Wyoming Arts Council recognizes three faculty

The Wyoming Arts Council has awarded a 2020 Creative Writing Fellowship to Chad Hanson in creative nonfiction. Two other Casper College faculty, David Zoby, and William Conte were awarded Honorable Mentions.

Hanson’s last book of poetry, “This Human Shape” (2016) was one of seven finalists for the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment Book Awards for 2017 in the “Creative Writing” category. He was awarded a 2014 Creative Writing Fellowship in Creative Nonfiction from the Wyoming Arts Council and was an honorable mention for the 2019 Creative Writing Fellowship in Poetry from the council. Hanson also won the David Martinson — Meadowhawk Prize in 2013 from Red Dragonfly Press, which resulted in the publication of his first book of poems, “Patches of Light.”

In addition to his two books of poetry, Hanson is the author of two nonfiction works: “Swimming with Trout” and “Trout Streams of the Heart,” and two research works: “In Search of Self: Exploring Student Identity Development” and “The Community College and the Good Society.” Hanson is a sociology and social work instructor and chair of the social and cultural studies department at Casper College.

Zoby is the co-author of “Fire on the Beach” and author of “Fish Like You Mean It.” A prolific outdoor essayist, Zoby’s articles have appeared in Gray’s Sporting Journal, The Flyfish Journal, Fish Alaska, Ninth Letter, The Sun, and others. “Fish Like You Mean It” is a collection of his fishing and hunting essays. In 2014, he won the Jeffery E. Smith Editor’s Prize for nonfiction from The Missouri Review. Zoby was a scholar at the first Hala Foundation seminar in Washington, D.C., where young, professional Arab Americans discussed political and ethnic identities. He earned a Fulbright-Hays Fellowship to study religious pluralism in Syria and Turkey in 2007. Zoby is an English instructor at the college.

William Conte is a theater instructor at Casper College. Besides his instructing duties, Conte has directed the Casper College productions of “The Rover,” “Evita,” “Rashomon,” and “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” among others.

According to the WAC, fellowships are merit-based and are awarded to Wyoming artists based on their submitted portfolio of work that reflects serious and exceptional artistic investigation. Recipients each receive a $3,000 award and the opportunity to share their work with the community.