Mirrors & Windows
Mirrors and Windows
Award is closed.
Mirrors and Windows Fellowship
With its debut in 2018, the Loft is proud to provide a program dedicated to mentoring Indigenous writers and writers of color to write picture books, middle grade, and young adult literature. The name is inspired by Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop’s crucial essay, “Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors” (1990).
While books for young readers is a thriving sector in publishing, those that are by or about Indigenous people and people of color are significantly underrepresented.
The Loft will offer five-month mentorships to ten to twelve emerging/early-career Minnesota Indigenous writers and writers of color who are interested in creating children’s and/or young adult (CYA) books. The group will be mentored by diverse published authors of books for children and young readers.
The award is not currently open for applications. Applications typically open in October and close in November.
Mirrors and Windows is made possible by grants from the Jerome Foundation and the Archie D. & Bertha H. Walker Foundation, with additional support provided by Loft members.
Program Leaders and Teaching Artists
The 2024 program is led by: Loft Program Manager of Awards Marion Gómez and community liaisons Dr. Sarah Park Dahlen, a leading voice in diversifying literature for youth and Associate Professor at the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and Sarah Warren, an award-winning children's book author who worked as an early childhood educator for over 17 years.
Teaching artists will include Payal Doshi, Shannon Gibney, Andrew Karre, Dr. Sarah Park Dahlen, Aida Salazar, Ari Tison, Namrata Tripathi, and Sarah Warren. The manuscript consultant will be Sun Yung Shin.
