Writer in Residence Christopher Castellani awarded National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship
January 26, 2024
Christopher Castellani, a Writer in Residence within the Brandeis English department, received a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Castellani won one of this year’s Prose Fellowships, which have been awarded in even years since 2001.
“Thank you to everyone at the National Endowment for the Arts for seeing something worthy of support in my pages and those of every artist granted an award this year,” Castellani wrote in his personal statement after receiving the fellowship.
Castellani has authored five books and chairs the Writing Panel at YoungArts, a charity that identifies exceptional young artists, amplifies their potential, and invests in their lifelong creative freedom.
Castellani’s most recently novel “Leading Men” (Viking 2019), also earned him fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. It has also been optioned for film by Peter Spears and Luca Guadagnino, the producers of acclaimed motion pictures like “Call Me By Your Name” and “Nomadland," respectively, with a screenplay adaptation by Matthew Lopez, known for his work on "The Inheritance.”
Castellani’s 2013 novel “All This Talk of Love” was a New York Times’ Editors’ Choice; his 2003 novel “A Kiss from Maddalena” won the Massachusetts Book Award; and his 2005 novel “The Saint of Lost Things also garnered a BookSense (IndieBound) Notable Book.
In addition to his work at Brandeis, Castellani serves on the faculty and academic board of the Warren Wilson MFA Program.