Our BleakHouse Fellow for academic year 2011-2012 is Shirin Karimi, an award-winning author and honors alumnus of American University who bridged two seemingly disparate branches of knowledge in her undergraduate years, pursuing a career in medicine while fulfilling her creative side with a major in Literature. A scholar and a humanist with exquisite sensibilities, Karimi built upon the inspiration she drew from her volunteer work with cancer patients, combined with her extensive study of the writings and reflections of prison inmates, to produce a remarkable book of poems entitled Enclosures: Reflections from the Prison Cell and the Hospital Bed (BleakHouse Publishing, 2011). Enclosures, the first and sole book by an undergraduate ever published by Bleakhouse, explores suffering and loss among the ill and imprisoned. The book received extensive praise from reviewers in medicine and literature, fields that span the arts and sciences, and is the recipient of our Best Book Award. Over the coming year, Karimi will work on another book for her fellowship project, this one an edited collection of original writings by current and aspiring medical students, which will proceed under the working title, Do No Harm: Writings on Medicine, Illness, and the Human Condition. BleakHouse Fellowships are accompanied by a stipend of five hundred dollars.

Our BleakHouse Fellow for academic year 2010-2011 is Liz Calka, an undergraduate student at American University majoring in Visual Media and minoring in Graphic Design. Calka is an award-winning photographer and designer who serves as Artistic Director for BleakHouse Publishing. She uses design and photography as art forms with social implications, and as catalysts for change. Her portfolio includes book and magazine covers, websites, and photographic documentary series. As part of her fellowship, Calka will be publishing a book of photography with BleakHouse in Fall 2010. The book will focus on people affected by the D.C. justice system and will be an in-depth exploration of the truths and stereotypes that coexist within that system. She will be graduating in December 2010 and plans to find work as a designer or photographer. BleakHouse Fellowships are accompanied by a stipend of five hundred dollars.

Our BleakHouse Fellow for academic year 2009-2010 is Sonia Tabriz, an honors student at American University with majors in Law & Society and Psychology. Tabriz is an award-winning and widely published author and artist, whose publications include an edited book of criminal justice fiction, several stories and poems, magazine and book cover art, and a collection of poetry slated for publication by BleakHouse Publishing. She also serves as Editor-In-Chief of Tacenda Literary Magazine and has worked as text designer of other publications. Tabriz will study fiction as a window onto the world of crime and punishment, and will mentor selected honors students who hope to use creative writing as a part of their course of study at American University. She looks forward to attending law school upon graduation and aspires to continue working creatively on issues of criminal justice and deprivation of liberty. BleakHouse Fellowships are accompanied by a stipend of five hundred dollars.

The first Bleak House Fellow is Molly Kenney, an honors student at American University and a Truman Scholar. Ms. Kenney will study the death penalty, and will mentor selected honors students who are examining the death penalty as part of their course of study at American University. Bleak House Fellowships are accompanied by a stipend of five hundred dollars.