Grisham Writers in Residence

John and Renée Grisham Writers in Residence are emerging writers selected on the strength of their writing and provided with lovely housing in Oxford. They teach one class each semester and are provided ample writing time. They have no official duties but frequently become involved in our close-knit MFA community. There is no application for Grisham Writers in Residence; they are selected by internal nomination only.

We are delighted to announce the 2024 – 2025 Grisham Writer-in-Residence

A. H. Jerriod Avant

A. H. Jerriod Avant (he/him) is the author of the poetry collection Muscadine (Four Way Books 2023), winner of the 2024 Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award in poetry. Muscadine has been called “a masterwork of love, grace, conflict, and grief.” Jerriod was born and raised in Longtown, Mississippi. A graduate of Jackson State University, he has earned MFA degrees from Spalding University and New York University and a Ph.D from the University of Rhode Island. Jerriod is a former Teaching Fellow in English at Wesleyan University. He’s received scholarships from the Breadloaf Writer’s Conference and Naropa University’s Summer Writing Program. A former resident at the James Castle House and Vermont Studio Center, Jerriod has received two winter fellowships from the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown and an emerging artist grant from the St. Botolph Club Foundation. His work has appeared in the Boston Review, Pinwheel, Callaloo, Virginia Quarterly Review, Obsidian, The Yale Review, and other journals.

Navigating the list below will take you to the bios, blogs, or bibliographies of present and past Grisham Writers in Residence:

Jake Skeets (2023-2024)
Deesha Philyaw (2022-2023)
Raven Leilani (2021-2022)
Maurice Ruffin (2020-2021)
January Gill O’Neil (2019-2020)
Garth Greenwell (2018-2019)
Catherine Lacey (2017-2018)
Aimee Nezhukumatathil (2016-2017)
Kiese Laymon (2015-2016)
Mary Miller (2014-2015)
Megan Abbott (2013-2014)
Nic Brown (2012-2013)
Josh Weil (2011-2012)
Jesmyn Ward (2010-2011)
John Brandon (2009-2010)
James Kimbrell (2008-2009)
Jack Pendarvis (2007-2008)
LeAnne Howe (2006-2007)
Michael Knight (2005-2006)
Brad Watson (2004-2005)
Janisse Ray (2003-2004)
Shay Youngblood (2002-2003)
Tom Franklin (2001-2002)
Claude Wilkinson (2000-2001)
Steve Yarbrough (1999-2000)
Darcey Steinke (1998-1999)
Randall Kenan (1997-1998)
Tim Gautreaux (1996-1997)
Mary Hood (1995-1996)
Mark Richard (1994-1995)
T. R. Pearson (1993-1994)