Meghan Phillips
Photo by Michelle Johnsen
Bio
Meghan Phillips is the author of the forthcoming flash fiction chapbook Abstinence Only (Barrelhouse). Her short fiction has appeared in Barrelhouse, Hobart, Passages North, and wigleaf, and has been anthologized in Best Microfiction 2019 and The Best Small Fictions 2019. Phillips received her BA from McDaniel College and her MA from James Madison University. She lives in Manheim, Pennsylvania, with her husband and son, where she works for a public library.
I sent my fellowship application at the end of a closing shift at the library, where, on that particular night, I was working in the fingerprinting office. By the time I hit send, I had helped a lot of people. I had also touched a lot of strangers’ hands. By the time I hit send, I was tired and ready to get home to my husband and seven-month-old son.
When Katy from the National Endowment for the Arts called me to tell me that I was being offered this award, I missed the call because I was covering for a coworker in the library’s coffee shop. By the time I was able to call her back, I had toasted one bagel, poured about five cups of coffee, and made one hot apple cider. By the time I spoke to Katy in the library’s stairwell, I was laughing and crying and could not believe that I was being offered such an incredible opportunity. I still kind of can’t believe it.
Receiving this award allows me to create some space in my life for writing. The financial support means that I can take some time off work and that I can afford additional childcare. Much, much more importantly, this honor (and it is such an unbelievable honor) gives me the courage to keep trying, to keep working. To keep going.