Philanthropist Helen Zell and LSA Creative Writing Program Honored

When the time came to honor Helen Zell (A.B.1964, L.H.D. Hon. ’13) for her profound and ongoing contributions to the literary world, she opted to do what she has done for decades: she shined the spotlight on others.

Zell was the guest of honor at the September 29 American Writers Museum’s Onword Gala in Chicago, where she was invited to accept the Beyond the Page award. Zell’s gifts to U-M include the largest single gift in the history of the College of LSA: $50 million in 2013 to permanently fund the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing Program, now known as the Helen Zell Writers’ Program (HZWP). 

When Zell’s Beyond the Page award was announced during the ceremony, she asked HZWP Director Peter Ho Davies to walk to the stage to receive the prize and to say a few words in her place. Zell said she wanted the award to serve to honor the whole of the program, not just herself.

Onstage, Davies praised Zell’s generosity, which grants every creative writing M.F.A. student tuition and a stipend during the program, and for many fortunate students, a funded third-year fellowship.

Zell’s devotion to the program comes from a place of genuine love for literature, said Davies, Charles Baxter Collegiate Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature. Zell, a voracious reader, has an extensive collection of the books published by alumni and faculty of the program.

And to date, Davies continued, Zell’s gift to the HZWP has funded over 400 writers who have published more than 200 books.

One of those writers is Jesmyn Ward (M.F.A. ’05), two-time National Book Award winner and author of Where the Line Bleeds; Salvage the Bones; Sing, Unburied, Sing; Men We Reaped; On Witness and Respair; and other titles, was at the gala to receive the Founder’s Inspiring Writer award.

And another HZWP alum in attendance was Celeste Ng (M.F.A. ’06), author of the bestselling novels Everything I Never Told You, Little Fires Everywhere, and Our Missing Hearts, there to present an award.

Alongside Ng, Zell, and Ward, teachers were celebrated at the gala for their immeasurable contributions to the literary world. Ng honored her middle school Latin teacher with the Inspiration award. When she was a middle school student in Shaker Heights, Ohio, Ng told the audience that she had a Latin teacher named Mrs. Karen Kucich who taught her to love words. Ng presented Kucich with the museum’s Inspiration award as well as a medal for academic merit that Kucich had given to Ng decades before, when she had been her student. The evening’s special guest presenter, Peter Sagal, host of NPR’s Wait, Wait … Don’t Tell Me! choked up a little, and he wasn’t the only one moved.

After receiving her award, Ward had an on-stage conversation with Carey Cranston, director of the American Writers Museum. When asked about the conditions that made it possible for her to write her award-winning books, Ward thanked her teachers at HZWP. “They taught me to persist,” she said, “to keep going.”

One of the teachers Ward thanked, Davies, beamed at his former student from the audience. Davies has taught HZWP writers for over 26 years and is the author of the critically-acclaimed books A Lie Someone Told You About Yourself, The Fortunes, The Welsh Girl, the craft text The Art of Revision, among others.

During the ceremony, Carey Cranston, director of the American Writers Museum, introduced a video produced by the museum featuring students and faculty of the program sharing what Zell’s gift has given them: time, validation, a rigorous creative community, financial stability, mentorship, and a meaningful professional connection with an agent or editor. 

Zell is proud of a library that she has helped to build. “Students look to Helen not just as a patron,” Davies said, “but as an ideal reader.”

Photography by Kyle Flubacker