Scribe for Human Rights Fellowship

Established in 2006, the Scribe for Human Rights Fellowship, supported jointly by the Human Rights Program and the Department of English, is awarded each year to a current Master of Fine Arts (MFA) student in Creative Writing who serves as a writer-in-residence on human rights topics. The Scribe receives a $5,000 award. Since 2006, scribes have undertaken projects including implementing a creative writing program for at-risk students, researching and interviewing Cambodian genocide survivors, and teaching creative writing classes in Minnesota prisons. They have tackled issues such as solitary confinement, housing injustice, and the human consequences of high incarceration rates. It is our hope that the fellowship will also inspire its writers to pursue other human rights themes in their future work.

The recipient must be enrolled full-time in the MFA Program in Creative Writing at the University of Minnesota as a degree-seeking graduate student. The Scribe will be featured in one jointly sponsored event during the 2025-2026 academic year, and will also be featured and/or contribute a brief reflection on the fellowship or related research (350-500 words) to the written publications of the Human Rights Program. The Scribe may also access communal office space at the Human Rights Program in 232 Social Sciences Building during the summer.

Current Recipient

2026-2027: Zeke Caligiuri uses his writing to empower human beings who are currently or formerly incarcerated. This summer, Zeke is working on two projects: 1) his first novel - a collection of stories centered around the Minnesota Correctional facility in Stillwater, MN; and 2) an archival project that collects personal stories from members of “Minnesota’s Mass Incarceration Generation” (1993-2022). Zeke’s work illustrates the way that incarcerated persons have organized in ways that uplift and support each other’s creative, intellectual, and professional interests despite living in a system of diminishing agency for cultural creation.

Recipients in Recent Years

2025-2026: Amna Chaudhry drafted a novel on three female textile workers in Pakistan. Her project builds upon her work as a journalist in Karachi interviewing striking textile workers. Her work delves into the socio-economic conditions of female textile laborers and considers potential channels for their resistance.

2024-2025: Amalia Tenuta researched the role of municipal and state authorities in policing and evicting unhoused residents in south Minneapolis. Through her project, Tenuta critically examined the role of the researcher and who benefits from the knowledge that is produced by research. She presented her project at a talk titled, “Militant Research, Institutional Review, & Rights to the Colonial City.”

2021-2022: Sandesh Ghimire explored the lives of new Nepali immigrants in the United States through oral history, narrative nonfiction, and memoir.

2021-2022: Sruthi Narayanan created a project of linked short stories related to the farmers' protests in India. Through a series of character portraits, Narayanan highlighted global issues including casteism, religious differences, climate change, police brutality, and high rates of farmer suicide.

2020 and older

2020-2021

Tarik Dobbs’s project involved creating a poetry manuscript written using records from early Arab migration to Michigan. The project explored themes of assimilation, resilience, and self-determination.

Asha Thanki created a narrative of personal family histories, trauma, and state violence in Gujarat. The project examined the world of Gujarat before, during, and after the 2002 pogroms that left up to 2,000 individuals dead and nearly 3,000 missing or injured, a fundamental turning point in Gujarati and Indian history.

2019-2020

Mary Lee Yang completed her project, “Domestic Violence in the Hmong Community: Uncovering cultural policies and practices affecting the lives of Hmong women.”

2017-2018

Alexis Zanghi’s project, “On Sanctuary,” examined cities as sites for migration and resettlement. It also examines the fast-emerging role of cities as what the Washington Post (and The Guardian) have called “bulwarks” against a rising tide of far-right populism. She set current events in their historical and global context.

2016-2017

Roy Guzman accompanied two NGOs that provide support and defense of migrant workers, Centro Campesino and the Coalition for Immokalee Workers. Guzman, a poet, had one of the poems he wrote from his Scribes experience accepted for publication in the journal, Poetry.

2015-2016

Michael Alberti worked with the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop to teach two creative writing classes in Minnesota prisons. Alberti also participated in a public reading of the work of incarcerated students, and collaborated with the Minnesota Department of Corrections and an incarcerated writer to produce a series of essays about the importance of arts education in prison.

2014-2015

Emily Strasser traveled to Dharamsala, India, home of the exiled Dalai Lama, to interview refugees from Tibet, who had recently arrived and some of whom had been imprisoned and tortured by Chinese authorities for their political activism. Upon Emily’s return home, she presented her work at an exhibition at the Soap Factory art gallery in Minneapolis. The exhibition displayed eleven photos by photographer and travel companion Jason Quick, each one representing one of the refugees whom Emily interviewed during her time in Dharamsala. Underneath each photo, there was a literary bio that gave information on each of the subjects. The exhibition was held for three weeks in total followed by a reception involving members of the Tibetan community.

Jason Zencka completed the writing of a fictional play, The Plea, in which discusses the issue of incarcerating an overwhelming percentage of the U.S population. During his time with the Public Defender Service, Zencka witnessed the inside workings of the incarceration system, granting him a deeper understanding of the human consequences associated with high incarceration rates. Inspired by this experience, Zencka chose to focus his creative pursuits on the ethical and humane dimensions of this issue.

2013-2014

Lalinne Bell researched and interviewed survivors of the Killing Fields of Cambodia. Bell gave a reading of her new work at the Rosalux Gallery in Minneapolis. After reviewing videos from the 1992 Khmer Oral History Project and interviewing Cambodian genocide survivors, Bell came away with a new vision for her own future, that of a new personal awareness and a desire to keep these sometimes forgotten stories alive.

2012-2013

Kate Johnston studied the issue of solitary confinement in the United States, focusing specifically on Tamms Correctional Facility, which is located in southern Illinois. Kate traveled several times to Illinois to interview families of Tamms inmates, guards and other officials. In late August, Kate’s article titled, “Don't Protect Torture to Preserve Jobs at Tamms Supermax,” was published in the Huffington Post blog. Kate also participated in the November 9, 2012 convening on Solitary Confinement and Human Rights organized by the Midwest Coalition for Human Rights in Chicago.

2011-2012

Claire Stanford developed and implemented a creative writing program with a human rights focus at Gordon Parks High School, a school for "at-risk" youth located in St. Paul, Minnesota, who have limited opportunities for creative expression. Claire read part of an essay about her summer fellowship at the fund-raising reception held October 9, 2011, in Walter Library in conjunction with the Narrating Human Rights Conference.

2010-2011

Colleen Coyne offered poetry workshops to chronic juvenile offenders at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Red Wing (MCF-RW). In particular, she carried out a creative writing initiative with a human rights focus, called “Writing for Rights.”

2008-2009

Katie Hae Ryun Leo investigated and wrote a series of poems relating to issues of human rights in Korea and their intersection with Korean-adopted children in the U.S.

2007-2008

Emily Bright observed a University of Minnesota student-led effort to investigate the abduction of two young girls in Southern Sudan. Bright wrote an essay, “I Hope You Are Doing Well,” which she presented at the May 2008 open house for the Scribes Project at the Weisman Art Museum. Bright also published an article entitled, “The Other Darfur,” in The Rake in January 2008.

2006-2007

Laura Flynn looked firsthand at the conditions of confinement and treatment of persons being held in Midwest jails for immigration violations. Flynn visited jails, met with U.S. Government officials and with human rights organizations representing detained immigrants in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska.

Stories about the Scribe for Human Rights Fellowship

Sugi Ganeshananthan interviews Amna Chaudhry about her work.

Scribe for Human Rights Explores the Resilience of Female Textile Workers

25-26 Scribe Amna Chaudhry delivered a talk about her time as a Scribe and the process of drafting a novel exploring the experiences of female textile workers in Pakistan.

Amna Chaudhry Explores the Conditions of Female Textile Workers in Pakistan

Chaudhry reflects on her work as the 2025-2026 Scribe and the process of drafting her novel on three female textile workers in Pakistan. She discusses how her time working as a journalist in Karachi, Pakistan and interviewing striking textile workers in 2020 informed her work.

Scribe for Human Rights Works with the Movement for Housing Justice

Amalia Tenuta, the 2024-2025 Scribe for Human Rights, leads a discussion on challenging institutional relationships with local communities and movements.

A young woman with short, brown, curly hair and glasses wearing a white tee shirt and a black sweatshirt sits looking to her right in front of a shop window

Using Storytelling to Advance Human Rights

Former Scribes for Human Rights Fellow, Emily Strasser, Talks Post-Fellowship Success, Importance of the Scribes for Human Rights.