News and Information
Emory University
Atlanta, GA 30322

Release date: April 21, 1999
Contact: Deb Hammacher, Assistant Director

EMORY UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR/AUTHOR SCORES GUGGENHEIM FELLOWSHIP

Emory University Assistant Professor of English/creative writing Xuefei Jin, who writes under the name Ha Jin, has been awarded a coveted 1999 Guggenheim Fellowship to complete work on a novel in progress. The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation awarded 179 grants from a pool of 2,785 applicants to provide scholars and artists the means to engage in research or the creation of art with complete freedom. Jin, who joined the Emory faculty in 1993, is one of fewer than a dozen writers who were awarded grants this year. The 1999 grants are worth $33,866 each and will allow Jin to take a year of leave from his teaching duties to complete his novel.

"In his relatively brief time at Emory, Xuefei Jin has distinguished himself as a writer and teacher of rare excellence," says Steven Sanderson, dean of Emory College and vice president of arts and sciences. "His extraordinary range of writing in poetry, short story and novel forms places him among a handful of contemporary writers. He richly deserves to be associated with one of the world's most prestigious fellowships. Many of us eagerly await the chance to read his next work of literature; I am sure it will contribute to the distinction of the Guggenheim tradition and to the growing eminence of Emory's creative writing program."

Jin is thrilled to receive the grant and feels particularly honored to be a recipient at such an early stage in his career. "This means a lot to me since so few writers have been chosen and these fellowships usually go to those in mid-career," says Jin, who is a native of China and veteran of the People's Army. He was pursuing his Ph.D. in English at Brandeis University with the intention of returning to China to teach when the Tiananmen Square massacre changed his path.

Realizing he could never write freely in his homeland, Jin dedicated himself to a career of teaching and writing in English. Jin's award-winning work frequently draws from his experiences in China. He is a recipient of the Hemingway/PEN Award for first fiction for his short story collection "Ocean of Words: Army Stories," and the Flannery O'Connor Award for short fiction for "Under the Red Flag." Jin welcomes the chance to complete the novel he has been working on for years. "I've done the research; now I just have to write it," he says. His first novel, "In the Pond," was released earlier this year.

The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation was established in 1925 by U.S. Senator Simon Guggenheim and his wife as a memorial to a son who died April 26, 1922. The further the development of scholars and artists by assisting them to engage in research in any field of knowledge and creation in any of the arts, under the freest possible conditions and irrespective of race, color or creed. The fellowships are awarded through two annual competitions, one to citizens and permanent residents of the United States and Canada, the other open to citizens and permanent residents of Latin America and the Caribbean. The awards are intended for advanced professionals who as writers, scholars or scientists have a significant record of publication, or as artists, playwrights, filmmakers, photographers, composers or the like have a significant record of exhibition or performance of their work.

Jin is a resident, with his wife, of Lawrenceville, Ga. (30244).