Speculative Fiction Writer and Podcaster Verdell Walker Wins $600 At-Home Residency
A writer found a residency that fit her life and won it.
Most residencies ask you to pack up and go somewhere to work on your craft. But what if you can’t leave home right now?
Verdell Walker is a speculative fiction writer, podcaster, and full-time caregiver for an elderly parent, and she recently won a funded remote residency she first discovered through Grants For Creators.
Read on to learn how Verdell approached her application, why she put her personal manifesto in a grant doc, and the unexpected gift winning gave her beyond the check.
1. Tell us about yourself and what you create.
I am a speculative fiction writer and the creator, producer, and host of The Book Up Podcast. My work is rooted in Black Southern heritage, folklore, and alternate history — stories that ask hard questions about power, inheritance, and survival.
Listen to the trailer here:
Listen to The Book Up on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Any Podcast Player
My short stories have been published in Reckoning, Tractor Beam, Zooscape, and others, and I am currently at work on a novel.
I am a graduate of the 2025 Your Personal Odyssey Writing Workshop and will be attending Clarion West this summer. My podcast is my other way of being a literary citizen, by platforming books that aren’t on the end caps but should be.
2. You found this grant through Grants For Creators — how has the platform shaped the way you approach funding opportunities?
It surfaces opportunities I’d never have time to search for on my own. Grant hunting can feel like a second job, and Grants For Creators does the curatorial work so I can stay focused on the writing. I found In Situ through the newsletter and applied within days. The opportunities are curated well enough that when the right one shows up, you know it immediately. So far, it’s such a worthwhile investment for making my creative practice sustainable.
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3. Which grant did you win, and what inspired you to apply?
The In Situ At Home Remote Residency. Most residencies require you to go somewhere, but right now, I am a caregiver for an elderly parent, and that’s just not feasible. What drew me in beyond the remote format was the structure: dedicated studio visits with working curators and critics, a real cohort, accountability built in. I didn’t just want time to write. I wanted a container that would hold the work as seriously as I was trying to hold it.
4. Grant applications can feel overwhelming for creatives who are more comfortable in the studio or behind a microphone or camera. Any tips for translating your creative vision into a compelling grant application?
The most important thing I did was resist the urge to sound like a grant application. I wrote my application the way I write my stories — specific, direct, and drawing from my actual experience. I didn’t bury the real reason I needed a remote residency in vague language, and I didn’t soften my ambition. My artist statement includes my personal manifesto: “PUBLISHED. PAID. IMPACTFUL. REVERED.” I put that in a grant application because it’s true, and because I think writers — especially Black women writers — are too often discouraged from naming what they want plainly. Name it. The committee can tell the difference between someone performing the right answers and someone telling the truth about their work and their life.
5. Remote residency programs are rare. What did winning this award fund, unlock, or give you permission to do?
The $600 award will go directly toward elder care so I can have protected writing hours, and that’s enormous. But honestly, what winning gave me that I didn’t expect was validation. I am a writer. Not a writer who is also a caregiver, not a writer who is waiting for the right conditions, not a writer who is almost ready. A writer whose voice a jury of curators, critics, and artists found compelling enough to invite into their inaugural cohort. Sometimes you need someone outside your own head to confirm what you already know. It helps you keep going!
6. What’s one thing you know now about the grant application process you wish you’d known before you started?
Apply anyway. This residency skewed toward visual artists, and I applied anyway, because the remote format fit my life and the mission resonated with my work. The committee expanded the cohort and added a writing faculty moderator specifically because of the strength of the writing applications they received. Don’t disqualify yourself before the jury gets a chance to. That’s their job, not yours.
More Community Grant Wins
Creators across disciplines — podcasters, artists, musicians, filmmakers are finding and winning grants they first discovered through Grants For Creators.
Here are a few more wins from the community:
🎙️ Small Ship Cruise Creator Mikkel Woodruff Wins $1,000 Grant
💻 Avie M. Fields Won a $500 Grant to Pursue Archival Storytelling
Did You Win a Grant You Found Through Us?
We want to hear from you!
If Grants For Creators played a role in your grant journey, whether you found the opportunity in our newsletter, through the Hit Submit Challenge, or any of our resources, we’d love to feature your story.
Your win could inspire another creator to pursue grant funding.
Email grantsforcreators@gmail.com with the subject line: “I won a grant.”
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Soooo happy for her! Glad she's able to do both things that matter to her!👏🏽👏🏽
Just discovered this newsletter and I'm genuinely impressed — I had no idea career development grants were this accessible and I've been in the grant writing space for years. The podcast is a wonderful touch — grant writing education is so needed and so underserved. I work with nonprofits and small businesses on grant writing strategy and publish The Grant Insider, a free weekly newsletter breaking down what actually works in proposals and funding applications. Our audiences overlap beautifully even across borders — would love to connect and support each other's work!