A Reading with the Center for Fiction / Susan Kamil 2026 Emerging Writer Fellows
Nine early-career NYC writers share their published work and works-in-progress in the first public reading of the 2026 Susan Kamil Emerging Writer Fellowship cohort.
Why we picked this
The Susan Kamil fellows are selected through a serious process — the cohort has historically been one of the better indicators of who will matter in American fiction over the next decade. Catching them at this stage, before the books come out, is a particular kind of luck.
The Center for Fiction’s Susan Kamil Emerging Writer Fellowship Program selects nine early-career, New York City-based writers each year and provides financial support, professional development, monthly dinners with editors, agents, and authors, and workspace. The cohort’s first public reading together marks the moment when the fellowship becomes visible — nine writers who have been working in parallel now share what they’ve been doing.
The 2026 fellows are Jamier Boatman-Harrell, Inyene Ekanem, Ji Hyun Joo, Lucas Ege Mautner, Skyler Melnick, Allen L. Melton Jr., Eric Sacks, Darina Sikmashvili, and Ayten Tartici. They will read from both published pieces and works in progress, giving audiences a view of writing at a formative stage.
The event is free and held at the Center for Fiction’s performance space at 15 Lafayette Avenue in Brooklyn. This kind of reading tends to feel different from established author events — there’s more at stake, the work is newer, and the writers are still finding what they’re saying.