The Hackerman Writer in Residence Proposals

2026 Jury Panel

Enoch Pratt Free Library is pleased to announce the jury panel for the 2026 Hackerman Writer in Residence Program. Each year the Library invites a cohort of jurors to review applications and make recommendations for our finalists. We are extremely grateful for their time and expertise.

Learn more about each of our jury members below.

Lillian-Yvonne Bertram

Lillian-Yvonne Bertram is an African American writer, poet, artist, and educator who works at the intersection of computation, AI, race, and gender. They are the author of Travesty Generator (Noemi Press), a book of computational poetry longlisted for the 2020 National Book Award for Poetry. They are the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Poetry Fellowship. Their other poetry books include How Narrow My Escapes (DIAGRAM/New Michigan), Personal Science (Tupelo Press), a slice from the cake made of air (Red Hen Press), and But a Storm is Blowing From Paradise (Red Hen Press). Their most recent full-length poetry book, Negative Money, was published in 2023. Their chapbook, written with AI, is called A Black Story May Contain Sensitive Content and won the 2023 Diagram/New Michigan chapbook contest. They direct the MFA in creative writing program at the University of Maryland and are a 2024 Foundation for Contemporary Arts poetry grant recipient and 2024 Deutsch Foundation Ruby’s Grant recipient. They are co-editor with Nick Montfort of the recently released anthology Output: An Anthology of Computer-Generated Text, 1953-2023. 

lillianyvonnebertram.com

Reginald Harris

A finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for his first book, 10 Tongues, Reginald Harris won the 2012 Cave Canem / Northwestern University Press Poetry Prize for his second collection, Autogeography. A member of the National Book Critics Circle and recipient of Individual Artist Awards for poetry and fiction from the Maryland State Arts Council, his work has appeared in numerous journals, anthologies, and online including in The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide, Poetry, This is the Honey: An Anthology of Contemporary Black Poets, and Split This Rock’s The Quarry: A Social Justice Poetry Database. Born in Annapolis, Maryland, and raised in Baltimore, he lives in Brooklyn, New York, where he is a Lead Digital Navigator for Brooklyn Public Library’s Neighborhood Tech Help service.

wikipedia.org/wiki/Reggie_Harris_(poet)

Dora Malech

Dora Malech’s fourth book of poetry, Flourish, was published in 2020, and her fifth book of poetry, Trying × Trying, is forthcoming in fall 2025. Her poems have appeared in publications that include The New Yorker and Best American Poetry. She is editor in chief of The Hopkins Review and a professor in the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University. 

doramalech.net

Lia Purpura

Lia Purpura is the author of ten collections, including essays, poems, and translations. A finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for On Looking (essays), her awards include Guggenheim, NEA, and Fulbright Fellowships, as well as five Pushcart Prizes, the AWP Award, and others. Her work appears in Poetry, The New Yorker, The New Republic, Orion, The Paris Review, The Georgia Review, Agni, Emergence, and elsewhere. Purpura has served as Writer in Residence at The University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and Loyola University; other teaching venues include the low-residency Rainier Writing Workshop, the Breadloaf Writers’ Conference, the University of Iowa’s Nonfiction MFA program, as well as workshops at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility, and the Glenwood Life Recovery Center. Her newest collections are It Shouldn’t Have Been Beautiful (poems) and All the Fierce Tethers (essays).

liapurpura.com

D. Watkins

D. Watkins is the New York Times bestselling author of The Beast Side, The Cook Up, Where Tomorrows Aren’t Promised, Black Boy Smile, and other books. Some of Watkins’s awards include the James Beard Media Award, Los Angeles Press Club Award, Gordon Park Fellowship, Vernon Jarrett “Medal of Journalistic Excellence,” Gold Signal Award, Johns Hopkins University “Society of Scholars,” Johns Hopkins University “Distinguished Alumnus Award,” City Lit “Dambach Award for Service to the Literary Arts,” and the Maryland Library Association’s “William Wilson Maryland Author Award.” Watkins is Editor-at-Large for Salon. Additionally, he is a writer on the HBO mini-series We Own This City and host of the show’s companion podcast. He was also featured in the HBO documentary The Slow Hustle. His work has been published in the New York Times, Esquire, New York Times Magazine, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, and other publications. Watkins is a professor at the University of Baltimore. 

d-watkins.com

Program Information

The Hackerman Writer in Residence (WIR) program is an opportunity for the selected writer to work as an independent contractor developing a new body of work or to further develop projects already in existence. The Hackerman Writer in Residence program aims to enhance the literary and cultural life of Maryland by connecting established and emerging writers with Library resources and tools, creating meaningful connections with Library patrons, and contributing unique perspectives to our ever-evolving and growing community.

Program Goals

• Foster an inclusive and diverse space: Create opportunities for Library patrons to interact with literary professionals from various disciplines, promoting equity and inclusivity.

• Enhance creative growth and exploration: Cultivate a thriving literary scene in Baltimore by encouraging writers to explore and contribute to the city's cultural landscape.

• Facilitate meaningful collaborations: Offer a platform for the community to engage with literary professionals.

• Enrich creative learning: Provide access to resources and services that support Library patrons in their literary learning and exploration.

• Bridge the gap between literary art and community: Establish connections between literary professionals and the Library community.

Stipend

The Pratt provides a stipend during the residency period. Our current stipend is $30,000 for 11 months, dependent on available funding, with some additional resources available for supply costs. We are unable to reimburse travel costs or provide housing for visiting writers.

Selection Process

Residents are carefully selected through a multi-round review process in which library staff and external jurors review and score applications.

Notification of applicant status will be made by May 23, 2025. 

Due to the high volume of applications received, we are able to provide individualized feedback only to the top eight applicants who are not selected for the residency.

More Information

For more information about the Hackerman Writer in Residence program, please email wir@prattlibrary.org.