on her first book. Find her at saramariah.com
Founded in 2021, the Fresh Voices Fellowship supports emerging Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, or other writers of color who do not have a BA nor MFA in creative writing. During the year-long fellowship, the selected fellow will be published in a print issue and featured in an online interview, have access to dedicated editorial mentorship, and participate as an active member of Epiphany’s editorial team. Our previous Fresh Voices fellows include: Dawn Angelicca Barcelona and Brittany K. Allen.
This year’s runner-ups are: angel ash and Pegah Ouji. Their work will be featured in a future print issue.
Ashante J. Ford, also known as “angel ash” (They/She) is a queer multidisciplinary artist residing in Oakland, California. Her artistic expression becomes a spiritual odyssey, each poem a metaphysical dance with the surreal as she focuses on themes of healing, growth, and community. She creates offerings for the powers that be. The expansiveness of their poetry has led them to two galleries so far. Two of her poems, “The Navigator'' and “Furiously shaking my hips'' were displayed in the Multi-Cultural Center in Berkeley, California and a piece titled, “Obatala offers peace” was displayed in San Francisco at the Drawing Room Annex. Aside from that, they have been published in SKEW Magazine, the 1619 Speaks Anthology, Anti Fragile Magazine, Pensive Magazine, Petrichor Magazine, and more. You can visit her writing on her website @ashanteswrite.blog.
Pegah Ouji is an Iranian American writer with short stories and poems in Farsi and English. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Isele Magazine, Hamilton Stone Review, Fugue, and Joyland. She is an Emerging Writer Fellow at Smokelong Quarterly as well as a writing and editorial fellow at Roots, Wounds, Words.
Congratulations to this year’s fellow and runner-ups! The talent we encountered was outstanding. We’d also like to give a special shout-out to the other emerging writers who made it to this year’s shortlist:
Belgia Jong
Daniel Ogba
Zen Ren
Shakeema Smalls
Nicole Zhu
And thank you to all the writers who applied and entrusted Epiphany with their work.
We will open for submissions for the 2025 Fresh Voices Fellowship in the fall. Follow us here and here, or subscribe to the email list on our website to stay updated on the latest Epiphany news.
