We are pleased to announce that nonfiction writer Breen Nolan has been awarded the inaugural Lizi Gilad Silver Memorial Scholarship. 

The award is given annually to a writer of poetry or nonfiction and is judged by a panel of alumni, faculty, and Lizi's family. The award is $10,000.

"What a dream it is to be awarded the Lizi Gilad Silver Memorial Scholarship. When I first read about Lizi, about her passionate pursuit of truth and beauty through the written word, I felt a deep sense of connection to her. Lizi wrote about feeling out of place in the world, of searching for home and finding it in literature. That same feeling vibrates through me, too. It's because of writers like Lizi that I'm able to push the boundaries of self excavation in the name of art.," Nolan said. "I’m beyond grateful for this generous award. It has given me the support and encouragement to keep going."

Lizi Gilad Silver was the award-winning author of two collections of poetry, Hyperion and Drip, Drip. Her nonfiction appeared in The Rumpus and the Literary Bohemian, among many others. She graduated from the Low Residency MFA @ UC Riverside in 2014. She lived in Southern California with her husband and daughter until her passing in 2023. The scholarship in her name was established thanks to a generous grant from an anonymous donor and with the continued support of Lizi's family and friends. 

"Lizi was an absolute force of nature," program director Tod Goldberg said. "To be able to honor her memory with this scholarship is one of the defining moments of this program. I can't imagine a better person to carry Lizi's name forward with her than Breen Nolan, a writer of unique grace and a true survivor." 

Breen Nolan is a writer from Rochester, New York. For over a decade she worked in advertising and media. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her family. She will graduate from the MFA in Spring of 2025. 

About the Low Residency MFA

Founded in 2008, the Low Residency MFA @ UC Riverside is the premier Low Residency MFA program in the nation and the #1 ranked low residency screenwriting program (Movie Maker Magazine). Housed in the Palm Desert Center, the Low Residency MFA offers majors in fiction, nonfiction, screenwriting, and playwriting and minors in each, as well as poetry. Faculty include: Mickey Birnbaum, Elizabeth Crane, Alex Espinoza, Jill Alexander Essbaum, Tod Goldberg (Director), Gabino Iglesias, Joshua Malkin, Ivy Pochoda, Wlliam Rabkin, Rob Roberge, John Schimmel, Mark Haskell Smith, & David Ulin.