Bojan Louis, an Indigenous writer and associate professor of English and American Indian studies at the University of Arizona, won a $50,000 arts fellowship.
Professor Louis was named a 2025 United States Artists Fellow on Jan. 30. He has been invited to apply for the prestigious program three times over the past 3 years and was awarded an unrestricted stipend for his most recent submission, which included 10 pages of poetry, the first chapter of a novel, compositions and short-form responses about his greater artistic contributions to the community.
Louis grew up in Window Rock, Arizona, a resident of the Navajo Nation. 10 years after graduating with a master’s degree from Arizona State University, he worked as an electrician, horse farm employee, construction worker and drywall framer before slowly transitioning into teaching composition classes at community colleges in Phoenix.
“I think I realized I wasn’t going to be like some young rising star. I had a lot of work ahead of me, and I wasn’t deterred by that,” Louis said. “It reminds me, like, hey, you know how to play the long game.”
Louis’ parents grew up in the American Indian boarding school system, where speaking Navajo was punished. He carries on the language within his writing. “It’s all reflected in my work,” Louis said. “It’s like a living thing. It has a presence and an energy. In any study, it takes generations to heal from that. And that’s kind of what I hope my work does, is draw attention to the silences that these traumas can bring.”
Since its inception in 2006, the USA fellowship has distributed more than $41 million to over 1,000 artists.
In a press release from USA, Ed Henry, USA Board Chair, said that “In addition to being an exceptional group of artists and practitioners, this year’s cohort of Fellows manifest the many ways in which USA, and the broader art world, consider the support of artists — at all stages of their career, in all areas of their lives, and during all moments in our shared cultural history.”
Louis has taught at the UA for 5 years and is currently teaching undergraduate and graduate fiction, poetry and American Indian literature courses. This funding will help him pay for his 5-year-old daughter’s schooling and research for unfinished projects during his sabbatical next year.
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