Macklin Fellowship for Young Maine Writers

Michael Macklin was a poet and longtime board member of the MWPA. Even on a board that included many other writers and poets, Michael was the big, soulful poetic heart of the board. Michael passed unexpectedly in May 2012 while chaperoning a group of students at the New England Young Writers Conference. To read more about Michael, please see below.

To honor Michael’s enthusiastic dedication to the development of young writers and spread his infectious love of poetry and writing, the MWPA established the Michael Macklin Scholarship for Young Maine Writers. The scholarships supported two Maine high school students, one boy and one girl, to attend the Longfellow Young Writers’ Workshop each July at the University of Maine at Farmington from 2014 to 2019.

To continue to honor Michael’s legacy, in 2020 the MWPA and The Telling Room developed the Macklin Fellowship program, open to all Maine youth and young adults who have worked with The Telling Room and exhibit both excellent writing talent and community leadership qualities. Each year, Macklin Fellows receive free, year-long memberships to the MWPA and free registration for two workshops. The Telling Room administers this program and does not solicit applications from outside their programs.

2024 Macklin Fellows

Elizabeth Adekoya writes, “I was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria, the largest city in all of Africa. When I was ten, my family and I moved to Maine. Uprooted from my friends and native culture, and feeling separated from my older brothers, I turned to literature as an escape. In books, I was able to find people who greatly suffered but with whom I shared more fundamental things than age, race, or gender. These characters gave me the confidence I needed to flourish in unfamiliar spaces. I wanted to pass on that comfort to other people, so I started writing fictional stories and poetry. In so doing, I was able to disentangle my nebulous feelings. The Telling Room, which I joined in 2023, further empowered me to write and share. I owe this fellowship to my teachers and fellow students there. They have helped me achieve my childhood dreams of connecting with people beyond me. I look forward to continuing that dream, to writing poems and stories, to being honest, to participating in this fellowship, and to whatever the future may bring.”

Lulu Rasor was born and raised in southern Maine. She attended Oberlin College, where she studied creative writing, English, and history, and was the 2022 recipient of the Lucy Pope Wheeler Poetry Prize. She is the author of the poetry collection An Open Letter to Ophelia, published through the Telling Room. When she’s not writing, she can be found swimming in the ocean and reading fantasy novels.

Pie Rasor is from southern Maine and graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 2023, where she studied English and history. She is the author of Twelve Dead Princesses, a Gothic fantasy novel published through the Telling Room. She currently works as a bookseller while writing further fantasy stories.

Muhammad Drammeh is a senior at Bangor High School, was among Maine Magazine's Mainers of The Year in 2022, and in his free time he is a professional procrastinator. He is currently working on an urban fantasy novel, which will be published as part of the Young Emerging Authors Fellowship in August 2023. This piece is a response to growing hatred and discrimination against LGBTQ+ people across America, intending to ask the question of what validity is and who determines what is or isn't valid.

Noor Sager is a young author whose debut novel, A Destiny Borrowed, was published at age seventeen. Born in Iraq and raised in Maine, Noor bounced around a few towns before settling in Gorham. Expect to see more tales of self-discovery and families of choice from Noor in the near future, but until then, SagerWritings.com holds more short stories and information.

Amanda Dettmann is a poet, teacher, and performer whose work can be found in her published poetry book Untranslatable Honeyed Bruises. She earned her MFA in Poetry from New York University and has received support from the Kenyon Review Writers Workshop. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Emerson Review, The Amistad, South Florida Poetry Journal, The Oakland Review, and The National Poetry Quarterly, among others.

Leigh Ellis has been participating in Telling Room programs since seventh grade, most recently the Young Emerging Authors program and Second Story, and plans to stay involved in the future. In the fall, Leigh will study writing at Columbia University and hopes to continue sharing the stories they needed to hear growing up, as well as helping others to do the same. When not writing, Leigh can often be found collaging, taking pictures of street art, and making spotify playlists. 

Ava Sylvester will graduate from Casco Bay High School in 2022. After moving to Portland earlier in the year from Costa Rica, she is grateful for all of the experiences and opportunities that have presented themselves. 

Alexa Barstow graduated from Oceanside High School in Rockland, Maine. For a year, she drove three hours every Tuesday to Portland to participate as a fellow in the Young Emerging Authors program at The Telling Room. Outside of Young Emerging Authors, Alexa was awarded the 2019 and 2021 Maine Literary Award for Youth Fiction, has been published in three other Telling Room publications, and is currently an editor on Skidompha Library’s literary magazine, Epoch, while also running Psyche, the literary magazine at her school. After high school, she hopes to attend college somewhere on the east coast and study political science and history; it is her goal to spend her life fighting for positive change and sharing stories, both fictional and those based in the “real” world.

Khalil Kilani, an Iraqi immigrant, graduated from Waynflete High School. His story, “Rung by Rung,” reflects his close-knit familial bond and is a glance into his love for crafting. He is the type of friend that waits for you while you tie your shoes. Khalil will continue his studies at Bowdoin College and hopes to create positive social change in the world. 

Hipai Pamba is a Telling Room alum of the Young Writers & Leaders program in 2016-2017, as well as Publishing Workshop, and is currently Teaching Artist in Training at The Telling Room. Her love of working with students and writing keeps her involved. She recently graduated from Casco Bay High School and is currently pursuing a degree in education at Southern Maine Community College. Concerts and traveling are high on the list of ways she enjoys spending her time.

2019 Toni Holz and Milo Gaudette

2018 Alexandra Walsh and Samual Kowal

2017 Hannah Mathieu and Cameron Wood

2016 Ella Boyd and Marisa Mizzoni

2015 Samuel Farnham and Eavan Sibole-Little

2014 Sarah Libby and Collin Winkel

Michael Macklin

Michael Macklin served for years on the MWPA’s board of directors. He received his MFA from Vermont College and published poems in the Cafe Review, The Aurorean, Animus, Rattle and other journals, and several anthologies. Michael served as the reviews editor of the Cafe Review, an international literary journal based in Portland. His collection Driftland was published by Moon Pie Press in 2004. Read his obituary.

Before Coffee

Every morning the dark-robed crows
congregate in the pines at the edge of my yard,
sitting in small groups grumbling
until I step onto the lighted porch.

They grow quiet as monks,
cock their heads and mumble
perhaps in Latin
and we share an early prayer,
a magnificat for another day.

All winter we have met like this at dawn,
wind fluttering their black cassocks
as they peer down their noses
to view me at my lessons.

For a moment we inhale the crackling air
until they rattle with impatience, cackle
at my feeble attempts to see the face of God,
and the old men in the trees fly off.

—Michael Macklin

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If you would like to honor the memory of Michael Macklin by helping support and honor Maine students, please make a tax-deductible donation by clicking the button below and note that you wish to support the Macklin Fellowship.