2026 Winner: Kristen Gleason
Kristen Gleason is the author of The Wallet and Other Thefts (Fonograf Editions, 2026), a collection of slip-stream short fiction concerned with theft, shame, exile, and God. Her writing has appeared in McSweeney’s, The Los Angeles Review of Books, The Georgia Review, Boston Review, and elsewhere, and her short stories have won a number of awards, including BOMB’s Biannual Fiction Contest and The White Review Short Story Prize. She has been a Writing Fellow at A Public Space and the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship to northern Norway. Her creative work has also benefited from the support of The Lois Roth Foundation, Kunstnarhuset Messen, and the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts at the University of Georgia.
Kristen holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Montana and a PhD in English and Creative Writing from the University of Georgia, where she received the Robert H. West Award for Outstanding Graduate Student in Creative Writing and an Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award. Currently, she teaches writing at the University of Georgia, engages in attention and dream-sharing practices, and volunteers with the local trail maintenance team. You can find her at kristengleason.net.
The committee felt that the particular way Kristen’s fiction engages with the imaginal realm, as well as her unusual handling of narrative, echo the sense of innovation and spirituality that are central to Tom’s work. The award will help Kristen to revise and finish a novel.
The 4th Annual Tom La Farge Award Ceremony will take place this fall in New York City.
This annual award in the amount of $10,000 is designed to encourage and foster literary activity that combines serious play, imagination, erudition and innovative practice.
Tom La Farge was a stylist who passionately rejected exclusivist dualities: adult/child, human/animal, male/female. His work fuses wit, fabulism, learning, compassion and radical play in a way that eludes the dominant literary conventions of both mainstream and avant-garde. Because this award aims to foster literary work in his spirit, applicants will be expected to familiarize themselves with his legacy. Proposals will be considered by a committee selected by Wendy Walker from among Tom's students, fellow writers and friends.
Application Guidelines:
The award may be sought for a project or body of work in writing, publishing, education or any combination of the three. Applicants may not be enrolled in any degree-granting institution. Applications must be made in English and should include:
1) a description of the project for which the money will be used (6500 characters / approximately 4 pages max.);
2) a statement of how the proposal engages with Tom's work and the values espoused therein (3400 characters / approximately 2 pages max.);
3) a 2-page sample, preferably from the work or project for which you are seeking support, but if that work is not yet written, then from whatever you consider to be your best work that is relevant to the award. If formatting or multimedia are crucial for your submission, attach up to three files, not to exceed 6 MB total;
4) an introduction to the applicant’s self and work (3400 characters / approximately 2 pages max.).
During the reading period, applicants may be contacted for additional materials and an interview by the committee.
Friends and relatives of committee members (listed below) may apply. The committee member of their acquaintance will participate in the discussion of their application, but will recuse herself from the vote.
The submission window for the 2026 award closed on January 30, 2026. Please check back in the fall for information about the next submission window.
Committee Members:
WENDY WALKER, Chairperson, author, artist, teacher, editor
PAUL LA FARGE (1970—2023), Advisor, novelist, teacher
Corina Bardoff, writer, librarian
Sam Goodman, writer, teacher
Michael Kowalski, composer, critic
Daniel Levin Becker, author, translator, editor
Eliza Grace Martin, writer
Philip Ording, mathematician, author, teacher