Ohioana Walter Rumsey Marvin Grant: 2008
Nicholas Kowalczyk
Native of Lorain OH
Awarded to encourage writers under thirty who have not yet published a book
Nicholas Kowalczyk wants people to care about places like Lorain, Ohio –
cities that once made America a prosperous country by virtue of their manufacturing strength, but are now unloved, unwanted, the
butt of jokes; a place to leave, not a place to live. His submission for the Walter Rumsey Marvin Grant, “Dear Lorain,” combines the personal,
the political, the observed, and the imagined into a compelling read. It’s no wonder that that one of the judges jotted “brilliant” on the submission.
Nick was born in Lorain in 1979 to Joan and Richard Kowalczyk, attended Lorain Catholic High School, and
received his B.S. in Journalism from Ohio University. He went on to earn his M.F.A. in Nonfiction Writing from the
University of Iowa.
He has already earned several awards, ranging from writing prizes from the Society for the Study of Midwest Literature at
Michigan State University to a scholarship from the Scripps Howard Foundation.
He is an excellent and committed teacher as well as a writer, as attested to by two years’ worth of
outstanding ratings from the students in his Rhetoric classes at the University of Iowa. Nick is an experienced
journalist and public relations specialist, as well a creative consultant. He is a project designer at
Fieldworking Online, a community for ethnographers, journalists, educators, and students.
Read the Prologue to Kowalczyk's Dear Lorain
Published in the Fall 2008 Ohioana Quarterly
