Charleston Literary Festival
Cato Fellowship Prize
The Cato Fellowship Prize is awarded to two highly-skilled writers of fiction, creative nonfiction, or poetry who are resident in North or South Carolina. Writers receive a full residency in Charleston during the ten days of Charleston Literary Festival with full access to the Festival events, authors, and a writing desk in Dock Street Theatre as well as a cash prize of $7,500.
INFORMATION REGARDING THE 2025 CATO FELLOWSHIP PRIZE APPLICATION PROCESS COMING SOON
“To be able to touch another person with your selection of words is a rare gift. It is a bold and brave endeavor, oftentimes revealing far more about the writer than of the subject matter. Very few are blessed with this gift, this willingness to expose oneself, to be judged. With the establishment of a fellow program as part of Charleston Literary Festival, we thrive to nurture the yearning of a few select individuals to continue to share their creativity with all of us in our lifelong adventure in learning about the world around us and, most importantly, ourselves in the process. It is my hope that in creating this program, I can honor my late husband Wayland H. Cato Jr., who was a passionate reader his entire life.”
Marion and Wayland H. Cato Jr.
2024 Cato Fellows
LATRIA GRAHAM
Latria Graham is a magazine feature writer from Spartanburg, South Carolina. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, LA Times, The Guardian, espnW, Southern Living, and The Atlantic. She is the ethical travel columnist for Afar Magazine, as well as the writer behind Garden & Gun's “This Land” column, which uses time, place, and memory to document and investigate the lesser known or rapidly disappearing aspects of the natural world in the South. An Assistant Professor of Creative Writing in Augusta University’s English and World Languages department, she is also an instructor in the University of Georgia's Narrative Nonfiction MFA program housed in the Grady College of Mass Communication & Journalism.
“Being one of the inaugural fellows is a remarkable honor becauseI’ve used the written word as my means of expression, and I can trace my lineage back to the coast of South Carolina, a place where for generations my Black ancestors were forbidden by law from learning to read or write. So to be recognized in this way, for bringing vulnerability and my emotional truth to the page is no small thing. The talent that comes to this festival is exceptional and I’m excited to learn more about craft and enhance the caliber of my creativity.”
DASIA MOORE
Dasia Moore is a poet, journalist, and queer child of the Black South. Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in publications including The Offing, Fence, Hayden’s Ferry Review, and The Boston Globe, where she was a magazine staff writer. Dasia holds her MFA in creative writing from New York University, where she was a Lillian Vernon Fellow, and a BA from Yale University. She is honored to be one of two inaugural Cato Fellowship recipients. Raised in her family homes of Charleston, SC and Reidsville, NC, Dasia now lives and writes in Durham.
“To have my poetry recognized in the very city that made me a poet is a dream fulfilled. I write about loss across the Black Atlantic, including my own family’s loss of land and homes in Charleston. Thank you to the Charleston Literary Festival for believing in my work; it would be an understatement to say I am honored.”