Jemc '05 Named 2023 Guggenheim Fellow

April 24, 2023

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Jac Jemc '05, who penned her first award-winning novel as a student at Illinois Wesleyan, has been awarded a fellowship from the prestigious John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation for her accomplishments and pursuits in fiction writing.

Jemc is the author of three novels and two collections of stories which have been featured in publications including Guernica, LA Review of Books and The Southwest Review. She has completed residencies in several locations including Germany and Denmark.

In April, while attending an artist residency at Moulin à Nef in Auvillar, France, she was notified of the Guggenheim Fellowship news. 

“I'm incredibly honored to be chosen alongside writers I revere as making some of the most important and engaging work being produced right now,” said Jemc, an associate teaching professor of creative writing at the University of California San Diego. 

Jemc said she hopes to dedicate this fellowship to her creative writing journey with sabbatical time, research-related travel and an expedition to the Arctic Circle in October.

“I assume the future will be more of the same slow, daily work, though I cannot deny that being a Guggenheim Fellow might serve as a signal to some that my work is deserving of attention,” said Jemc.

Jemc wrote her first novel in 2005 while majoring in both English writing and theatre arts at Illinois Wesleyan. That book, My Only Wife, was published in 2012, which earned a Paula Anderson Book Award and was a finalist for the 2013 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction.

“I use what I learned at IWU every day,” said Jemc. “The community of IWU was also small enough that I easily saw how important it was to show up for others and create the community you want to live in. If everything else falls away, in terms of success and recognition, I know I have a community of like-minded individuals with whom I already have a rich and interesting creative life.”

The Guggenheim Foundation was established in 1925 in memory of young scholar John Simon Guggenheim. According to the organization’s website, Guggenheim Fellowships, “are intended for mid-career individuals who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts and exhibit great promise for their future endeavors.” 

Approximately 3,000 applications from across the United States and Canada are received annually with only 175 fellowships awarded each year. 

By MJ Soria '25