Supporting the work of thinkers and makers who envision and enact new possibilities for our world
Our residency program invites visionaries across creative practices into W.S. Merwin’s home and palm garden. Launched in December 2021, this program nurtures the work of artists, writers, scientists, and thinkers who make us think anew about our world.
Currently, there is no open call for applications. Our residents are recommended by a nominating committee.
We are grateful to William True for full and generous support of our residency program.
2024 Residents
Elisa Gonzalez, Writer
The Merwin Conservancy will welcome award-winning poet, essayist, and fiction writer Elisa Gonzalez for residency this May. She will present at Maui Arts & Cultural Center on June 6, as part of our Green Room series.
About Elisa Gonzalez
Elisa Gonzalez is a poet, essayist, and fiction writer. Her work appears in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, and elsewhere. A graduate of Yale University and the New York University MFA program, she has received fellowships from the Norman Mailer Center, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Rolex Foundation, and U.S. Fulbright Program. She is the recipient of a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award, an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and a Whiting Award. Her debut poetry collection, Grand Tour, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, was named one of the best books of 2023 by The New Yorker. FSG will also bring out her novel, The Awakenings, and a nonfiction book, Strangers on Earth.
Leilehua Lanzilotti, Composer
The Merwin Conservancy will welcome composer and sound artist Leilehua Lanzilotti for a two-week residency this April. Lanzilotti will be joined by the core creative team of Liliʻu, a new opera celebrating the legacy of the last Queen of Hawaiʻi.
About Leilehua Lanzilotti
Leilehua Lanzilotti (b. 1983) is a Kanaka Maoli composer / sound artist. A “leading composer-performer” (New York Times), Lanzilotti’s work is characterized by expansive explorations of timbre. Lanzilotti’s practice explores radical indigenous contemporaneity, integrating community engagement into the heart of projects. By world-building through multimedia installation works and nontraditional concert experiences/musical interventions, Lanzilotti’s works activate imagination around new paths forward in language sovereignty, water sovereignty, land stewardship, and respect. Uplifting others by crafting projects that support both local communities and economy, the work inspires hope to continue. Lanzilotti was a finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Music and is a 2023 SHIFT – Transformative Change and Indigenous Arts Awardee.
Learn more about our past residents:
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