2026’s Recipients: Kyla-Yến Huỳnh Giffin & Chrysanthemum Brook Watkins!
We are please to announce that Kyla-Yến Huỳnh Giffin and Chrysanthemum Brook Watkins are the recipients of the 2026 ALOCASIA Microgrant for Queer Nature Writers.
Kyla-Yến Huỳnh Giffin (they/them) is a queer and trans, biracial, Vietnamese unamerican diaspora writer based in Boston, MA. Their work revolves around the intersection of dreaming/fantasizing/futurizing and grieving, and focuses on topics of care, diaspora, transness, ecology, empire, and intergenerational histories. The Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Xenolithic Edges Literary, Kyla-Yến’s work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Best Small Fictions, and appears in The Offing, ANMLY, diaCRITICS, Autostraddle, and other publications. They have taught writing workshops independently as well as for Split This Rock, Mendocino Art Center, Sundress Academy for the Arts (SAFTA), and more. Their work has been supported by Tin House, Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing, The Kenyon Review, and more. You can visit Kyla-Yến’s author page at kylayenhuynhgiffin.com, and find them on Instagram @yenshrine.
Chrysanthemum (Chris) Brook Watkins is a trans poet, environmentalist, and the author of The Drag Gospel of Queer Jesus (Saturnalia Books 2026). She graduated from Florida State University with her PhD in poetry and a concentration in ecocriticism, poetic forms, and gender studies. A Sundress Publications and Elk River Writers Fellow and a finalist for The National Poetry Series, Chrysanthemum’s poetry has appeared in such publications as ONLY POEMS, Poetry Magazine, and the Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day series.
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2025’s Recipient: Mukethe Kawinzi!
Mukethe Kawinzi is a shepherd in coastal California where she stewards a herd of Spanish cashmere range goats to feed the soil. She has farmed in sustainable and organic agriculture for five years, with a focus on small ruminants, artisanal cheesemaking, non-violent livestock handling, and regenerative grazing.
Her writing illuminates the smut and splendor of the natural world, race in rural spaces, the peculiar wit of livestock animals, and the pains and pleasures of physical labor. She is inspired by the languages and rhythms
inherent to the space of the farm, colored folk who work land, and is oriented, ultimately, toward song, dance, and serenity.
Our sincerest thanks to everyone who applied. We were overwhelmed by the volume of incredible work by so many talented writers. We look forward to reading more of your work in the future. ALOCASIA couldn’t exist without all of you and your enthusiastic exploration of plants and nature and queerness in poetry and prose.
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ALOCASIA is currently closed for applications for the 2027 ALOCASIA Microgrant for Queer Nature Writers.
Two recipients will receive $500 to help incubate their future creative endeavors.
To apply, please send a brief personal statement (1000 words or less), biographical note, and a five page writing sample of nature writing to alocasiamagazine@gmail.com with the subject line MICROGRANT. Please direct any questions to this same address.
Deadline: TBA.
Only writers within the US can be considered for this year’s microgrant.
Supported by funding from Accelerate Resilience L.A., a sponsored project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.