Opportunities for Students

Inklings is the only creative writing club on campus, focusing on peer-led writing workshops for students to hone their craft and feedback skills. We meet in groups of fiction / creative nonfiction / poetry writers to help each other improve our work. Throughout the year, we host larger events, such as collaborations with the Colby Museum of Art and English Department, bringing on outside published writers and giving a chance for Colby students to gain experience with creative writing.

Inklings welcomes creative writers of all genres, backgrounds, and experience levels. If you weren’t able to get into a creative writing course but love to write, if you write in your free time but have never taken a formal course, or if you’ve taken every single creative writing course offered at Colby and want more opportunities to improve your writing, Inklings is for you!

The Inklings workshop meets on Thursdays at 4:00pm in Miller 014. The workshops are casual but productive and focus on author-led discussion about their work. 

The Kristina Stahl Creative Writing Fund was established by Bill and Karin Stahl in memory of their daughter, Kristina Stahl ’99, who died tragically in 2002. She was a talented English teacher at Kingswood Oxford School in West Hartford, CT, and was pursuing her Masters in English at Middlebury during summers at the Bread Loaf campus. Kristina loved writing fiction, poetry, and nonfiction.

The Kristina Stahl Creative Writing Fund supports the Creative Writing Program at Colby through three initiatives: the Kristina Stahl Prize for Creative Non-Fiction, the Kristina Stahl Writer-in-Residence, and the Kristina Stahl Creative Writing Internships.

Students who secure an unpaid internship for Jan plan or summer can apply for funds to cover their expenses while they undertake their internship.

Applications for the Kristina Stahl Creative Writing Internship award will be live on this DavisConnects webpage.

The dates for the Jan Plan 2024 Funding Applications: 

Application Opens: October 2, 2023 @ 12:00 AM EST
Application Closes: October 13, 2023 @ 11:59 PM EST
Award Notifications: October 25, 2023 by 5:00 PM EST

Students will fill out a general application (please visit that DavisConnects funding page to prep all essay questions and application materials). Qualified applicants will then be asked to answer the following:

1. Describe previous internship, coursework, non-profit work, extracurricular activities, or other experience that might be directly relevant to the types of opportunities supported by the Kristina Stahl Writing Fund.
2. Who will supervise you? Please describe the nature of the supervision, such as how often you will be mentored.
3. Are you applying for funding from any source other than the Kristina Stahl? If so, indicate the source and how much are you requesting.

Original poetry by a student

Established in 1967 by a bequest from Ruby Carver Emerson, Class of 1904, in memory of her mother, Mary Low Carver, Class of 1875, who was Colby’s first woman graduate. Mary Low Hall is named for her.

Original poetry by a freshman or sophomore woman

Established in 1987 by Katherine’s parents, Marjorie Murphy Shuman ’37 (nee Gould) and the late Howard R. Murphy. This prize was created in memory of Katherine Rogers Murphy ’71, who died tragically while still a first year student at Colby. Katherine was an English major from New York, and is remembered for her outgoing personality, her love of the outdoors, and her love of reading. Her parents and friends sponsored the creation of the award in memory of the potential she had possessed. The recipient of the award is someone who will be able to go on to do the things Katherine Rogers Murphy was terribly sadly denied.

Short story writing

Established in 1959 by Elmira’s daughter, Margaret H. Jones, M.D. Elmira Nelson Jones, Class of 1897, was one of the women who attended Colby before the idea of a college-educated woman was readily accepted. She was a public school teacher and spent five years on the Portland School Board. The winner of this prize will be someone who is as much a lover of the written word as Elmira Nelson Jones was.

For excellence in the writing of creative nonfiction

Established in 2015 by Kristina’s parents, this prize is created in memory of Kristina Stahl ’99, who died tragically in 2002. She was a talented English teacher at Kingswood Oxford School in West Hartford, CT, and was pursuing her Masters in English at Middlebury during summers at the Bread Loaf campus. Kristina loved writing fiction, poetry, and nonfiction.