Fellowship

Program

The program is an apprenticeship in creative writing. We seek excellence in craftsmanship and writing as art, taking seriously the call to reverence and doing justice to the human condition.

In Brief

2 years of work in community under the guidance of experienced writers
4 semesters of writing and reading
4 weekend writing residencies (3 nights/4 days; Thursday-Sunday)
Fellows have summers off for self-directed writing and reading

Responsibilities

The program is designed to develop serious writing within the context of a writer’s needful responsibilities and obligations. Writing, reading, and program attendance are the fellowship’s only responsibilities.

Fellows

Writing fellowships shall be awarded to writers who demonstrate a serious, thoughtful, and attentive vision for their craft with a talent that can be developed. Up to 3 fellows will be accepted into the program each year. A full cohort consists of 3 first year fellows and 3 second year fellows.

As a fellowship, program costs are underwritten.
Fellows must pay for travel and books.

Eligibility

Anyone who is interested in the Cypress Fellowship is welcome to apply.

Fellows must affirm The Apostles’ Creed as a statement of their core beliefs.
Fellows must be at least 18 years old.

How to Apply

Applications are closed. To learn of future opportunities, subscribe to our Substack.

Faculty

Bret Lott

Writing Faculty

Bret Lott is the bestselling author of fifteen books, including the novels Ancient Highway, The Hunt Club, A Song I Knew by Heart, and Jewel (an Oprah’s Book Club selection). Formerly editor of The Southern Review, Lott was appointed to the National Council on the Arts in 2006. He taught creative writing for nearly forty years at the College of Charleston. He and his wife, Melanie, live in the country outside Charleston, South Carolina.

Current Fellows

Brett Bradshaw

Director

Brett Bradshaw is a writer and a cofounder of the Cypress Writers Workshop. He produces the podcast On Good Writing with Bret Lott. He lives with his wife, Andrea, and their three young daughters in Dallas County, Texas.

Lisa Castello

Fellow

Lisa Castello has been writing fiction alongside her professional work as a content writer for more than 25 years. She has persevered in the joy and struggle of literary work only by the grace of God and the loving support of her husband, their three children, and her mother sharing their home.

Scott Kauffmann

Fellow

Scott Kauffmann has been an organizational writer, editor, and content strategist for two decades, and has written and produced a dozen albums as a singer/songwriter. He and his wife live in Manhattan, within walking distance of their adult children. He is at work on his first novel.

Bryce Taylor

Fellow

Bryce Taylor lives in Houston with his wife and their two sons. His fiction has appeared in Image, Gulf Stream Magazine, and Sierra Nevada Review, and is forthcoming in The Hopkins Review. He has also contributed poems to Image, America Magazine, and the Portland Review.

Beth Varnes

Fellow

Beth Varnes resides in rural Montana, where the mountain landscapes and her life experiences converge in writing memoir and short stories. An engineer by training and profession, her writing involves challenge, revision, relentless pondering, and dead stop moments, in the unending diligence in trying to tell of grace, loss, family, and provision.

Cynthia Robinson Young

Fellow

Cynthia Robinson Young is the author of the poetry chapbooks, Migration (2018), Reflections of a Feral Mother (2025), and She Named Me After the Moon, forthcoming from Aldrich Press. Her work has appeared in journals and magazines including The Writer’s Chronicle, Freedom Fiction, The Amistad, and Cutleaf. Originally from Newark, New Jersey, after 30 years in the San Francisco Bay Area, she and her husband now live in Chattanooga, Tennessee, surrounded by their eight adult children, their spouses, and 19 grandchildren.