June Dodge Writing Fellowships (3-6 per year)
June Dodge is not a real person, but she’s got a real heart. June Dodge emerged from a typo in the local newspaper, but what a great typo, what a great muse. We picture June Dodge as a wild west character, tough but gracious, with a little dirt on her brow from a hard day’s work, an Aries spitfire, probably ready to spend the evening talking quatrains or Coltrane over a tin cup of moonshine before kicking her chair over and going back to the typewriter to make the words fly like bullets. It takes grit to write and June Dodge has it. If you’ve got character and determination, she’d like to support that. June Dodge Fellowships are open to poets or writers from the Northwest (Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington) or provinces of western Canada (British Columbia, Alberta, Yukon). Though named for a woman, non-binary folk and men may apply! These fellowships fund two-week residency and include transit help to Mineral from Portland, Seattle, or points between on I-5.
Residency Fellowships
Mt. Rainier was first known as Mt. Tahoma — and the Tahoma Literary Review is as big a deal as the volcanic mountain for which it is named. With this fellowship, TLR will offer a writer of poetry or prose who identifies as part of the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Color) community a fellowship to cover the two-week residency fee. The recipient’s work may be published in TLR (you may ask for work to be read for publication or residency only), which is supporting this fellowship and publication opportunity to recognize and uplift BIPOC voices. The fellowship also includes travel assistance from points between Portland, OR and Seattle, WA along the I-5 corridor, if needed.
Mona Lisa Roberts Visual Arts Fellowship (1)
She was born Mona Lisa — not after the da Vinci painting, but the Nat King Cole song. Even so, her name might be what destined her for painting. Mona created art inspired by her mossy, forested stomping grounds. Mineral Lake was one of her favorite places — to fish, to camp, and to enjoy nature with those she loved — both her dogs and her people. Growing up rural and lesbian wasn’t the easiest coming-of-age combo in the 60’s and 70’s. Mona struggled to feel at home in her own skin. But painting gave her the self-expression she craved, and we know she’d be over the Mineral Lake moon to support an artist’s time there. To honor her spirit, Mona’s family created a two-week visual arts fellowship open to an artist who self-identifies as LGBTQ and lives in the Pacific Northwest (Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington) or the provinces of western Canada(British Columbia, Alberta, Yukon). This fellowship funds a two-week residency any month and transit from Seattle, Portland, or points between.
Tahoma Literary Review Fellowship (1)
A friend of this project and advocate for arts and literacy, Oregon writer Erin Donovan died suddenly in 2015, leaving in her wake many saddened loved ones and an unpublished collection of short stories. A fan of small town culture, travel, dive bars, nature, wordplay, and late-night talks about the meaning of life, Erin lived with abandon. To honor her spirit, Erin’s friends and family co-created a fellowship in her memory open to applicants from the states where Erin lived. The fellowship is for a person at mid-life: If Erin’s death at 50 taught us anything, it is that life is shorter than we expect and the time to create is always right now. This residency is open to a woman-identifying writer of poetry or prose living in Massachusetts, New York, Washington, or Oregon, who is 40 years old+, and whose writing expresses wit and compassion. This fellowship funds the two-week residency fee and offers travel reimbursement upon proof of travel purchase or mileage, up to $175 (OR/WA) or $400 (NY/MA).
Erin Donovan Writing Fellowship (1)
Returning Alumni
During fall 2026, the first one-week session in September is specifically for alumni so we can test some of the new ways we’re hosting artist residents from the Mineral Lake Lodge and our church building. Otherwise, we reserve one spot for a returning alum per year, and we ask alums wishing to return to wait three seasons before re-applying so new folks can ebb and flow in Mineral. If you previously attended residency without a fellowship, you may apply for a fellowship. If you attended on fellowship, you may return as a paid resident. We have a short application for alumni; these applications are juried.