Professor Donovan Hohn awarded prestigious 2026 Guggenheim Fellowship

Donovan Hohn, a professor in the Department of English, has been awarded a 2026 Guggenheim Fellowship to support his growing body of work in creative nonfiction.

The fellowship will allow Hohn to make progress on his third book, under contract with W. W. Norton and Company. To Hohn, this fellowship is both an honor and a rare opportunity to focus on his own work.

"I feel a great sense of responsibility to my colleagues and students, and it can be difficult to prioritize my own research and writing," he said. "This fellowship allows me to devote the time and attention my book requires."

Presented by the Guggenheim Foundation, the annual fellowships are awarded to "exceptional individuals in pursuit of scholarship in any field of knowledge and creation in any art form under the freest possible conditions."

"Our new class of Guggenheim Fellows is representative of the world's best thinkers, innovators, and creators in art, science, and scholarship," said Edward Hirsch, award-winning poet and President of the Guggenheim Foundation. "As the Foundation enters its second century and looks to the future, I feel confident that this new class of 223 individuals will do bold and inspiring work, undaunted by the challenges ahead. We are honored to support their visionary contributions."

Hohn's work in creative writing and creative nonfiction has garnered numerous accolades. He is the author of The Inner Coast: Essays (W. W. Norton, 2020) and Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea, a New York Times Notable Book and runner-up for both the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction and the PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award.

In addition to several teaching and research awards from Wayne State, Hohn is the recipient of a Whiting Foundation Writer's Award and an NEA Creative Writing Fellowship.

Looking forward, Hohn sees this fellowship as an opportunity to deepen the connection between his creative work and the classroom.

"My creative writing practice informs every class I teach, from the feedback I give on student work to how I guide readings and design my courses. The work I do during this fellowship will be no exception. I am also developing a new course on environmental, science and nature writing, and the research and writing from this project will directly shape that course."

To see a full list of the 2026 Fellows, visit gf.org.