The Amy Clampitt Residency Program

First-hand experience, poems and podcasts of our previous residents:

Jessica Piazza

Tyree Daye

Cody Walker

Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz

Katrina Vandenberg

GRANT GUIDELINES

For more information on how to apply, visit BerskshireTaconic.org

The Amy Clampitt Fund seeks to advance poetry and the literary arts by providing poet Amy Clampitt’s prior residence in Lenox, Massachusetts as a place to foster the study and promotion of poetry, and to serve as a peaceful retreat for a Poet-in-Residence to nurture and cultivate their work. Residencies will be for six months for a single poet, chosen by The Amy Clampitt Committee. The house can accommodate one poet at a time plus family members as described below.

Amy Clampitt was born and raised in New Providence, Iowa, and graduated from Grinnell College. After she graduated, she lived mainly in New York City. Her first full-length collection of poems, The Kingfisher, published in 1983, was followed by What the Light Was Like (1985), Archaic Figure (1987), and Westward (1990). Her last book, A Silence Opens, appeared in 1994.

A 1982 recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a 1984 Academy of American Poets Fellowship, she was made a MacArthur Prize Fellow in 1992. Clampitt purchased a small house in Lenox with part of the award, and lived there briefly. She was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and was a Writer-in-Residence at the College of William and Mary, Visiting Writer at Amherst College, and Grace Hazard Conkling Visiting Writer at Smith College. Ms. Clampitt died in September 1994. Her husband, Harold Korn, died in March 2001. It is his estate that has established the Amy Clampitt Fund. (A 2014 broadcast of NPR's "Morning Edition" featured Amy Clampitt's story. Listen to it here!)

AWARD

The Residency award consists of the use of the Amy Clampitt House for a 6-month period during the calendar year of 2028. Applicants may may apply for one residency: January-June 2028. A monthly stipend of $4,000 is paid to the resident. It is expected that the resident fellow commit to residing in the house full-time, and focus exclusively on their creative work, except for occasional absences.

The Amy Clampitt House is a charming, fully furnished, 3-bedroom, 2-story house in the Cape style in Lenox, Massachusetts. Partners and/or children may accompany the resident so long as the total number of individuals in the house does not exceed five. Pets are not allowed. Smoking is not allowed inside the house. The house is not wheelchair accessible and is located in a quiet, residential neighborhood, a 15-minute walk from the village of Lenox.

Lenox is in rural western Massachusetts, bordering northern Connecticut and eastern New York. It is necessary for residents to make arrangements for their own transportation for the duration of the residency, as public transportation is extremely limited.

ELIGIBILITY

The Amy Clampitt Fund Residency Program encourages individuals from all backgrounds to apply. Poets, literary scholars or translators of poetry with professional standing in their fields as well as emerging poets/scholars are eligible for residencies.

Applicant must either a U.S. Citizen or a Legal Permanent Resident of the United States with a verifiable United States social security number. If the applicant holds DACA status and are offered residency, they must supply a copy of their DACA authorization, and if it has expired, confirm a renewal application has been filed.

REVIEW CRITERIA

Deadline June 15, 2026

The Amy Clampitt Committee will review requests for residencies according to the following criteria:

• The quality of the applicant’s work.

• The potential impact of the residency on the applicant and the commitment of the applicant to make propitious use of the residency period.

• Applicant’s demonstration of ability to complete their proposed project, as presented.

  
  The Amy Clampitt Poet Residency Review Committee is comprised of Karen Chase, Ann Close, Ama Codjoe, John Hennessy, Nathan McClain, Todd Portnowitz and Mary Jo Salter.