Awardee Database

Awardees

Patricia Ehrnman

In recognition of her work as the liaison between the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs and Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Laurence Viallet

For her fine translation of The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by the Dominican author Junot Diaz. This novel, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2008, was published in France by Plon, in their Feux Croisés collection.

Serge Chauvin

For his translations of Apex and The Colossus of New York (Gallimard), by the New York novelist and MacArthur Fellow Colson Whitehead.

Chelsea Lane‐Miller

Project on water distribution policy in the Murray-Darling basin, which weighed the needs of communities against those of farmers and the environment. Lane-Miller, a graduate of Dartmouth College, conducted this research in Adelaide at the University of Southern Australia.

Nigel de Juan Hatton

Project on the philosophical dimensions of creative freedom that two African-American artists found in Scandinavia. His research on William H. Johnson and Cecil Brown will support two chapters of his planned book, tentatively entitled Scandinavian Landscapes, African-American Escapes: Black Artists and Freedom in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. At the time, Hatton was at Stanford University.

Julia Stein

Multi-media performance project on exploring the boundaries between the psychological and physical worlds. While in Finland, Stein developed several performance events related to this project, either alone or in collaboration with others.

Alicia Viani

Project on mental health aspects of the sexuality of adolescent girls. Viani’s research resulted in an unanticipated development, as her qualitative interview techniques increased the participants’ self-awareness and confidence.

Erika Larsen

Photography project on the social world of hunting and reindeer herding among the Sámi people of northern Scandinavia. While she was in Sweden, work from this series in the magazine D2, in an exhibit of experimental media in Moscow and at the Etnografiska Museet in Stockholm; these were followed by a solo exhibit in Korea at the Seoul Center of Visual Art BODA. The project culminated in an impressive November 2011 photo essay in National Geographic. See: www.erikalarsenphoto.com.

Erika Larsen
Erika Larsen

This second of twelve portraits in 2017, honoring alumni from thirty years of Roth Foundation programs, features photographer Erika Larsen. You can see Erika’s amazing work at www.erikalarsenphoto.com.

Erika won a Project Support Award while she was a Fulbrighter in Sweden in 2010, working on a photography project on the social world of reindeer herding among the Sámi people of northern Scandinavia. Her Roth Foundation award helped her take advantage of a series of opportunities to share her work: in the magazine D2; in an experimental media exhibit in Moscow; at Stockholm’s Ethnographic Museum, Jokkmokk’s Ajtte Museum and the Gällivare Museum; and in a solo exhibition at Galleri Kontrast. This project culminated in a photo essay in National Geographic (Nov 2011) and a monograph entitled Sami, Walking with Reindeer (2013).

This month, Erika wrote us some thoughts on her work and the importance of our award:

“I have always been motivated and inspired by visual language as a storytelling component. I strive continually to understand and challenge myself in the execution of that language and my intentions as a storyteller. I undertook a BFA in Photographic Illustration and an MFA in Computer Graphics and Film/Video at the Rochester Institute of Technology. In terms of training, however, I believe the most influential and formative elements have always come from my life experiences. In this spirit, I have extended my education by studying language development in Norway and Peru.

“In 2010, the Roth Foundation gave me the financial support I needed to expand parts of my project into exhibitions. This is integral and crucial to the creation process… because if you don’t have the means to get your work out and circulating, you have only accomplished part of the storytelling process.

“The projects I take on—with National Geographic and otherwise—tend to come from an innate curiosity. I seek to explore our human connection to the natural world, as these are expressed through culturally unique elements, including ritual, spirituality, language, adornments and customs, and family and worldviews.

“The stories I work on pervade all aspects of my life. It is inevitable that I become a part of those stories, to varying degrees, in order to try to grasp and understand what I am learning. The themes I focus on thus enter my artistic, social and professional endeavors equally. This would be most evident in the longer stories I have worked on:

  • Sami, Walking with Reindeer, an intimate look at how reindeer herders relate to the arctic landscape;
  • People of the Horse, focusing on the role of the horse in modern day Native America;
  • Gifts from the Tundra, about how one Yupik community on the Bering sea relates to climate change and land erosion, as it reveals voices of the past and shapes the future;
  • and, most recently, Science of Belief, about the Placebo Effect—how it aides and/or hinders our healing potential as humans—and the major role that culture and customs play in the healing process.

“On a personal level, the work I do can often isolate me within the worlds I am working in, within the story context. That’s a big reason why receiving support from the Roth Foundation (and sources like it) has been so important—it reminds me that the story is reaching other audiences and it aids me tremendously in my communication process.

“In general, the support given by the Roth Foundation helps amplify unique voices and visions around the globe.”

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This alumni portrait was drafted by Roth Foundation chair, Skyler Arndt-Briggs, based on a short interview with Erika Larsen. Thanks to Drew Barnhart, our Social Media and Outreach Manager, for producing this second 2017 alumni portrait!

Sholeh Wolpe

For her translation of Sin: Selected Poems of Forough Farrokhzad (Univ of Arkansas Press 2008, preface by Alicia Ostriker). Frank Lewis, the president of the American Institute for Iranian Studies, notes that this musical and compelling version draws the reader along and catches the exquisite balance and pacing of the poet’s language; he hopes that this translation will help Farrokhzad claim her rightful place in the international canon. Wolpe is an Iranian-American poet, literary translator and visual artist; see her website at www.sholehwolpe.com.

Rob Trevino

Project on the genetic pathways of breast cancer—a particularly pertinent study, given Lois’ battle with the disease. At the time, Trevino was a computer scientist at Arizona State University.

Bulgarian-English Writing Programs, 2010

Fellows: Nikolai Boikov, Karen Clevidence, Charles Conley, Krassimir Damianov, Ivan Dimitrov, Zdravka Evtimova, Zachary Karabashliev, Kelly Luce, Glin Nikiforov, Paul Vidich

Arkadi Klioutchanski & John Woodsworth

Joint award, with Arkadi Klioutchanski, for their translation of My Life, the autobiography of Sofia Andreevna Tolstaya, Leo Tolstoy’s wife of over fifty years. Woodworth is at the University of Ottawa.

*The Prix Coindreau Prize, The Jeanne Varnay Pleasants Prize for Language Teaching, and the CASVA-Henry & Judith Millon Award are currently inactive.