By Kellie Britch, College of Arts and Sciences
Kallie Blakelock, an MFA candidate in the Department of English, received the Garry Fleming Key West Writers鈥� Workshop Award, an honor that awarded her a weeklong trip to Key West for a writer鈥檚 workshop earlier this month.
Kallie Blakelock, who has a passion for poetry and teaching, started USF鈥檚 creative writing MFA program this past fall. (Photo courtesy of Kallie Blakelock)
鈥淚 got to workshop three pieces of my poetry with talented colleagues,鈥� said Blakelock,
who received a fellowship from the Kratz Center for Creative Writing in 2018. 鈥淟ed
by Ishion Hutchinson, the week focused on elegy and how we can use words and space
to help define grief. I am full of gratitude.鈥�
Blakelock, who moved to Tampa in August of 2025, said she felt like the award, which
was recently created through an endowment established by the late Garry Fleming, was
the boost of confidence she needed.
鈥淚 taught English at a public school from 2020-25, and I made a life change coming
to Florida to pursue my MFA in creative writing,鈥� Blakelock said. 鈥淲inning this award felt like a sign that I was on the right track.鈥�
Attendees spent three hours each day at the Studios of Key West where they read examples
of award-winning elegies and discussed each other鈥檚 writing. The experience was as
much about making connections with other writers as it was about honing craft, for
Blakelock, who described the experience like being 鈥渋mmersed in a diverse pool of
poetry nerds.鈥�
鈥淭hese experiences and people are helping shape my career,鈥� said Blakelock, who aspires
to teach creative writing at the university level. 鈥淚 want to learn all I can about
poems 鈥� what makes them stick with a person, what makes them true 鈥� so that I can
be the best creative writing teacher out there.鈥�